Having finally decided to learn to drive, and armed with a learner permit, I’ve begun to take lessons.

The first was the regular kind, where you drive around with all the other cars, bikes and buses and try not to hit them. Even though I got through it all without causing any damage, I found it a bit nerve-racking. This may have been because the instructor wasn’t great (and was the victim of a “You should learn how to teach!” verbal attack from another road user - she took one for the team).

My main problem was that I had no feel for the car (e.g., wasn’t sure I could slow down without causing whiplash), and therefore I wasn’t learning as fast as I’d like because I had to focus on the traffic first, not on the car.

So, I started complaining that there’s no purpose-made places where you can learn to make the car obey you without worrying about other traffic. My mother put me straight and told me that she’d read about just that kind of place in the Independent a little while ago. A bit of googling later and I found the article, and even more googling later the actual website (which the article didn’t publish). I took a 2 hour lesson there on Tuesday, and really liked it.

It’s a family kind of affair conceived and built by a father and his two sons, who also run it along with another guy they hired as the senior instructor. The course has roundabouts, lots of tricky turns and a skid-rink, for special classes they do. The instructor was great too, at least compared to my previous one. At €80 for 2 hours, it’s also cheaper than alot of other lessons. The only downside is that it’s in Maynooth, but getting out there isn’t too hard, and they seem happy enough to drive into the town to pick you up once you get there (the driving track is a couple of miles outside Maynooth town).

So, I heartily recommend it. I’m going back tomorrow for more, and will probably switch back to regular lessons soon enough once I’m happy that I have good control of the vehicle.