Learning to drive stick

June 2, 2008

I have been slowly updating some of my older articles - fixing some of the spelling errors and giving an update on the events or people described.  This one only had a couple of comments so I am updating it now.  I did not notice any spelling mistakes so I didn't fix any of that - but if anyone notices one let me know!

I, like so many before me, as I was learning to drive on the standard that I had bought for that purpose swore up and down that I would some day take it upon myself to learn how to drive a standard.  And I, like so many before me, did not in fact learn to drive a standard until I actually had to drive one.

This opportunity came to me in the form of having to get a very cute black VW Cabrio from my friend's parent's house in Cocoa, Florida back to my home in Northampton, Massachusetts.  My lucky, lucky friend had the joy of teaching two of us how to drive stick in 3 days so that we would be able to take turns driving on the way home.   I had no problem at all when it came to 1st gear and starting the car and getting it moving, and after a little practice 2nd was a breeze, 3rd proved to be an elusive gear for me though and 4th and 5th were on the back burner until I mastered 3rd.  I asked if I could just skip 3rd gear for now and come back to it later - like on a test, apparently shifting doesn't really work that way.

On the flip side my friend who was also learning to drive stick was having quite a bit of trouble with the whole getting the car moving in 1st gear and shifting to 2nd, 3rd and 4th however seemed like old friends to her (5th and reverse were being saved for the next day) .  We were getting to the point where she and I were plotting on how we could switch seats while keeping the car moving so that I could get the car moving and into 2nd and she could take over from there.  My friend, who was teaching us on her cute new car did not particularly like this idea and so we decided to take a break.

We pulled into a small sand parking lot and talked to a gaggle of old men with fishing poles who didn't seem to be doing much fishing but a whole lot of gabbing.   In that parking lot we mastered what I feel was the most important thing about driving this particular car - how to put the top down.  And so with the sea breeze in our hair and a very patient teacher we took off again.  We did manage to both learn a standard transmission well enough to get home, though there is to this day a little room for improvement, not that is matters since I have two automatics and my friend is selling the cute little convertable from Florida.

Update - My friend did sell her car to a woman who apparently let out a whoop as she drove off in it with the top down on a beautiful fall day.  As for me - I am still confident that if I once again had to I could drive a stick and would even be willing to own one, but for now our two automatics are still in fine working order so we will continue to drive those.

The other updated articles -

The Eric Carle Museum

Story of the Red Sox blanket