My regular readers know that I began knitting again so that my hands would be busy and I would refrain from clutching spasmodically at the car door handle as #1 Son learns to drive. I’m happy to report that #1 Son is turning into a decent driver. While I still knit in the car, the number of stitches dropped while grabbing for support or stomping on the non-existent passenger-side brake has lessened considerably.

#1 Son passed the written test necessary to get a learners permit on the first try.

Then there’s Seo Sang-moon of South Korea. After 272 tries, the 70-year-old repairman has finally passed the Korean written driver’s license examination. Seo can’t read, you see, so he used the exam questions to teach himself the “rules of the road,” paying some $1000 in fees to do so. Test officials have been cheering him on over the last 5 years, and are thrilled to see him finally pass.

I bet they are!

Seo is now preparing for the road test and discussing with his wife what kind of car to buy. Said Seo:

Driving seems a bit hard. But after trying 271 times to pass the oral exam, what do I have to be afraid of?

Well… other Korean drivers might have cause to worry a bit… I wonder if there’s a limit on the number of times one can take the road test?

Closer to home, #1 Son is now enrolled in a driver’s ed course, which means that I am now learning every time we are together what an unsafe driver I am. I will be happy when he finally reaches the lofty goal of possessing his license, and the spate of driving habit corrections will slow to a trickle. June 23rd, but who’s counting?

And less the gentle reader wonder… I have had a driver’s license for nearly 35 years. In that time, cars I owned have been involved in 5 accidents — and during one of those I wasn’t even there, as the passenger side of the car was wiped out in a parking lot by a jerk who neglected to leave contact info. Of the other four, one (the first) was my fault and four were not. I’ve had one ticket — for speeding. I was going down hill in a manual transmission car and was bit distracted by #1 Son (small at the time and riding in the back seat) insisting that I remember all of the reindeer’s names in order. The nice officer clocked me going 31 in a 25 MPH zone. I was pulled over once because my tags had expired, but since I had the tags (I’d forgotten to put them on when I got home from the DMV), all was forgiven.

I’m a pretty safe driver, #1 Son’s opinion notwithstanding. At least I think I could probably stack up fairly well when compared to Seo Sang-moon.

On the knitting front, I made it to the ankles of the Wildfoote socks last night. Now it’s just around and around until done. I’ll try to get a picture posted.