When I moved further away from work, so I had a ten minute drive rather than a ten minute walk, I thought that one of the effects it would have would be that I'd get more confident at driving. Which I have, I just hate it even more.

My car doesn't help. This morning it refused to go up a hill at 30mph in fourth gear because it was raining. This evening it did its thing where because I'd stopped it didn't want to go and sort of stalled and sort of moved a bit and there's nothing you can do about it (although I discovered putting the clutch back to the floor helped no end). That's what the mechanic called 'lumpy'. That was because it had rained all day.

At the weekend I drove home and back on roads full of lorries (one of the motorways had the whole left lane and half the middle lane full of them) and mostly I got stuck behind them because I can't pass lorries going uphill because I can't go faster than them.

So it's just as well really that the car industry is desperate for people to buy cars because I really want one that goes uphill, in the rain, in the cold, doesn't have choke and I can reach the pedals without needing extra cushions. Everything else optional (but I'd quite like power steering and air conditioning and electric windows, so I don't have to decide how hot it's going to be before I start driving).

I just have to get over this fear of driving strange cars that'll be so different from my nineteen and a half year old car.