not as much to do with trading cards .. but what has distracted me from trading cards over the last 2 days.

I'm scheduled to take my British driving Theory and Hazard Exam on Saturday ..

I drove for 10 years in the US, but when I moved over here, didn't need a car and let the license expire. I don't really like driving except for open roads anyway (i loved driving in Southern Utah) .. but only open roads in England are winding country lanes with signs on them claining how many people died in the past year driving over the speed limit on them. So I'm not a big fan of driving.

Well .. the wife bought a car a few months ago ... mainly to visit my mother in Law and to help with the shopping. But started giving me the guilt trips that I should get a license so I can drive (when we go to my inlaws or take her shopping of course .. grr ..)

anyway.

New to the UK exam is something called the Hazard test. Its like a video game .. you watch a video shot out of someone's windshield and you are supposed to click the mouse whenever you see a "potential" hazard. For each video clip, one of the "potential" hazards turns into a real hazard (as in a Bus cuts you off or a drunk stumbles in front of your car) and you are graded on how quickly you identify the real hazard.

I have a simulator at home .. and it stinks !! I get a passing score each time, but barely. It allows you to review your actions .. and It seems that I begin to identify some of the hazards a second too soon !! before the scoring begins.

As in .. 50 feet up the road, a woman is pushing a baby carriage and looking to cross, but chatting with her friend - so I click on her as a "potential" Hazard. when you get about 10 feet away - she's done chatting and darts out into the middle of the road.

The scoring works on 1-5 points. Somehow, when I spotted her at 50 feet away and clicked, I got 0 points - the scoring started when she was at 40 feet (how was I to know until I reviewed the answers) .. and ticked down to 1 when she was 10 feet away.

.. and others .. like a bus diving into traffic .. the scoring starts when they are soo far off the low-resolution video that its jsut a blip ..

aarrrge ... as long as I pass !!