"Not so good"

Today was Dan's driving test!

His confidence was high as we set off at seven-thirty for his eight o'clock appointment with the examiner. I was a little more nervous: there's no doubt the boy can drive - and drive well, at that - but he's only had two proper lessons since March 2020, and they were both in the last week.

But I didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm and I willingly joined in conversation about where he might park in High Bentham when he drove down to his friend's later on.

I had forty-five minutes to spare while Dan had the test, so I walked into Kendal along the A65, then up through Kirkland and down Lowther Street, and then back along the old canal. It was raining pretty much constantly but, of course, there was nowhere to stop for a coffee.

I'd timed it perfectly, I thought, to arrive back at a quarter to nine but I was still ten minutes away when Dan FaceTimed me: "I failed".

Turns out the examiner had asked Dan to pull over just as they were passing Queen Katherine's School, and Dan promptly did so, ending up on some zigzag lines. They returned to the test centre where the examiner ended the test early due to Dans "hazardous driving".

I hurried on through the rain, passing a man out walking his dog. We nodded at one another as we passed. "Not so good", he said.

No, not so good.

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Reading: 'Touching The Void' by Joe Simpson