I Got My Truck Driving Licence

I have no idea if that's the way you call it in English but i don't really care. I spent 2 weeks training like crazy to present my exam to get my driving licence to drive trucks and i got it.

I freaking got it at my first attempt.

When we first started the training, we were in the classroom for about 15 minutes when the instructor said, i'm presenting yourself for the theory in a week. OK. Wait. WHAT? In a WEEK? Like in 7 days? After only 5 days of training here with you? Are you out of your freaking mind?

Needless to say the tension got up one notch. At least for me. There were only 3 of us for that session at the beginning of August and the other 2 were 2 young guys who drove trucks before so i guess they weren't freaking out as much. But that was still a shit load of stuff to learn and know in a short amount of time.

And that's when you notice that we truly are all different people. The two guys maneuvered the truck like they were born driving it whereas i was excelling in all the writing tests and the learnt-by-heart texts we had to say during the exam. So they spent time in the classroom and i spent time on the practice track polishing my reverse (slalom) driving and parallel parking skills!

On the day of the exam, i was sick i could have puked. I didn't. We presented the exam in alphabetical order hence, me first. I also had the horror honor to pick the maneuver we were gonna have to do: right side parallel parking. FUCK.

It all went well until my first attempt at the maneuver. I exceeded the allowed time and i was only half way through. Took a deep breath, drove back to the departure point, put a smile on my face and tried again. All in one go, like a freaking PRO!

We spent the rest of the second week driving the truck in traffic and it went rather well. That's when you're behind the wheel of a 19 tons truck that you come to realize that car-drivers are assholes who believe they own the road. Being on the other side has transformed the way i drive my car now and i like to believe i'm not the potato head i used to be.

I presented the driving exam on Tuesday. I so very nearly avoided a crash with a dick in a delivery van who probably thought that staying behind a school truck for 30 seconds was already outrageous enough and cut me up without a care in the world. 

The Holy Grail came in the mail 2 days later ... 

I am officially a TRUCK DRIVER!

I Drink Boiling Water

When i drink coffee, or tea, or soup, it always has to be boiling hot. I've never really question it, it's always been that way i've liked it and well, it has to be that hot for me to actually enjoy it. I also take showers that are probably hotter than most of anybody's morning coffee cup but that's another story.

So i never really paid more attention than that to the fact that i drink pretty damn hot liquid. Up until my man actually made me notice it. He wondered why. I had no answer, it's just always been that way. 

Then one day, we were at my parent's house and i realized, after a comment my dad made, that my mom also drink super hot coffee. And i thought that, there you go, i must have gotten that from her! Mothers and fathers pass on habits to their children and i did just that. And i immediately thought, well, then, problem solved (supposing that's a problem, which i don't think it is in the first place!)

Drinking boiling water being an established fact now, my man and i didn't fuss about it any longer (nor that we even did before). At least, not up until my aunt invited us over for lunch at her place. She's my mom's older sister. 

We have lunch together, and then she obviously offers coffee or tea at the end. I chose tea and notice that she poured boiling water in my cup. I smiled at my man and told him, see, it's obviously running in the family, we must have gotten that habit from my grand mother then! 

And that's when my aunt told me: you don't know why, on this side of the family, we drink boiling water? I was shocked: WHAT? there's actually a REASON behind it?? AWESOME. I want to know!!

My grand mother was the 12th child of 12 and her mother died when giving birth to her. So she was brought up by one of her elder sister. In 1918, there was this massive flu pandemic in Europe (we call it Spanish flu in French but not too sure it translate that way in English) that took the life of millions of people (between 50 and 100!!) and lasted for about 2 years! After it was "over", one of my great-grand-aunt prided herself on making it through because she always drank her coffee and her soup BOILING HOT. So all her brothers and sisters (my grand mother included, even thought she was just a child back then) started to drink super hot in order not to be infected if that dreadful flu would come back.

Let's be honest, drinking that hot is USELESS. But it's a family tradition that has passed onto 3 generations now. After i heard that story, i even remembered my mom telling me to drink extra hot when i was sick (cuz it would supposedly kill all the germs!!).

I don't know if i'll pass it on one day too. But i love that kind of old story ... It kinda give me a feeling of belonging to a clan that's long gone. Grandma, i think of you everytime i drink my tea. Of you and all this gigantic family of yours that i didn't get the chance to know.

Long life to the boiling water drinkers clan!! :D