My chauvinistic driving instructor

I was talking to my boss at work today and I was telling her why I quit driving lessons when I was 18 (aside from the fact that my concentration was shot to bits from drinking and bi polar disorder)
I told her that my old instructor said that "girls who can do two things at once can never learn to drive" and how he would say I wouldn't get put forward for my test if I couldn't predict the traffic before him (an experienced instructor who guided people ten hours a day !!) . He said that I had to lift my head as high as I could and look into the horizon...this is where my boss stopped and went " No, no when you first learn to drive you have look at the road and what is right in front of you then you can do what he says" so she completely understood my dismay.
He would stop in the middle of my lessons and talk about the plants in peoples gardens like sweet peas. So one lesson I lost it and put on the hand break and refused to move.
He told me that when driving on a straight road I had to move my eyes like ping pong balls to see every single gate and opening. Again my boss frowned and said "if you keep your eyes on the road, they will automatically pick up movement such as a kid crossing the road without looking, he sounds like a prig..that would be too tiring for anyone to look around that much how strange"
I stayed with him for about 30 lessons, and I thought I had came that far I may as well dig my heels in..
But I turned to the bottle and lost all my confidence.

Now three years later I have had 15 lessons and I am doing my test next week...I am psyched really...well until I told my fiancé.
He said I could drive the car by all means ...BUT ...and it's a big but....you cannot afford to pay the £800 excess if you crash so he condescendingly said "but it is your choice...I am not trying to put you off.....

Your fiancé said that to you umm...wow ...just wow

That is crappy that he was an idiot. honestly if I was being taught by him,and knew that the way he was teaching it was wrong and already knew the correct way, I would of personally just played along with his bs until it was over and then gone about driving how I know I am supposed to.

But 30 lessons? And now 15 more? Holy cow. That seems like a LOT. Do you HAVE to do that to get a license where you live?

Where I live, when you turn 18 you take a 5 minute driving test around a couple blocks near the dmv, and take a fairly short and easy written test and that's it. I studied the test book for a few days, and had already been driving (unlicensed) since I was 15, so it was no hassle. I'm surprised you had to do about 45 lessons before taking the test. Woah.

No not 45. I took the 15 lessons three to four years later so I needed 15 before I needed to take my test because I never drove at all after the first 30 but he was taking me for a fool. But you don't expect it in this day and age for someone- a professional civil servant - to simply try and milk as much money out of you.
15 lessons is very good. The average amount of lessons is about 25 but I will Google it out of curiosity.
My mum's friend had 100 as she was very nervous but she did it. In Ireland you cannot drive above 40 miles an hour for the first yaear after you pass your test. It sounds strict but it is probably a good idea. My ex fiance and his friends considered themselves boy racers. They crashed and the police officer said he had never seen as much carnage and no fatalities. His friend broke his back.
My father would say you learn to drive properly after you pass your test as you have to make your choices on your own.
So no I can write off the first 30 lessons. I drank all the time when I took them so it's a good job I didn't pass. I couldnt have afforded a car either even on full-time wages. And my parents wouldn't have got me one. I did not plan to stay in that job forever so if I could drive to improved my prospects.
I only decided to re take my driving lessons because I got a job and I had to operate this machine and my boss compared it to driving as there was multiple operations to preform at same time and she was like oh you can't drive can you and I have a bit of a natural competitive spirit.

I can confirm that 30 is actually the average estimate that a UK driving instructor maintains

After having time to speculate, I believe that drinking habit may have been to blame for me having to abandon my driving ambitions. Plus the fact that my bi-polar was due to run rampant and put me in "that place." I am sorry for trying to pass blame. I guess it is natural to blame others sometimes. My neighbour at time asked if I would go back and finish them when I was out of hospital but she said right away that I had lost a lot of confidence. That is a big thing when driving it is often about confidence more than ability. That is how much of the world operates. People with oodles of confidence often surpass those with more ability who are forced to blend into the back round. Then there is me who fell through the net. Poster child for how being intelligent and wanting to help others was never enough.

Ok maybe chauvinist is harsh. I just should have trusted my own judgement and jumped ship and tried a different instructor with a different perspective. I was young