Driving Test Disaster

Hello,

Hope you are all well. So on Monday, I had my first ever driving test at 9:37am. If you haven't guessed by the title of this blog, I sadly did not pass. I thought however it would be beneficial for me to do a blog talking about the driving test experience and how it went so that any of you who are maybe having lessons or have a test booked can know what happens and how my experience went.

So, my driving instructor did an hours lesson with me before my test begun to go over the manoveures and just do a few test routes to refresh my mind. For those of you who aren't aware, you get asked on your driving test to complete one manoveure. It used to be two but they recently changed this so that you now only have to do one, however this may be different if you aren't from the UK. You will get either a bay park, parallel park, reverse around a corner or a turn in a road. You could also get asked to perform an emergency stop. I will get to what one I had in a second. I also went over all of the show me tell me questions. These can be found online if you google them (link here) and your instructor will usually talk you through these once you have passed your driving theory test. This is something we do in the UK, so don't be alarmed if you are not from the UK and you don't do show me, tell me questions. The show me, tell me questions are asked before you drive and you get asked two questions. This could be one show me and one tell me or two tell me questions or two show me questions.

So anyway, my driving instructor picked me up from my house at 8:20am. I would recommend a morning test as the roads are less busy therefore you stand a better chance of driving better. I had to pay for a two hour lesson as I was using my instructors car for 2 hours. This cost me £44 plus the driving test fee which was £62. If you are from the UK and would prefer a weekend or evening test, you have to pay £75. To your test, you have to bring your provisional licence, and your theory certificate (if your test centre asks for it, mine did not). I also brought a bottle of water and some Kalms tablets to settle my nerves beforehand and my mobile which I turned off before my lesson begun.

So anyway, we drove around for an hour and did my manoveures and learnt how to do an emergency stop and then I drove us to the test centre. I parked up, and got out of the car and sat in the test centre. My examiner then came out and I can't tell you how happy I was that it was a man. His name was Mark and he seemed so lovely and sweet and made me feel at ease. I showed him my licence and he asked me to sign the double declaration. The double declaration is a little box that you sign that states that you are insured on the vehicle and that you have lived in the UK for over 185 days or 12 months. Once that was signed, we went outside and did the eye test. This is something that every student is made to do. You have to be able, as a driver, to read a number plate that is 20m away. You get three attempts on your test and if you fail to read the number plates on the attempts given, you fail straight away. Luckily, I had my glasses on and was able to successfully read the number plate.

We then approached my car, where I was asked to open the bonnet. I opened the bonnet and was asked 'Open the bonnet, identify where you would check the engine oil level and tell me how you would check that the engine has sufficient oil'. This was the tell me question. I replied with the corect answer and then we moved onto the next question. The next question was 'Tell me how you would check the tyres to ensure that they have sufficient tread depth and that their general condition is safe to use on the road.' This was another tell me question, to which I replied with the correct answer. I was then asked to get into my side of the car and make myself comfortable. Once I was comfortable the examiner gave me my first set of directions and I was on my way. 

Luckily, the route that I had gone on when I had my hour lesson beforehand was the route that I got for my driving test, so I was very familiar with all the roads. All was going well and I was checking all mirrors and really concentrating, making sure to impress the examinor. I then had a set of instructions to follow which was to take the next road on the left. This road on the left couldn't have been anymore tighter or horrible. It was so tight and to make matters worse the road I was about to go up was an uphill road and some young lad in his white polo was tailgaiting me the whole way up to the turning. Because of this, I panicked and didn't get my gear in time so I ended up going around this tight bend in third gear. Because I was in third gear, I then stalled and was stuck facing uphill and on a slight angle with the polo still tailgaiting me the whole way. I got first gear and tried to get my clutch control correct but when I took my foot off the brake, I rolled and almost hit the car behind me. As soon as I had done that, I knew I had failed so I just continued the test just doing the best I could. 

When it came to manoveures, I was given a parallel park. Luckily these are one of my favourites so I was confident when doing the manoveure. I got no minors for my parallel park. I also recieved an emergency stop, for which I also recieved no minors. I then had my independent drive. This is 10 minutes that you are given to show what you can do without being told directions etc. This went fine and I recieved no minors for that. I then drove us back to the test centre, knowing I had failed and he told me just that. I knew I had failed so luckily I didn't feel too bad about it, but it still hurt that the one thing that I'm usually really good at, I failed on because I let my nerves get the better of me. Even the examiner was disappointed and said that my drive was excellent and that I was a really confident driver but because of that one little mistake, he had to fail me. 

So there you have it. That was my first driving test experience. Some words of wisdom for people planning to book or putting off booking; Just do it. Honestly, if I hadn't have put it off, I would've passed by now but where I put it off for months, I had to wait ages. Also, all UK drivers, the current earliest test that I can find avaliable is September, so book it now and practice up until the day of your test. Also, if there is anything you want to practice with your instructor, ask them. They are there to help you out. Another word of advice is that the test is only 38-40 minutes long and the test flies by. The examiners are all human, just like you and I, so you don't need to be scared of them. They are just there to see what you know and what you've been taught. 

My next test is in August, but I'm constantly refreshing the cancellations page to see if I can get an earlier test and do my driving test sooner. See you all soon

Bye guys

No more elastics!

Hi guys,

I had an orthodontic appointment today and I no longer have to have my elastic bands on! I am really happy that I don't have to wear them anymore as they were really annoying and inconvenient and painful at times but now I just have braces! They replaced the wire on my bottom jaw but aside that, I was done.

I have two appointments, one in September and the other in October so that's exciting! I'll let you know more about them soon. I'll try and blog between now and them appointments so keep your eyes peeled,

Bye guys,

Long Awaited Photos

Hello guys,

Here are some long, LONG awaited photos of my current mouth situation. I feel like its been a very long time since I've sat down and took photos of my teeth and other bits and bobs, so it feels good to be finally showing you whats going on.

As I am typing this, I have been awake for about 6 hours and a few odd minutes. I overslept this morning and woke up at half 12, so please ignore the hoodie and pj top you can see in these photos. Its been a slouchy morning and I have loved every second of it.

 Here are some front profile photos of my teeth. You can see that my teeth are still quite straight and looking really lovely. I'm so excited because I am hoping that because they are straight and my bite has improved that they can come off soon. The day my braces come off and I can smile with lovely straight teeth will be the best day ever! I know I won't be able to stop smiling and I'm going to be taking tonnes of selfies! One thing that does make me a little consious about my teeth is the chip that is on my front tooth. I'm not sure if you can notice it in the top image but you can see it more evidently in the bottom image.

 I'm really not sure what can be done about the chip. Maybe when I get my braces off, it won't bother me as much as it does now. Maybe it could get filled so that it is not as noticeable but I'm really not sure. I remember reading someone else's blog ages ago and they filed the tooth down so that they were all in alignment but I dont really know how I feel about that because the base of my front two teeth are so weak so I'm worried that filing them down will just make it worse. We will have to see but I will see what they look like when they come off and then decide (or if they even come off!).

 Now for the close ups. This is a very close up image of the inside of my mouth and its kind of creepy, so I'm hoping all of you aren't too put off by seeing the inside of my mouth. Anyway, you can see the band situation that is going on in my mouth. I have a band around my top molar and it allows a band to be hooked from the inside to the outside of the bottom molar. In this photo, I have a Gorilla band however, I am meant to try the Butterfly Fish bands (if you have never had braces or never experienced the elastic bands, then you are probably very confused at the moment).

Here are some photos of the elastic bands. As you can see, I've turned into a right little blogger and made this look as fancy as possible and tried to get some good lighting. I hope you appreciate it. Anyway, to the bands. The bands to the left are my Gorilla bands. They have latex in them and are a lot bigger and stretchier than compared to the bands on the right. The bands that can be seen on the right are the Butterfly Fish bands. These bands do not have any latex in them and are smaller and less stretchier than compared to the Gorilla bands. The yellow thing that you can see in this image is a tool that I used for the first week when I had the bands to help me hook the bands to the inside of my mouth. The tool helped so thats good, but I'm not reliant on it anymore.


So thats a quick photo update for you all! I hope all of you are well. I'm not at school anymore which is amazing. I have one exam in June but aside that, I am a finished student! I don't think its really sunk in that I've finished, but we can wait until prom for that to sink in. Its going to be weird getting to next Monday and not having to get up to get the bus and go to school.

Another update; I've booked my driving test! Eeek! It's at the end of June and I'm excited and nervous all at once. Fingers crossed that I pass so that I can drive and have so much freedom and go wherever I want to. If it gets to July though and I haven't mentioned anything about it, just assume that I failed. I turn 18 in July which is also exciting. I think I'm going clubbing which will be cool, I'm a little worried though because I'm a lightweight so it won't take me long to be drunk and if we stay out for a long time, I hate to think what I'll be like at the end of it.

Anyway, see you soon!
Bye guys. 

The life of elastics..

Hey guys,

I haven't spoke in a very long time. The last blog post I did was a dentist appointment I had which was in February. It's now April... I am really sorry for the recent disappearance, school has been busy and I've been working all weekend of March so I've not had any free time.  I had 2 orthodontist appointments recently in March were I got given a metal ring which has an appliance on the side. It allows me to hook elastics from the inside of my top jaw to the outside of my bottom jaw, in the hope to move my top jaw one way and the bottom jaw the other way. I'll get some images up soon, but seeing as I'm writing this at half 9 in the evening, the lighting will not allow me to show it with justice.

The elastics I have been given are Gorilla elastics for the start, however when I get used to them, I am supposed to move onto the Butterly Fish elastics. I will also take pictures of these when I have better lighting so you are able to see the different elastics. The Gorilla elastics are more flexible and stretchy and can stretch a lot further than compared to the Butterfly Fish elastics which are thicker and not as stretchy and flexible which makes them harder to hook to the appliances. I am trying to get on with the Butterfly Fish but they are not easy to work with.

My next orthodontist appointment is in May I believe, so hopefully that'll be good news. I will try and get a blog with photos up in the next week but I have a lot of different coursework pieces to get in before the end of May as well as an exam in June to revise for. Lots of pressure in a small amount of time.

Bye guys

Dentist Appointment

Hi guys,

I recently had a dentist appointment on the 2nd February. The appointment was only a checkup to make sure that my teeth are healthy. The appointment went really well, I have no holes in my teeth and the only issue is slight staining that they want to sort out in my next appointment which is on the 18th July (which happens to be 2 days before my 18th birthday!)

My next orthodontist appointments are at the start of March so be prepared to have a blog on them soon, but everything is a-okay!

Bye guys

What happened, Where I went, Whats going on

Hello

Its been a wee while since I sat down and spoke to you all. To begin with, my teeth are doing fine, here are some photos:

 The quality isn't amazing as I have had to resort to using my iPhone 6 camera. As you can see they are a lot straighter than compared to previous photos which can be found in older posts. I went to my orthodontist recently on the 16th December and they put new wires on top and bottom. My top wire is a stainless steel wire and my bottom wire is still a Damon wire. I have two appointments in March, one to fit a seperator to go between two of my molars again and then another appointment to fit a band. They had fit a separator previously to try and put a band on one of my back teeth, however it really did not work as my tooth was too big for the band, so they are going to try a different tooth and try and recorrect my bite. I think if my bite wasn't the issue, then my braces would be off by now. Its because I have a serious crossbite that they are finding really difficult to sort out.

Here is another photo were you can see the bottom jaw a bit more. The front four teeth are still very crooked but they are definitely getting there. I'm happy with the results so far, but I just want to get them off now. Being 17 and having braces is really not fun.

Anyway, so now to where I have been. My last post was in September. Since then, I have been at school in my final year working my butt off to get finished in time because they want all year 13s out of school as soon as possible (preferably May which is so soon). I have had mocks, I've had tough deadlines, but I have just been more focused on that at the moment than anything else and also thinking of future careers that I would like to pursue seeing as I will need to find a job sooner rather than later. I hope you can understand. Another reason for my lack of blogging is because nothing exciting has been happening with my teeth, and my appointments are always 3 months apart, so I can't always find a topic to talk about. It's not easy to write about stuff when the blog is based around something that doesn't happen very often (if that makes sense). 

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and you all have an amazing New Year.

Bye Bye!

MASSIVE APOLOGY AND CATCH UP!!!!

Hi guys,

Well I've been gone for a while! Super sorry but lots of important milestones happened since the last time I blogged and this is the first time I've had free time! So here I am to fill you in.

August was a massive whirlwind. I was preparing for school and was working pretty much every weekend to try and get enough money together for my car that I need to buy when I pass. I was also out an awful lot getting things together for the holiday that I went on at the end of August. We went to Selsey again like we do every year and it was really really lovely. I want to do a blog post on it one day, so you can see what its all about because I have some lovely pictures to show you all and I think you'd like them.

September has just flown by. I began my final year at school on the 2nd September which was really early and since then, I've just been doing lots and lots of school work and trying to stay on top of deadlines and trying to not fall behind. Being in the final year means that I have had a lot of responsibilities, such as being a role model for the younger years and doing lots of different events such as open evenings at the school. I had two appointments with my orthodontist in September, one was to fit a little rubber band in between two of my molars so that they could fit a metal ring on, and the second appointment was where I was meant to get the metal ring fitted, however they couldn't get it on, so they replaced the wires and are thinking of a plan B. My next orthodontist appointment is just before Christmas.

This week has been particularly difficult after finding out this Monday that a boy I went to secondary school with had passed away. I've been doing a lot of thinking obviously about my life and have made a lot of drastic changes to make my life much better. I hope that he is in a happier place.

But anyway, the teeth are fine, I will 100% make sure that I do some recent photos for you next time so that you can see how they have changed, because its fine saying they've changed but its not fine giving you no proof through photos.

Bye guys

P.S: I will make sure that I blog more often because its not fair on you guys who want to read and see my progess :( I'm sorry just bare with me