First Drive

I think we all remember our first drive on our P’s. A lot of us were freshly eighteen and feeling invincible, knowing the world was at our feet. You sit in your car for the first time by yourself, put the radio on louder than you were ever allowed to when driving with your parents, and text a friend that you’re five minutes away from picking them up and taking them to the local fast food drive-through. This is exactly how my first drive on my P plates began, unfortunately it didn’t end with me eating a burger and goofing around in the car park with my best friend.

On the way to pick up Harry, my car broke down. I was driving down the highway to get to his house when my engine spluttered and then completely failed me. My car had never broken down before so I was shocked and I’ll admit, a little scared and feeling a little less invincible than I felt when the drive began. Without skipping a beat, I put my hazards on and called the mobile auto mechanic. Brighton is close to a lot of car dealerships and mechanics, so I was lucky that someone came pretty quickly. This whole ordeal was really ruining my dream first drive, something that I had been looking forward to ever since I got my L’s two years before.

Looking back at that iconic moment in my life, I’m simultaneously impressed by how quickly I reacted, and laughing at myself that the reason I acted so quickly was because I wanted to have the perfect first drive. I vividly remember standing on the side of the road whilst the car mechanic did all the necessary repairs. I was just glad I didn’t have to figure out how to move it to a car repair shop. Brighton was so close to Harry’s suburb that I was pretty much jumping up and down in anticipation of being back in my car and on the road. 

We never made it to the drive-through that day. Instead we drove to the beach and listened to music. It was a good first drive.