It is the driving test. The examiner insists I would have had enough points to pass, if it hadn't been for the automatic disqualification. On one particular stretch of road, I looked for but didn't see a speed limit sign, so I went with the flow of traffic, as every Joe Blow I ever discussed driving with told me I should do. It turned out the flow of traffic was 10 mph over the speed limit. Law violation, automatic flunk. Daughter tells me, "Yeah, people speed on that road all the time." I have had people tell me, essentially, "Screw the law and go as fast as everybody else is, because going too slow is just as dangerous as speeding." Not when you're taking the test, obviously, but as I say, I didn't see a speed limit sign. Now I know.

Elsewhere on the net, somebody else brought up the topic of other drivers passing her like she's sitting still and then giving her dirty looks, when she's going exactly the speed limit. Many a driver in that thread voiced the opinion, "I'd be the one giving the dirty looks. Just get out of my way, please." The question I had asked was, "If I'm going the speed limit and everybody else is speeding, how is it I'm the one who's wrong?" And the answer, "If the law is inherently wrong, then following it...." Those were the poster's exact words.

My stomach is tangled in knots about it right now, with the thought that if it isn't that next time, it will be something else. And even if by some fluke I pass, I'll be the one getting the dirty looks, and I'll see all kinds of complaints online about how people just hate morons who drive too slow.

I also bombed parallel parking. In the lessons, I had gotten it right on the first shot, and then I joked, "That means I'm going to totally muck it up on the test, right?" It was supposed to be funny, but it turned out I did exactly that. I've worked out in my head that I turned the wheel too sharply when I backed around the car. Scraped the rear tire against the curb. Six points off in this state, wouldn't have meant failure in and of itself. Backing around a corner was also wide, but not a total write-off.

PS: NOT that I would do this on the test, but my own daughter, last time I went out with her, coached me, "If the speed limit is 35, that means you can go 40." Legally, or even as far as what would be enforced, is that good advice, or should I ignore it?

PS again: I've just seen where the question was asked on yet another site, "Should you follow the speed limit, or the flow of traffic?" One responder summed it up nicely: "What the hell is a speed limit?" These people have their driver's licenses. I don't. So I'm in no position to criticize them, am I?