Not as bad as some of the past photos…

What is going on out there today? I’ve been offline for quite some time — went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my license this afternoon and, well, talk about tedious. Actually, I wasn’t there as long as I thought I would be.

In NC, renewal is now every 8 years (it was 4 the last time I did this), and you have to take a vision test and street sign recognition test to renew. The vision test was a breeze, the sign test was as well, though out of 12, I got one wrong (“No Passing Zone” – you are only shown the shape of the sign, no print). What was really odd –and what says a lot about the amount of ESL drivers applying for licenses — is that some of the signs did have the text (“No Parking”).

Kate says that in Alabama you don’t have to renew your license by taking a vision or sign exam? Is that true elsewhere?

Way back in the stone ages when I first took the driving test to get my license (I lived in NYC at the time), the written test was paper (everything is computerized now), and as I recall I flunked the road test 2x.

I don’t remember what I did to fail, but you know, teens aren’t particularly good drivers. When I did finally pass, I had the pleasure of legally driving our 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon.  In my post about Time’s ‘The 50 Worst Cars of All Time’ feature last year. I described the torture experience of driving that vehicle.

Oh so sh*tty – it shook uncontrollably when you “floored it” up to 55 mph. Bucket vinyl seats that scorched your *ss in the summer. No A/C. Not that the engine could have handled A/C; it probably would have required you to put your feet down like Fred Flintstone and pedi-power it up a hill.

This car was such a beater that one day (we were living in Brooklyn at the time – late 70s), I came out to go to the store, got in the car and turned the key…nothing. I tried again…nothing. I got out of the car and popped the hood. Someone had stolen the battery. Not the car, the battery.