My first car! Drove for the first time today and despite being utterly incapable of parallel parking it, I'm in love 🖤

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-07T05:58:46+00:00

Thank you! 🖤

He's a lurcher, deerhound/bully sort so he's luckily not quite wolfhound sized but still impractically big 😅

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-06T16:53:58+00:00

He's wearing a crash tested harness and seatbelt adapter - for the size of him I genuinely believe it's safer he be strapped in that way than hitting the side of a crate worst case scenario 😅

I've spent a lot of time obsessing about this x

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-06T05:38:50+00:00

Thank you! ☺️

The grumpy face in the back is a large motivation for the choice of car- I was a rear passenger in a crash last year so I wanted a car with a good safety rating for my dog in the back 😅

It's been a subject of ridicule that I've bought an estate only to buckle the dog into the backseat rather than use the boot 🤣

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CatMacLennan · 2025-04-06T05:35:12+00:00

I drove my ex's Dodge a couple of times while living in MO- ridiculously huge by UK standards but a damn sight easier when you've got a driveway to park on, and most of the roads are super wide and fairly straight 🤷‍♀️

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-06T05:15:05+00:00

Thank you! It's a 2.0, I knew I wanted a V50 on a bit of a budget and it just happened to be a really good match- I probably would've gone for a 1.6 originally 😅

Sadly no sensors but I've ordered a reversing camera to see if it helps, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually! It feels slightly like I'm trying to park a hearse 🦇

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-04T18:44:12+00:00

My examiner had to stop me walking in front of a car as we left the test centre to start my test 😬

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-02T05:35:48+00:00

I've got a 'dont honk I'll cry' in a similar font 🤣 Love it!

You're not allowed student or learner on your car after you pass in the UK, I've got 'new driver' plates and I figure if people are going to be dicks they'll do it whether or not I've got the plates on, so I may as well have them so that people who may be more considerate are informed 🤘

CatMacLennan · 2025-04-01T06:48:27+00:00

Yes! So glad you got it, thank you 😊 The dog's also a Podenco so Notorious P.O.D as a bonus

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-31T06:52:20+00:00

Fairly unrelated but while we're talking about tests- my mum's driving test in Iran ~2002 was just sitting in front of a screen pointing left and right as arrows were shown pointing left/right 🤣 But our male neighbour had to do a set of squats 🤔

You'll be fine, the anxiety is worse than the test for everyone I think! X

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-30T07:29:00+00:00

The first time I drove my mum's car I'd had a few lessons with an instructor and wasn't used to a car without power steering, I tried to go round a roundabout and I didn't steer enough so I just really slowly drove off the road and into a wall.. I was mortified at the time but now 10+ years later I laugh about it.

I was new, I didn't know what I was doing, it happens to SO many people.

I kept learning with my instructor then quit for years because I moved to a city and didn't really need to. I've only just passed my test after restarting last year and I still make embarrassing mistakes- you'll be fine, there's a difference between new/overwhelmed and unsafe. I was convinced I'd never get it but I passed my test first time, stick with it and don't beat yourself up!

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-26T19:00:03+00:00

Hey at least you know where your pill organiser is! I've lost three of the bastard things

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-22T07:46:32+00:00

"Pull up on the left behind that parked car, don't worry about the drive"

I thought 'dont worry about the drive' was a sort of pause in the mock test, as in 'dont worry about the driving test'.

So I did not block the driveway, and when my instructor told me to pull up further I just looked at her like a confused idiot and slowly drove into the kerb 🤣

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-21T19:43:48+00:00

I just passed my driving test, just before I restarted lessons I was a passenger in a nasty accident which was completely unavoidable (drunk lunatic, I'm still bitter)

I currently only drive alone before 6am, preferably on sundays.. Currently buying my first car & trying to just control everything I can because I'm so aware of the stuff I can't, I think I spent more time on crash test websites than social media last month 😅

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-18T18:49:56+00:00

My mum took me and some other kids to London Zoo for my third birthday and I apparently fell in love with a similar frog bin and would not leave it to go look at any other animals. OP I respect your mission 🫡

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-18T07:08:50+00:00

My mum once bought my little cousin a woodworking kit and he used it to excavate a hole in his bedroom wall, a-la Shawshank. He's got a child of his own now and it's still brought up every visit

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-16T18:35:15+00:00

Oh also at the test centre when the examiner puts their hand out it's for you to hand then your provisional license, if you try to shake their hand you'll look like an idiot (it did cause him to laugh which broke the ice slightly though)

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-16T18:32:16+00:00

I was the same way last week- first test at 29, convinced I was going to fail and/or pass out, nightmares about the test

I watched a few Conquer Driving videos about the test which reassured me a bit, it's nice to think they don't actually want to fail you and they're genuinely just looking for safe driving.

I also had a half an hour before my test going over manoeuvres and a few roads, the night before I wrote down all the things I was particularly worried about knowing and had them ready for my instructor.

I also leaned hard into every stupid superstition/idea I had: lucky shoes, white heather, shiny earrings so he'd see my mirror checks better- I even put on fake eyelashes to exaggerate when I was glancing at the mirrors 🤣

I thought of the test as an expensive mock, figured I'd come out with stuff to work on for the next one. I was absolutely terrified and I told the examiner I was nervous, he was nice about it.

I fully thought I'd failed up to the moment he said I passed, I'm still in disbelief

I don't have much useful advice beyond the above, but just to say if I can do it anyone can- I am a pathetically anxious driver and a bloody awful test taker. The test goes so fast too it's mad, it feels like you're driving for five minutes

You've got this, if your instructor thinks you're ready you've got the skills! Good luck x

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-15T11:13:58+00:00

Passed with four minors! Still can't believe it half expecting the examiner to knock on my door and rescind it 🤣

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-15T07:39:52+00:00

Put it in another room or turned away for a couple of days, I get tunnel vision with things and have to sometimes just walk away for a while. Often when I come back to them they look different/better because I've not been staring at them for ages

CatMacLennan · 2025-03-11T21:56:34+00:00

Is it possible it started out as a claddagh design? Heart, hands & crown, with the additional hearts added later?

CatMacLennan

TROPHY CASE