Driving like a muppet

My driving test is two days away now. I've had a couple of driving lessons this week. On Monday evening, I had a "driving assessment" to gauge my skills. It actually made me quite nervous about the test because, though I'm very comfortable handling the car safely, I do have a few habits that aren't up to DSA standards. For instance, crossing my hands when turning the wheel (i.e.- the hand on the right swinging all the way over to the left or vice versa). You're supposed to "feed the wheel" instead, which feels really clunky and ungainly. The other thing I do is often rest my hand on the gear-shift. It's supposed to snap back to the steering wheel immediately after shifting. And you're always supposed to check your mirrors before you signal to turn. None of these things are immediate-fail triggers -- they are only minor errors which equate to a error "tick mark" on the form -- but if you have several of these in one area or you get more than 15 of them, you automatically fail. I'm fairly confident that I can get through it without committing a "Serious" or "Dangerous" error (automatic failure), but it's going to be a hard battle to get through without committing minor errors. So... I'm practicing, practicing, practicing.

I had another driving lesson this afternoon and I do feel a bit better about the whole thing. There were only a couple of times that I crossed my hands while turning, but I think I have the snap-back-to-the-wheel under control. Next thing to polish is frequent mirror checks and that kind of thing. I'll be using the driving instructor's car for the test because it's easier than try to get our car up to spec for the test (L-plates, proper head-rests, and a suction-cup rear-view mirror for the passenger side). Plus, you have to show up with someone who is over 21 and has held a full license for more than 3 years. I tried to find someone at work to do that, but no luck. So, I just have to pay the instructor to do it. He's going to pick me up an hour before the test to give me a quick warm-up lesson, then we head over to the test centre for the 40-minute test. Hopefully, I'll drive away victorious. Otherwise, I'll have to take the test again (another £40).