Last week, I finally bit the bullet and tried to get a New York State drivers license. Now I consider myself a pretty damn good driver, I passed my test in England at the ripe old age of 17 and have been driving in the States since 1989. I've received only two speeding tickets, both in the same summer balmy evening in South Caroline, in 1989 and on the same highway, 20 minutes apart (you would have thought I would have slowed down after the first pulling over, but clearly had did not).
I went online to the DMV, and was dismayed to learn that in the beautiful state of New York, British licenses AREN'T recognised (yet Canadian ones are?!) and I had to start from scratch.
It involved a drive to Coney Island, land of the hot dog, an interminable wait to get a number, an even longer wait to await that number being called, which led you to another room where I was subjected to a 20 minute multiple choice test. Now I haven't taken a test in about 20 years so I do admit to struggling a bit. Waiting for the results took one hour and twenty minutes (I do not jest), I PASSED (thank heaven, I got four wrong out of 20, you are allowed up to six wrong), then another endless queue to get my photo taken, only to discover I was in the wrong queue! By now my patience was running quite thin (as yours might be if reading this!) Hopped into the correct lane - 20 minutes or so later and voila - my mug was pictured. ANOTHER wait to pay (about 40 minutes this time) and a total of 4 hours and 35 minutes later I was out of there and crawling back on the BQE to pay the sitter who watched my children so I could go through this torture. $60 to the sitter, $80 for my permit, $20 parking and $20 to replace my book, Three Cups of Tea that is sitting somewhere in the Coney Island Department of Motor Vehicles.
I wish I could say this was the end of getting a New York license, but alas it's not. I now have to attend a FIVE hour seminar at a US Auto School, and then schedule an actual road test. I hate to sound so American but 'Are you EFFIN kidding me"???!! What about the 23 years I have been driving so far - does this account for nothing? Apparently, frustratingly, not!
I could remind you about another early morning when we both got tickets ... in fact weren't you driving so fast they waned to get you for dangerous driving??? x
ReplyDeleteWould also like to remind you of who did all the parking of your station wagon when we were first in USA!??
ReplyDeleteHi Larissa,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog and enjoying your insights. I wonder if you might like to take part in our video guide to New York which we will be filming early December.
I'm a former BBC correspondent and created Lookseecity.com two years ago to provide video guides for expats. It's all about using video to show people what life is like from catching the subway to buying a loaf of bread.
You can see the front page of the site at www.lookseecity.com and I can give you access to some of our existing guides so you can see how it works. At the moment the guides are available to Company HR departments, but in the next couple of months we'll be re-launching with an edition for individuals.
If you might be interested , would you mind contacting me via the contact form on the Lookseecity site and I'll get straight back to you.
Thanks
Jon Devitt