This is the overall driving/car situation in our household:

[cimorene]

Currently, Wax and I are the little old ladies who only drive once a week. We live in a tiny town whose downtown is only a few streets across, on a small island, and we typically drive to the supermarket to get groceries once a week, not because walking there takes more than ten minutes, but because bringing a week's worth of groceries home (without a sled and a bunch of snow, or a little red wagon that we don't have) is uncomfortable on foot. Several winters in a row we have caused problems for our poor car by not driving often enough or for long enough when it was cold.

On the other hand, we have to have the car now for when we do need to leave town (buses into Kaarina and Turku from here are a pain; the regional 24h veterinary ER is on the other side of Turku, so we definitely did drive there at like 3 am one time when Snookums had a seizure).

I used to kind of enjoy driving, and I drove frequently aged 16-21, but only automatic transmissions. waxjism had an old car when I first moved here, but it was stick shift and I couldn't drive it and she couldn't teach me. We eventually got rid of it, and I never swapped my US driver's licence for a Finnish one (you can when it it hasn't expired yet).

Wax, who has never liked driving, has been urging me to learn to drive and get a license since we moved here and got the car.

Well, apparently, because I have at one time had a driver's licence from another country it's impossible to apply online for a learning-to-drive permit like everyone else can; I have to go in person to the office in Turku. I guess I'm doing that this week.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Hoping for the best! HUGS.

[isilya]

Good luck! Getting my US driver's license was a bit of an ordeal for me, I had to do a written test and a practical test.

I procrastinated it for a few months, but what helped was actually booking myself in for driving lessons so I could get some proper experience.

My husband has his beloved "sports car" (an Audi that has been modified for track racing) which I don't love driving and truly hate parking. We investigated a second car for me but I argued against it by showing the cost of ownership for 4 years vs the cost of me taking as many taxis/rides as my little heart desires (not many).

Day to day, I walk everywhere I want to go and there's an absolutely delightful water taxi if I need to get into the city. Our neighbour has an old truck that he's happy for us to borrow for all our messy garden related errands.

I do worry about losing driving proficiency and wonder when/why I became so anxious about driving. Like, just a few years ago I was driving across Australia and having the time of my life!

Perhaps the biggest difference is between car ownership and using someone else's car--I have extremely intense hangups about damaging other people's property. But I also find US road culture and infrastructure very stressful (aggressive, chaotic, roads in dangerously poor condition).

[cimorene]

Yeah, that's what I'm going to do - the full tests! And since I have to learn to drive stick, I need the lessons.

[cimorene]

I think Finnish drivers are much safer than in the US in general (though there are big regional culture differences there), but I do feel anxious about learning their traffic signs and laws that are different. And I have gone a very long time without driving, which worries me a little too.