Driving

When I was 19, I broke up with my first girlfriend. At the time I was just out of highschool and had no plans for my future. To avoid feeling completely stagnated, I took the initiative to get my G1 Driver's License. No one in my family or anyone in my local network drove, so I wasn't able to practice.

I did Katimavik and Canada World Youth. After this I applied, and was accepted into college. It would be some months until my program started, so I went up North for a time to practice driving with my grandfather. I believe I referenced that in a recent post. I tested for my G2 up there and "didn't make any disqualifying errors, but made an accumulation of minor ones", preventing me from getting the license.

After starting college, I found that I either never had enough time or enough money to take lessons. I did two sets with one agency, but I was working multiple jobs and never managed to do enough conistently to warrant another attempt at the G2.

At my current work, it's pretty common for employees to be able to drive. We try to empower our members to be as independent as possible, taking public transit or our accessibility service, Mobility Plus. Every job I've had in this field has required a driver's license, and I've really learned to pitch the benefits of not having one. The classic thing to say is that, because you aren't able to drive, you have a more thorough understanding of the services that the people you work with use.

However, it does prevent you from a lot of community engagement opportunities.

My wife can't drive due to being legally blind and epilleptic. Whenever we arrive somewhere and people realize that we took public transit, we have to explain why. Easy enough for her, but I'm usually left saying that I have no excuse.

After we started dating, she encouraged me to renew my G1, which was either expired or about to. Since they last five years, it must have been my second time.

And recently, I was approaching my third renewal. Surprisingly, I found that I had both the time and the money for lessons. I chose a different agency than the one I used twice before, since I would have been embarassed to get the same guy.

I did five lessons total. I even went up North and practiced with my grandfather. I drove with my father-in-law as well. I scheduled a drive test. Unfortunately, my license would expire before the date they proposed. Not to worry, it turns out that if you schedule the test before your license expires, you can get an extension. So I went to the DriveTest office and they gave me a piece of paper, saying that if I show my expired license as well as this yellow sheet, that I could do my test.

I used a vacation day from work for my chance at the license. I show up, and I'm told that my yellow sheet of paper is not a temporary license, it's an application for one. Apparently in their system, I received one on the day I got my extension, but because I can't present it to them, I'm not allowed to do the test.

So I do the G1 test again. Get the same license. Silver lining is that I can schedule another G2 test immediately, and I don't have to wait the usual requisite year. Still, feels ike I'm fated never to get this thing.