Staggering Back

Yesterday was not good.  I failed my driving test and I lost my phone.  I admit it, I wallowed in self pity. 

I could have cried about the test.  My instructor was in the back and confirmed what the examiner said - I could have gone a little quicker on some of the country roads.  That wasn't what failed me.  I clipped the kerb.  I was approaching an unfamiliar roundabout, I was checking out the exits, and I lost concentration.  I never clip the kerb during lessons.  I'm always fine.  It was so random.  And I didn't panic, I just carried on.  What else could I do?  I was approaching a large roundabout on a very busy road.  I just dealt with it. 

I drove back from the test (under supervision, of course) and there was an interesting moment when a lorry tried to pull out in front of me when a bus was in the other lane of a congested road.  I handled it.  So I feel that once I have passed my test, I'll be okay taking bear around.  I'm not a brilliant driver, or an experienced driver, but I'm okay.  Now all I have to do is worry about how I'm going to manage in tight car parks. 

As for the phone, I dropped it at Morrisons.  I kept ringing and ringing and finally they managed to answer it before the voice mail cut in (it was locked away) and so bear and I trekked down to the store, thanked the staff profusely and trekked back.  On the bright side, I picked up some of that soup mix which is chopped butternut squash and carrot with ginger and garlic, and I add some lentils and some stock and we had it for dinner.  It was a success. 

Also, back to being full of cold.  I have a sore throat, which is remarkable as my tonsils were severely pruned when I was younger.  I'll be glad when I've shaken this off. 

Writing stuff - I posted a while ago that I had a story accepted into an anthology.  Today I got the first piece of art and here it is...

It is my first foray into steampunk (check out Phoebe Darqueling's free book about steampunk if you are curious) and I had such fun!  I'll share more as I know more.  I know that there are some seriously talented authors included and I feel very privileged to be included.