天时、地利、人和

Those three things sum up how I got my driving licence (yes, I passed!) today. =)

天时
The roads were pretty empty just past noon, so I didn't have much problems with lane changing, nor was I required to overtake or carry out any complicated manoeuvres. Weather was pretty good as well, not unbearably hot, and a slight drizzle began to fall towards the end but no biggie.

地利
I got the (I think) easiest test route! No U-turns, no slopes, and generally sparse traffic in the neighbourhood where I used to live - I was very familiar with the geography. The only things in abundance were humps and pedestrian crossings. LOL. The lack of buses helped as well.

人和
I'm using this word loosely as it's supposed to mean 'unity'. But I must say the tester was indeed with me, instead of against me. He was much nicer than I expected - not as stern or grumpy as my fixed group instructor, and I was able to relax even after committing some mistakes early on in the circuit because of that. And of course, he passed me! =)

Another person I have to thank is the instructor who took me for warm-up. He was very encouraging, and really psyched me up for the test. And not to forget the guy/gal who picked me for that particular test route and hence the tester.

__
And one more thing - the test vehicle isn't called the test vehicle for nothing! It's really in much better condition than those I used for normal lessons. The most apparent difference is in low speed control - I had such marvellous low speed control that I was inching along all the courses in the circuit. I guess the tester got abit fed-up, esp. when I screwed up the crank course although I was going so slow.

I really wasn't confident before the test, because my revision lessons didn't go too well. Ok actually I wasn't great at driving all along, and my experience during the first lesson didn't inspire confidence right from the beginning. But I'm so glad I passed on the first try!

I guess providence had a big role to play as well. I prayed at all the temples when I was in Taiwan, and I prayed again yesterday at the temple just beside BBDC. That was how badly I wanted to pass. Guess it paid off! Despite my idiotic fixed group instructor remarking "How can God help you if you make such mistakes?". I don't think he knew I prayed so much, but he just had to say that kind of thing. Bleh, luckily I'm not letting him earn anymore of my money. He'd be the first person I blame if I had failed because he spent more time chiding me for making mistakes than teaching me how to rectify them.

You might think I'm superstitious but I think passing your TP is just as much about luck as it is about technique. And overcoming your nerves. So good luck to all those taking their TP!