The Great and Secret Traffic School Conspiracy

It has begun to dawn on me that while I may not be the best driver in the world I should have passed that last exam by most standards. I've begun considering whether there is a more sinsiter reason to me flunking out of the third exam... I give you my take on


The Great and Secret Traffic School Conspiracy





Money is the key issue here. By putting insanely high standards for passing exams, they make sure that all my money is being slowly bled dry, by the traffic schools and Vägverket. They've conspired to squeeze out every last precious krona out of the citizens. When push comes to shove (and I'm in the mood to shove), you are only encouraged to do the right thing when the surrounding society gives you reason to hope that doing the right thing is not a poetic struggle against all odds. I'll give it another go, but if I don't get the driver's license soon through the system, I'm gonna have to start considering how to go around it...



(You can of course choose to interpret this as the rambled denial of a self-deluded traffic hazard. But I'm right - whether you know it or not)

If the third time's the charm, what is the fourth?

I'm so sick and tired of the driver's license. Am I ever getting it? As you can deduce, I failed at my third attempt to grab the pink plastic. How many more attempts will it take? And not a completely irrelevant question: how much more time and money is this gonna cost me?

*sigh*

Guess I'll just have to restart the process. I really tried hard this time, but obviously I'll need to try again... Not that fond of the idea of going back to the driving school and ask for more driving hours, but what the bloody hell am I suppose to do otherwise?

Back to the drawing board!

Ramble on

I'm a bit nervous. Tomorrow is the culmination of my efforts to take the driver's license once and for all. Even though I've prepared, I still feel hesitant; like it could go either way. I feel I shouldn't be learning new things every time I sit behind the steering wheel, yet I do - shouldn't I feel ready, confident and willing+able? Maybe because I have so much riding on this, and am feeling the pressure before my peers; maybe because I feel that my driving instructors this past week aren't as optimistic as I'd have hoped they would be. Well, nevermind that - all that counts is how I drive tomorrow, not how I've driven before.

If I get my hopes up too high, I might crash and burn; if I don't get my hopes up high enough, I might not drive as well as I'm supposed to. There's a balance here, a very delicate balance, one I hope to find the answer to by the time I drive.

Staying the whole weekend in this appartment may not have been the best idea, but then again, I am like a tree, who likes to spread roots wherever I go. I brought books, work and my computer with me and done as much as I could expect to, though never as much as I could have done. After I eat dinner tonight I have to clean the appartment and erase all evidence of my existence here this past week; a load I wish I didn't have to bear. Though sometimes, chores are the best way to clear your head of thoughts and get on with living your life.

Whenever I travel, I expect to fulfill my potential, desires and become the person I would like to be; too often, I remain the same. Maybe there is solace in knowing that there is a centered self, my soul if you will, that I can return to without losing all sense of direction. But I sometimes wish there were more to it.

Enough rambling.

A time of Exile: Övik

Here at last! I love travelling by train, but the last of leg of the journey was by bus, which is far less of a state of "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", so to speak. The bus ride was followed by a gruelling walk almost constantly uphill to my appartment in the student residential area of Övik.



I settled in easily in a comfy two-room appartment with most amenities available, including a microwave-oven, a coffee percolator, two(!) toilets, a tiny fridge and an even tinier oven. Good enough for me and my basic needs. The sign above, "maximum 30 people in this locale", is setting the bar quite high for my social skills ;)

So during the day I take about 4 hours of driving lessons, requiring me walking up and down the snowy streets of Övik, and in my off time I entertain myself with the books, films and work I brought with me, not to mention updating my blog.

It's cold up here, and the appartment is a bit chillier than I would have liked, but I brought a comprehensive winter wardrobe to ward off the worst of the weather. And now, all I can do is drive like I belong at the wheel!

Northward bound - the exile begins

As I write these words, our train is parked at the station in Gävle. The final destination for me is Örnsköldsvik (Övik for short), where I shall remain in self-imposed exile. The purpose is acquiring a small piece of pink plastic I have long coveted: the driver's license.

Ok, we just started rolling. Thanks to mobile broadband, I have the luxury of remaining connected to the Net by the means of with robust bandwidth - indispensible for me as I'll require internet access in the coming week. I can ill afford remaining long off the grid; part, because I'll need access to my work and regular email, and part because I need something to pass the long hours between driving lessons.




So, why Övik? As fans of the "Omar show" will know, I have twice in the past attempted to best the gruelling driving test required in Sweden to gain the license to no avail. I have finally
implemented a plan I've long harboured. Different locations in Sweden have different success rates for passing driver's exams irrespective of other factors. Örnsköldsvik has the highest success rates of passing driver's tests. Also, the opportunity to (relatively) cheaply drive a large amount of times in a limited time (17 hours in 1 week), the relative isolation from distractions and cheap accomodations all tipped in Övik's favour. And I am quite curious to see how life is lived in a small town in Norrland.


The snowcovered landscapes we're passing are farily typical of Sweden: snow-covered fields, dense forests of pines and spruces. Sunlight on snow is nearly blinding in its intensity in the stark northern landscapes. The Swedish winter was abysmally mild this year, but it seems that the easter holidays are making up for the snowfall by laying a thick white blanket.

I'm hoping the snow won't hamper my driving too much or increase the relative difficulty of the driving test. As Bob Marley would sing, "Time alone will tell". In the meantime, I will continue enjoying my trainride, munching on my coffee and sandwiches, looking out the window at the vast white expanses...

...and blog when that gets boring ;)