Circle of Success - Earned a UK Driving Licence!

I did it! I'm so proud to have earned my UK driving licence. It wasn't easy and in case it helps you, and gives you a bit of a laugh, here's my experience:

There are 3 tests that you have to pass. Two of them are taken together, then there's a third test. The first two tests are called 'theory' and 'hazard perception'. These two tests are taken at a local testing centre, where you have to schedule weeks in advance, then sit in a small room with approximately 10 other people quietly taking the test around you.

I failed the theory and hazard perception test the first time. With over 20 years of driving experience, I thought I could go in and 'wing it'. Well, that didn't work. The test has 50 multiple choice questions and you need to get 43 correct to pass. I scored a 40. During the test you can 'flag' a question, so my little code to myself was 'flag a question you're unsure of, then go back to it at the end'. I flagged 17 questions, so right away I knew 'uhoh'. In fact, I flagged the first 10 questions in a row!

The hazard perception is like a video game. They play 14 short video clips on a computer monitor. You click the mouse as soon as there's a hazard. The faster you identify the hazard and click the mouse, the more points you earn. You need 44 points (I think) out of 75 possible to pass. I score a 52 on my first try.

After failing, I put my pride down and thoroughly studied for the test. I probably spent about 15 hours taking online practice tests, watching youtube videos, reading online notes and the best help was an online book that I bought. The book had hundreds and hundreds of practice questions. I answered every question in my head, then flipped to the answer in the back. If I got it wrong, I wrote down the question and the correct answer. It took a long time, but I started to learn the gist of the questions - and key facts to know - such as stopping distances, types of crosswalks, unique road signs, etc.



I felt much more confident going into the second test attempt. Not to brag, but I scored a 49 out of 50 on the theory, and a 70 out of 75 on the hazard perception - love it! Bought myself some gourmet chocolate to celebrate :)

Now comes the nerve-wracking part. The practical test. Get in a car and have an observer watch your every move. If you make ONE major 'fault', you fail. You can make up to 15 minor faults.

I paid for a professional driving lesson and flooded him with questions. He gave me feedback about my driving. I talked to lots of friends and I looked up youtube videos and pass-rate statistics. 51% of first-time practical tests are failed (average across the UK)! Some locations are as high as 61% fail rate! I honestly figured I had no chance on my first try, but I did my best to keep a positive mental state.

Taking the practical test seemed to be a perfect parallel to some people's experience of work life. I arrived at a waiting room with zero information and assumed I waited there until I was called. I talked to the woman next to me who had the same guess. That reminds me a bit of most onboarding processes. Someone eventually came out and called my name, I signed a few documents and he took me outside.

Just like youtube prepared me for, he did an eye test which consisted of reading a registration (license plate) from about 50 yards away. We then walked around the car for the 'show me, tell me'. Again, well prepared by youtube, I was aware of the 19 different questions they could ask, and all of the appropriate answers. I was asked one 'show me' and one 'tell me' straight off the video - maybe similar to how glassdoor can help you prepare for your first days at a new company.

We got in the car, I drove wherever I was told by a person that I didn't know. I didn't know where we were going or why we were going there, pretty sure there was no rhyme or reason. I was very nervous because I had my eye on the prize, a piece of paper at the end. I barely knew what he wanted me to do, but I sure felt very busy and anxious doing a lot of work, trying to be perfect. All along I was pretty sure we'd end up right where we started and I wondered if all my work was going well at all. Sure enough, when we ended up exactly where we started and he said 'what a minute whilst I grade your performance', I felt the joy of success!

I feel quite lucky that my work experience is very different from that, but I do hear many others that feel that way. I'm passionate about knowledge management, organisation development and several related fields and now I'm all set to drive around and experience even more of that joy!

KidZania

My daughters and I visited a place called KidZania today. It's amazing! Basically, it's a city for kids. It's a hands-on learning environment for 4ish-11ish year olds to learn career skills.

You start by getting a passport, you're then recommended to choose a degree at the university. You even pass a test to earn the degree! With those in hand, you now wander the city and choose from about 40 different shops. In most every shop you can spend money (kidzos, which you were handed 50 at the beginning) and/or you can train for a job in the shop. 

You have options from aerospace to engineering to music to art to design to technology to everything in between. There's even a bank to setup a bank account and keep your money safe.

Adults are allowed in the city, but the shops are for kids only. It's a nice challenge for us to "let them fly" :)

Both of my daughters loved it and are already asking to return. We'll be back!

Reflections on Greece

We wrapped up our trip to Greece in the southwest of the country. The area was called Peloponnese. Before traveling to Greece, it was a pretty big decision to choose between the north and south of the country. The north had Delphi and Meteora, the south had Sparta, Olympia, Corinth and several other attractions. We chose the south this time.

We stayed in a town called Nafplio. We asked people in Santorini about it, one person said it was great, the other had never heard of it. 

Nafplio is a great port town. It has a peninsula shaped area that rises up out of the sea. There's a main city square and two shopping streets. There's a separate street on the water that's lined with restaurants. 

It's less than a 2 hour drive from Athens, and it makes for a great central point to most of Peloponnese. We took it easy on our first day there and asked locals what to do. The boardwalk and castle were recommended - and they were great! The boardwalk was one of my all time favorites and the castle was so good!

There are 999 steps to the castle, it's quite a workout. Palamidi Castle is the name of it if you want to google it. 

On our second day, we drove less than two hours to a place called Mystras. It'sa mystical place. 

I'll try to let some of the photos above speak for themselves. We stopped at a restaurant on the way up, had great food, then wandered the upper and lower areas of Mystras. 

The next day we went to Corinth. We started at the Corinth Canal since it's such a major feat to have built that canal. They used to hand carry boats over the four miles of land there because it was better than sailing all the way around Greece??

We then went into the town of ancient Corinth. It was smaller than I expected but still quite meaningful to walk an area that I heard is 7000 years old.

Our big finale was to drive up to acrocorinth, which is the castle and town at the top of the mountain. I was pretty surprised to not see much up there but again loved it.

I found the people and culture to be very kind in all of the places we visited. We met taxi drivers, waiters, waitresses, hotel staff, shop owners, and even locals in city centres. Given the current situation and asking them about it, they were so great. One shop owner said it best when he said "some days are good, some days are bad, we do our best". I think he wisely meant it broader than days, I think he meant days, weeks, months, years, decades, maybe even longer...

The food was great. We found the portions larger than expected and everything was flavourful. Desserts were especially good. Gyros seemed abut better than souvlaki in most places. Lots of olives. And the wine is amazing! 

The vistas were fantastic - lots of mountains, oceans, and thousands of years of history. 

Driving in Greece was the easiest driving of any country for me. Very few people on the road, relatively well marked signs and very few confusing intersections. There seems to be a culture of hovering over the right shoulder if you know you're going below the speed limit so that people can easily pass you - nice!

In terms of language, if you can read the Greek alphabet, you're in pretty good shape for reading signs and menus. Kalimera means good morning and efcharisto means thanks, you can almost get by on that :) 

Really enjoyed the trip, hope to come back someday! 

Santorini is a stunning island

As a truly fortunate family, we spent 3 days on a Greek island. We heard about Kos and Mykonos (and Rhodes and Crete), we decided on Santorini. It's a short 30 minute flight from Athens.

As you may have heard, Santorini is an absolutely beautiful island. It was formed by a volcanic explosion and the volcano is still there in the middle. It's quite a unique feeling to see the volcano surrounded by water then surrounded by land. There are white sand, red sand and black sand beaches due to the volcanic chemicals. There are two main towns - Fira and Oia (pronounced EE uh). 

Oia is full of white circular houses and blue domed churches, it's beautiful. We wandered the nearly endless walkways full of open shops and every step seeking more beautiful. Ocean views and nice people are just everywhere. 

Since we were there during a time of migrants and country bankruptcy, I asked  several locals what they thought and how they felt about it. According to the locals, Santorini appeared to be unaffected by the tough times.

Our hotel was in Oia and it was probably the greatest we've ever had. It had a jacuzzi overlooking the ocean and several rooms inside. There were also two decks, it was crazy. They brought breakfast to the room each morning and then we'd wander around the island.

Sunsets are a big deal on this island. Restaurants, shops and people talk about where to watch the sunset. The castle seems to be the popular.

We made it down to Fira one day. It has donkeys that you can ride down to the beach. It's also full of shops. 

The bus system works pretty well. We also took the bus down to the red beach. We thought you could walk from the red beach to the white beach, but we learned it's not possible. We didn't make it to the black beach, the red beach actually seemed like pretty dark sand to us.

I'm sure many of the Greek islands are beautiful, but I can definitely recommend Santorini for anyone that likes a relaxed environment with good food and stunning views.

First time in Greece

It's half term, which means lots of people are taking the week to reflect and relax. We thought we'd do that on our first trip to Greece! It's a 3 hr flight from London and it's a 2 hour time difference.

We've found that taxi drivers actually give you a bit of a preview as to the culture of the area. We had a very nice taxi driver, even after midnight. It's true, the people everywhere here have turned out to be the highlight - so thoughtful and nice!

Our first morning started with a walk to Hadrians Arch. It's hard to include all the stories of history here, sorry to not add much of that. Less than 100 yards from the arch is the Temple of Zeus. The arch seemed to be about 75% still in tact, whereas Zeus' temple was more like 15% still intact.

Then you walk through a great shopping area known as Plaka on your way to the Acropolis. The road is cobblestone and doesn't really have cars on it. It's just wide enough for a car and the shops feel like stands even though they're in buildings- lots of wide open entryways I guess. Food, clothes, jewelry, sculptures, pots, and plates are what I saw. I learned about old and new bronze, and alabaster. 

Then you arrive at the foot of the Acropolis and of course it's awe inspiring.  Imagine how many thousands of years and stories have taken place right here. You do have to pay to go up, it was around €20 for four of us. 

We walked through two stadiums on the way up. One is called Dionysus and the other is Herodeon, I think. Dionysus let's you walk through most of the "seats" which are marble-looking stone rows. The Herodeon is fenced off but you can see into it. It looks fully intact, compared to the 40% intactness of Dionysus.

We ate local donuts, souvlaki, gyros and baklava - all being delicious!

The next morning we woke up and walked to another shopping and historical area known as Anafiotika. The shops were more full sized and the streets had more cars on them, but still a great area. There's a photo you see of that area online but I must admit we never really found that central area, which I guess goes to show how many side roads are available in the area.

Then we walked to an area called Ancient Agora. This is a gated area where they're protecting history of over 5000 years. It's mostly low level stones and ruins and yet you can absolutely get a feel for what it used to be like. The two main areas to see are the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos. Both are fantastic rectangular buildings completed surrounded by pillars and columns. The temple is empty and blocked inside, but you can walk through the Stoa which is full of pottery and many other artifacts from 2-5000 years ago. Amazing.

We walked back through Plaka that night since we loved it and now we're off to the next part of Greece...

More info soon...

Wedding in America

I flew back to NYC for a wedding. Several times now I've connected in Iceland. You can tell how beautiful it is from the plane. The airline is apparently tied to tourism because in a brilliant way, you can stay in Iceland for a few days and they consider it a "long layover", there's no additional flight charges. I'm hoping to try that one day. Having only been in the airport, I can only vouch for their chocolate, which is excellent.

My first night I stayed with the bride and groom, how great is that. They're so wonderful. I felt a little bad as if I were interrupting important last minute planning, but we sure did have a great time and they reassured me it was great.

After they dropped me off the second day, I walked to a Thai restaurant to compare US curry to British curry. It wasn't bad and somehow I got the entire restaurant involved in a conversation about "individual purpose". Granted there were only 7 people in there, but still, pretty fun. 

Then I ran into my parents and we had great chats and food too. The next day I spent great time with my brothers and their wives. Loved it, we went to a small brewery.

We then rushed to the wedding and had a great time. The venue was a manor house. We saw the bride and groom out in the fields so we took pictures from a distance. Then the wedding started and we learned the couple in the field was a different bride and groom, so we deleted those photos :)

The wedding was like a movie. Those two are in love and the event was flawless. Lots of great food, great people, dancing, music and love.

The party continued late into the night back at the hotel - with the bride and groom being the last ones to go to bed!

The next day I met with a great old friend in NYC. We sat in a bar, watched American football and caught up for hours. Fantastic.

I then used my fav city mapper app to get to the airport and now I'm back home in the UK!

Psychology

I visited Sigmund Freuds museum this past weekend. I've always enjoyed psychology and my work in org development is bringing me back to it.

The museum is the last house that he lived in. Special place. Just outside central London, nice neighbourhood. 

You walk to the back of the house to buy a £7 ticket, which is good for a year. The ground floor has "his couch" in it. It really is awe inspiring to stand there and think about the work that happened on that couch. 

The second floor has some of his daughters work. The landing on the stairs has great energy, not sure how to explain it.

I realise that visiting a house/museum really helps me to memorise and remember someone. I now have visuals to help me remember most of Freuds amazing work!

I wanted to then run over to the Carl Jung club. I needed to get home though, so I jumped into Tavistock for 2 seconds. The Tavistock Centre is 2 blocks from his house and they still practice psychotherapy there. The Tavistock Institute is about 6 tube stops from there.

 I met 3 really nice people at the museum. I think there's something "open" about psychology people, or maybe we just had a topic in common to discuss.