When the examiner starts calling you "sir" you know

Welcome to my story page. Every year I have to take a driving test, with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist giving me their attention as I ferry them around in my car under varous conditions (country driving vs. city) for which I pay them a couple of hundred bucks. Well we started off on not so good a footing - after a short time I was asked to pull over and was told I needed to look in the rear view mirror more often, keep more to the center of the street or road and scan upcoming cross streets for possible intruders (well, something like that). I did those things better and did fine at speed (up to an exciting 60 miles an hour, or 100 kilometers per hour), then I was so happy that the test was almost over that I forgot some of the things I was supposed to do (like signal a left turn when going through a traffic circle and continuing on straight) and did not watch my speed so went a little fast in traffic and the instructor said something that included the term "sir" which I realized was a sign of displeasure. Sure enough my lack of defensive driver got commented on, but they are still letting me drive. Whew. I need to keep drivig to get Emily to and from her new school. Enough of that. Except as I watch other drivers I think they would get zapped more than me - as they cruise into the bicycle lane, fail to signal when they should, etc. Ah, well. For some reason I became rather brain dead, or developed writer's block, after our South Island trip, and life has not been a barrel of laughs - I had a bladder stone and could not get it taken out for no charge at the local hospital for at least six months, more or less, because they don't have enough docs and suites to meet the general populaces needs - so paid for having it done privately, in secret, far away from the prying eyes of the hospital. Apparently I did not recover consciousness in the recovery room, but in the post recovery room. And I was out from a cocktail of various drugs that worked quickly. I am much improved in the bladder department so I guess I will stop wearing diapers (just kidding). But enough about me. We are thrilled to think we will be seeing old friends during our upcoming April visit to the states. I will have more to say tomorrow. I want to post this before I erase it. Manford