Third time lucky?

ANOTHER driving test and another failure - but at least I feel much more satisfied with my effort this time.

I know from the result that I am not that far away from passing. I just need the certificate to prove it.

The critical moment in this second test came as I was completing the turn-in-the-road manoeuvre.

It is a surprising fail, as this is something which I have been doing in lessons since June - and a much easier exercise than reversing on a curved corner which I did earlier in the test.

It was also a highly irritating and frustrating fail, given the circumstances.

Having done the first two parts of the turn-in-the-road without difficulty, all that I needed to do was put the car back into the normal driving position.

While reversing, I had noticed a blue van approach from the right and slow down to assess the situation.

Satisfied that he would pull up and let me finish the manoeuvre, I checked to my left and started to drive my car forward.

Unfortunately, the van driver had not pulled up and instead had decided to continue his journey by going around me.

It meant we were both heading for the same bit of road and required sharp action on the brakes, which was marked as a 'serious'.

Behind the van, a black car pulled up in the same position. This time, I waited for longer to ensure the mistake was not repeated.

Irritatingly, the driver of the black car did exactly what I expected the van driver to do and waited patiently.

More irritating was the fact that I would not have even been doing a turn-in-the-road manoeuvre if I had been able to do a reverse park earlier in the test.

But that went by the wayside when another driver pulled up behind the car which I was going to reverse around just before I got the chance to engage reverse gear.

The aftermath of this test has been different to the last one, though.

After the test in August, my bad error ultimately caused me to lose a lot of confidence. This goes some way to explaining why it has taken me until the end of October to sit another test.

Even though I only had a few hours lessons from instructor David Convery in the run up to this test, my driving has improved and I feel so much more relaxed behind the wheel.

This is demonstrated by the marks on my test sheet. I had just six minors and three of those were for hesitation, a result of me erring too much on the side of caution at junctions.

Noticeably, I received no minors for my control of the car, and none for judgement, positioning or speed - all of which is very encouraging for my next test, already booked for November 25.

Finally, as if I needed any more incentive, there was a surprise addition to the family on Thursday night - introducing Millie, my own metallic-blue Nissan Micra.