Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Road Tripping


Since the day I became a “Legal Alien” of the United States of America, I always thought about getting my driver’s license. I know, I know… It sounds a bit retarded, but I used to have one, back in Italy which I obtained with a good dose of cheating and an old friend at the DMV. It really didn’t make a difference to me since Italians are well known to be really bad drivers anyway. Then I moved to London and I didn’t even dare to drive on the other side of the road, (it was hard enough trying not to kill anybody during my occasional errands in my own country!) so my poor license was stashed at the bottom of a drawer and eventually completely lost.

After I met my husband, we were both making fun of each other because neither of us had a proper driver’s license. He is the typical New Yorker who uses taxis, trains and the occasional bus around town and I pretty much like to walk everywhere.

Needless to say that since Luca came along, I have been dreaming about these beautiful long road trips we would take over the weekends (traffic? what traffic?...in my dreams there is no such a thing), while my husband is napping in the passenger seat, Luca is happily chewing on his stuffed cow, Floyd and Norah Jones is playing in the background.
I am behind the wheel (Oh Lord!), happily humming the sweet tunes and taking in the beautiful view of the countryside.

Yes, it’s because of this dream that every single week I pick up my little DMV book, ready to study for the test and inevitably…I get bored to death!
Then I start bitching and moaning to my husband on why we never drive anywhere and why HE doesn’t have a driver’s license and blah…blah and this is when he starts making fun of the way I drive the stroller.

Ok, I have to admit that my poor son, Luca, must have motion sickness every time I push him around in his Bugaboo. I am the kind of person who likes to multi-task. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m good at it. I like to talk, eat my protein bar, touch up my lipgloss and occasionally paying attention to where I’m going. So after running over my husband’s feet a few times and crashed into a couple of trees…let’s just say he doesn’t really trust me as a driver.

At the end of the day, I guess we are just a couple of lazy people stuck on public transportation for the rest of our lives…or until we realize that with all the money we waste in taxis we could have own a Lamborghini.

DCP: Don’t be such a goofball like me and study for your license if you don’t have one!

3 comments:

Brittany said...

This cracks me up!
I'm not sure what you know about Ohio, but whatever you've heard is probably not completely right. We do actually have "real" cities and there aren't cows everywhere. We can however drive 10 minutes, and be out in the middle of nowhere. So, needless to say, you have to drive here. I don't know what I would do if I had to take a taxi or ride a bus, I don't think I've either done either. And, you don't just yell for a cab here- you actually have to pick up the phone and call for one.

Anyway- so if I want to go to the store or a mall, I have to drive there. If I walked, it would take me 5 years to get there.

Driving is freeing... and the tests are ridiculous! They really aren't hard, it's honestly (mostly) common sense! Go get your Lamborghini, girl!!! :)

Cool Mama said...

Yes...thank you! This is what i need...a big kick in the butt!! I'm mostly worried about the road test and trying not to kill the examiner.
And I can't even picture myself driving through the streets of NY without taking people down like bowling pins!

CM

Mariana said...

Im working on my drivers license myself. Before moving to The Netherlands, I lived always in big cities. And, like with you in NY, what's the point of having a car when that would imply paying for a parking place, and driving stressfully through the pakced city streets.
Now I live in suburbia, so I need a car. I can walk everywhere (though I used to) dragging baby, diper bag, my bad and all that jazz... so Im on it. Bore to death... and boy is it expensive! 50 US$ per lesson!
Now... excellent... Floyd... oh yeah....