Yesterday I was informed that my collaboration with the regional newspaper I had been working with for two years has come to an end. They’ve cut costs by reducing pages and fees for journalists, and have let some of us go — myself included. I’m really sorry about it. It’s not a major financial loss — I barely made 100 euros a month — and it wasn’t my main source of income. But it was a showcase, a way for my name to circulate throughout the region. I hope to find other spaces to write for!
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Never give up, this was just chapter 1 
use the experience to get onto chapter 2!
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I’m glad it’s not your income stream. Being out of work is awful, but that still is no fun. Keep taking shots until someplace says “yes!”
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I was going to write something positive here, but I was about to have driving test this morning and it was cancelled even before beginning.
As it turned out, the MOT for instructor’s car has expired yesterday and he hasn’t got a clue about it. An examiner has put him in the know on the fact.
I won’t start on people’s negligence and everything, it’s just unpleasant to have this happening.
First, an examiner didn’t show themselves to work back in the days and I got cancelled, now this.
Good thing it’s not my fault, I didn’t fail.
But my theory sertificate expires at the end of the month and I need a new date within next couple of weeks which is almost impossible to find. Only hope the school could do something.
Never expected getting a driving licence would be so cloak-and-dagger
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This is why I don’t recommend people go Third Party with the testing, only the training. Test with the agency responsible for licenses in your state and all you need is the paper work, a vehicle, and show up on time; we take care of the rest, and we always have someone certified on hand to give your test… because we are all certified.
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Well, it is a driving school I’m dealing with.
Instructor is their employee and it is his car I was supposed to be tested in.
I guess the school must control things like MOTs and other about-car stuff.
The agency itself does not provide cars which I need to be in while the driving test.
If it’s not school/instructor it must be my or someone else’s roadworthy car I’ll be driving.
I can’t take driving test on foot, and there are not much options out there
That’s what I mean. You bring the car, so you have control over its readiness and aren’t dependent on the place you’re testing with having one available and up to date. Yeah, if you don’t have one, you have to borrow one from someone, but chances are a friend or family member who lets you borrow theirs is gonna let you check the car over first to make sure everything is as it needs to be for a test (registration, insurance, all signal lights working, functional horn, etc.), and you don’t have to be on the insurance to drive it so long as it’s not a rental. This gives you a better measure of control. Doing the actual test with a Third Party driving school puts you a bit more at their convenience than your own. But that’s just my experience, and as one who works for the state rather than private, I can’t claim to be impartial.
Something I’ve always wondered, why do you need to have a functional horn to take a driving test? I’ve had a driver’s license for 30 or so years and I don’t think I’ve ever used a car horn - certainly never intentionally. I know it’s a piece of safety equipment, but why is it required to have one that works?
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That’s sucks, it’s their responsibility to make sure there’s a vehicle available for you if you’re not bringing your own. That would be like a flying instructor failing to provide the plane!
Try to get some kind of written/email confirmation from your driving school that it wasn’t your fault, because if this delays things til you gotta do your theory again, you might be able to charge it to them because if it wasn’t for their employee, you might not have needed to re-take. Though I guess they’d argue you might’ve still failed the test 
It sounds like you need a new instructor! So many of them are terrible, with poor communication, outdated knowledge and decisions made on instinct instead of logical reasoning - but when you find that gem, it’s so good
I guess it’s the same reason you’d need a hazard lights on a test? Warning people might not be part of the test, but it’s still important that you know how to.
One of my instructors used to deploy verbal abuse while you drove through cones on an airfield, to get you used to driving while angry. They say you shouldn’t operate a vehicle while emotional, but it was training for resisting aggressive driving and road rage. He also did a counter-terrorism course where he’d blast panicking crowd sounds at you while you drove between moving pallets that simulated clusters of people running erratically! Gotta be prepared for every eventuality
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Yeah, who wants to waste the money for nothing?
But I did, and now will push on them to reimburse by booking next test for free.
You know, I was thinking about a new school, but who knows how the other will do.
It’s not about the school at the end of the day, it’s about people.
I’ll pay a visit to them later today and have a word on a situation
That’s a damn adventure as well.
Did you get past it I presume?
Yes, I think you’ll see more success getting a free test than asking for them to hand over money
Instructors really can be wonderful or terrible. Some inspire us to do well, others discourage us completely I had a lovely flight instructor I had a free taster lesson with who was great but prohibitively expensive, and a terrible boating one that I hated the idea of being stranded at sea with, so I cancelled 
The road rage section yes, because I just blocked them out. The CT one not on the first test because a simulated blowout (aka the instructor randomly tugging on the wheel) caused me to ding a civ. An adult would’ve survived with a broken shin, but a child might not have been so lucky.
Now that I recount this, I remember the dude had an intern in the back with a console wired up to the car and was hitting buttons to simulate random stuff like police sirens or the dashboard going haywire a megaphone was also present but never used
Pass second time you were allowed 3 tests per year
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Maybe I just never considered a car horn to be part of the basic equipment of a car. I’ve owned vehicles that didn’t have functioning horns and never noticed the lack of one. I would be personally embarrassed to honk at someone in traffic but I know people who drive around with one hand on the horn at all times and who will gladly start honking half a second after a light turns green if the guy in front of them isn’t moving yet. Just one of those things I guess.
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I think it was Jimmy Stewart who described a New York minute as the split second between the light turning green and the guy behind you honking you
I’m not a honker either, unless it’s to get wild animals out the road 
The handbook (we won’t ask why that’s within my reach right now) says you can use it to make someone aware of your presence, like if someone is blindly backing out onto a road. A little toot toot to let them know you’re there. But I’d interpret that as a “toot toot stop reversing!”.
I was advised on a truck lesson that it helps to tap the horn occasionally if you’re driving on a narrow one-lane rural road where it’s winding and with foliage either side, just in case a car is coming from the opposite direction and needs warning to find somewhere to tuck in. Instead of seeing the Gontranno Express coming round the curve and needing to reverse 18 miles back
Right there. And also, law. You know how those are, they aren’t always logical but you still gotta follow them. Thats why logical isn’t spelled L-A-W-gical.
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I’ve been so stumped on a last name for a character that I’m about to go through a list of about 110,000 names to try out. They’re such a unique character that no name seems to encapsulate them perfectly.
I might not find one that clicks, but doubtless I’ll find other names that are nice for other characters along the way
EDIT: Manygoats is my current favorite
Agamemnon. Just throwing it out there.
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I actually believe car horns should be outlawed.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/politicsjoe/comments/1bd0cpp/mitch_hedberg_on_limiting_honking_car_horns/
(I know nothing about this subreddit; this is the best source for this bit that I found.)
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