My idle (and quite dull) life spilled over into the year of 1980. I took up driving lessons with the help of a Chinese shopkeeper whom we knew as Ah Guan. My old dad's Fiat 124ST was the car that I learnt to drive with. We went to the one end of the aerodrome where it was safe to learn and practice (the one which lead to Kampong Tekkah and Aulong). I noticed that there were one or two other cars with learner drivers there too.
After several weeks of practice, I gained confidence in how to drive the car. However, Ah Guan suggessted that I enroll at a Driving School to get proper lessons, especially on how to park. My mom agreed and he took me to register with a Driving School in Taiping. Upon registration, I was informed by the elderly woman clerk that I will have to prepare to sit for the Road Regulations Test first. The test will be held in one month time at Ipoh JPJ. I was given a book to read and understand all the Road Signs and the safe driving guides.
With nothing else to do, I studied the Road Signs booklet and was able to identify every one of them by heart. The test day came and I was prepared and confident. I boarded an old Datsun 120Y (the early, boxy one) with two other young chaps and the instructor drove us to Ipoh JPJ. When we arrived, we were ushered to wait for our turn at the two or three rooms for the test. My name was called and I entered the room. The method of the test back then was, the testor opened a page that had 20 road signs, pointed to each of them and the candidate had to describe the rules in detail. I got them all correct and passed. Two weeks later I received my Learner Driver's License.
The following week, I began the actual driving lessons. I was scheduled to one hour of driving lessons per week. My instructor was an elderly Chinese man in his late 40's and he usually had a toothpick in his mouth. His breath always smelled of cigarettes. I got bored to be learning the street drive around the Taiping Lake Gardens. After my third lesson, I asked the lady clerk that I would like to learn how to park and the uphill drive quickly. I request so that I could get my Driver's License quickly. That gentle old man of my instructor changed into a very abusive, cussing man. Wow! Just because I asked to expedite my driving lessons.
For all the heaps of abusive cussing he threw at me for whatever mistakes I made in the Parking and Uphill sessions, I just kept quiet. I was determined to pass the driving test on my first attempt.
After eight weeks of lessons, I registered for the Driving Test. That old man instructor expressed his doubts, that I would not pass. The lady clerk said something in Chinese, "Let him try. After all, he is paying for the lessons and the test. Not you". That comment made him madder still.
When the test day came, I was in a confident mood. I did all the tests smoothly, the parking was good, the uphill was perfect and the emergency brake was tight. Hell yes! I passed all the tests on my first attempt. That old man just kept quiet after he saw my results. In two weeks time, I received my full Driver's License.
Those were the times, if you pass, you would get a full drivers license, not a two-year Probation one. I felt proud to have that Driver's License.
Finally, I could drive my old Dad's car without fear. I became my mother's chauffer after that. I would drive her to the market, visit her friends or our relatives around Taiping, Ipoh, Bagan Serai and Parit Buntar.
This went on until I got my first real job as a Bank Clerk in Kuala Lumpur in 1981.
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