From Airfield Antics to Mushroom Mayhem: My First Day Behind the Wheel ~ SB Chronicle 4

Hello Hello to all Hivians, Silver Bloggers and anyone else reading this.

Today is #funfriday and have I got sum fun filled antics up my fluffing wheel for you today!

This week's #sb-chronicles prompt, "Tell us a fun/ny story about how you learnt to drive a car, or ride a bicycle..." .... "A tricycle, scooter, bike, or anything on wheels will do!"

Well I remember learning to drive and it was a scream.

The car

Here in the UK when I was a boy, you got your provisional driving licence when you were 17, put two L plates on the car, get a qualified driver over 25 in the passenger seat and away you went.

In my case, the day was August 17th when I turned 17 but I was working so could not drive. At the time we lived on Mainland, the main island in the Orkney Islands, a group of islands off the north coast of Scotland.

My father agreed to be the one to teach me.

The car ....

We had a blue Fiat Strada very similar to this one...

note this was grabbed from this video The Fiat Strada Was Hand Built By Robots!

It is important to note that this was advertised by Fiat as being handbuilt by robots, a point not lost on my father...

"Get the L plates on then laddie" said my father one day not long after my birthday.

"Oh you dancer!"

I put the L plates on ... L standing for Learner driver, then proceeded to sit in the car.

"What do you think you are doing?" said my father ... "Get into the passenger seat!"

I duly slid over into the passenger seat, he got in and away we went.

"Where are we going?" I said

"Hatston." came the reply from my father.

"Hatston?" said I "why?"

"It's a big open space, big enough for you!" he said.

I was a wee bit perplexed and said to him...

"I want to learn to drive a car not fly a fluffing plane!"

The Hatston in question....

It is a now disused airfield in Orkney where we lived at the time that was used in the second world war by the Royal Navy.

This picture shows four shore based Blackburn Skua aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm lined up and ready to take off from the airfield at HMS SPARROWHAWK, Royal Naval Air Station, Hatston... picture source

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Imagine loads of runways all interconnected and deserted. Yes indeed a great big open space where a young Edward had fun whilst learning how to steer a car, start a car and fluffing stall a car.

He even used some wood and stones he found to make a wee roundabout, something we didn't have on Orkney at the time, nor traffic lights come to think of it.

But he wanted me to know everything etc before we moved back to the mainland of Scotland the next year...

My first couple of attempts at going round the roundabout were a disaster!!!

I would get confused, a bit like trying to tell your left from your right. I would speed up when I saw the roundabout, instead of slowing down when approaching the roundabout and then accelerating out of it.

Oh no.. I would speed up coming into the roundabout, forget to go around it, and instead drive over it, then realise I had fluffed up and so slowed down!

"The car's made by a robot, no need for you to act like a stupid robot, ya bloody eejit" he spluttered after the second time I had made a pig's ear of roundabouts!

However, after a couple of hours and only a few heated exchanges, father said "Right then, I think you are competent enough to drive us home."

I could have throttled him!

I was driving home on the road, now do remember this was my first day driving and I was now on a public road for the first time in charge of a killing machine ....

We were driving in the country with fields on both sides of the road.

When all of a sudden he shrieks....

STOP
STOP
STOP

"What the actual fuck" said I slamming on the brakes and proceeded to stall the car!

"What is it?"

"Look" 👀 he says and points 👉 into the field...

Mushrooms ...

Yes fluffing mushrooms, he pointed and said "Look! Field mushrooms"

"Are you bloody serious!!!" said a not so amused me!

Then he proceeded to climb the fence in to the field and walked past the bewildered cows and started collecting mushrooms. Within a couple of minutes he shouted at me to come collect them!

And people wonder why I am a total fruitcake!

That was my father and my introduction to driving!

What about you? Do you have a fun/ny story about how you learnt to drive a car, or ride a bicycle?

Let me know in the comments! And why not join in with the fun and start your Chronicle!?

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!

My previous Chronicles ... are :-
Prompt 1 Colour ~ my The Chronicles: Prompt 01 - My Blue-tiful Obsession
Prompt 2 Joy ~ my The Chronicles: Prompt 02 - My Simple Daily Joy: The Happiness of Feeding
Prompt 3 Hometown ~ my Beveridge Park, Scotland in Summer Time
Prompt 4 Wheels ~ my ... this one!!

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