Zoom-zoom-zoom ...

So, since I didn't drive at all yesterday, due to a blinding headache, today was The Day.

And today was the first day that I drove everywhere from the time we left our driveway at11:30 AM until we returned home at around 3:30 PM.

First, we went to Doug's brother's place to drop off some mad scientist materials, then I drove to Kent's, which has a large parking lot with the added benefit of no Sunday shopping. My instructor had suggested that I should get some extra backing up practice in before my next lesson, so that was our plan.

I quickly discovered that trying to back into a parking spot without anything marking it except the lines on the pavement made it very difficult to see where I was. At this point, Doug noticed that the cart corrals were the exact width of a parking space. And so, although having actual rigid objects made it a bit more intimidating, it was actually much easier to see what I was doing.

The instructor had said that backing in to the right was more difficult than doing it to the left, and he was right. But once I figured out how far away I should be before starting to back up, things got much easier. I practiced parking and 90-degree turns for about an hour in that parking lot.

After Kent's, we went to over FutureShop (where Doug bought a new receiver, which he is testing out at various volumes as I type, much to my chagrin), then I drove out to Rothesay to Doug's sister's place. Then back in the Rothesay Road, up on the highway to Crown, to Shoppers Lansdowne, and then finally home, where I, in one try, backed into and up The Steep, Narrow Driveway From Hell.

During my driving adventures today, I made one serious mistake, when I accidentally cut off someone going straight when I was turning left (I had run out of my flashing green and didn't notice). But no one got hurt, or mad, and no horns were honked, and it's the kind of thing I'll obsess over, which means it'll never happen again.

In short, it was a very good day.