I just can't seem to get the hang of it. The breeziness of it. The one-handedness of it. All I want is to stay in 2nd with both hands gripped around the wheel. But the engine always cries out for more. Even in-between roundabouts, it wants to be in 3rd or 4th. And once it goes over 50 mph, it's not happy with anything but 5th.I hate 5th. I cringe as I try to push and shove the stubborn stick into the top right-hand corner, holding my breath, waiting for the engine to cry out and leap like a wounded animal.
How do the French make it look so easy? They whip through chicanes and minuscule countryside roundabouts in their toy-like Peugeots and Renaults as though they were born driving.
"Il te manque de la confiance en soi," my instructor concludes after another grueling lesson of priorité à droite and démarrage en côte. That or an automatic car. . .
Cary Grant and Grace Kelly as John Robie and Frances Stevens. [Online image] 1955.
