Day 68: Like-minded Mondays and doing a driving licence

Do you ever get that feeling - I am "surrounded" by people who are not exactly like-minded?

I get that on some Monday mornings when I open my social media accounts and see my feeds flooded with variety of versions of  "I hate Mondays" posters, emotikons, statuses, vines etc

Dilemma - Do I remove/unfriend/unfollow all those people or ignore?

To me, a Monday means just another cool day with great people and horses. Have you heard about that theory which says that you are the combination of the five people you spend the most time with? What if we add the online world many of us work/play in nowadays and think our mindset is heavily affected by the first five social media messages we read every morning?

I often tell my riders not to use "I can't", "I don't know", "this is too difficult" etc because our words do become our actions. So yes, these were my thoughts on this little overcast but nevertheless lively morning on way to teach.

Another thing that was on my mind today was the case of a driving licence...Yet another delayed train today seemed to have suddenly made me determined to get more mobile.

This comes with costs...

The lessons: costs vary but I am told the best option is to take 2h slots at a time. In my area this means about £50 per session
As I have no option to practice with anyone, I would need to do all my driving in the lesson environment so I am estimating a minimum of 30 sessions (30 x £50 = £1.500).

The insurance: this is where the research "fun" started ;) Almost everyone says that insuring a car as a first time driver is expensive but there are also quite a few nuances to it. If you drive you are probably aware of this but as someone who really doesn't pay attention to much car related stuff, it's all rather new to me.
Thank goodness some stuff are very comparable to horse world ;)

The insurance depends on the make of the car [of course it does, same with horses ;) ]
The insurance depends on mileage you intend to do [let's think about it as of what discipline one wants to compete at]
The insurance depends on your experience as a driver [this doesn't apply really...- but perhaps it should!]

I found this useful site which lists makes of cars in relation to insurance costs - do you drivers think it's useful? http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars/insurance-policy/85261/cheapest-cars-insure

This is my kind of a car ;) Land Rover Defender  I am guessing un-insurable at any reasonable rate for me:(

A few years ago, Daily Mail delivered a nice piece of information about a teenager who was quoted £72,000 to insure his £600 Vauxhall Corsa (google it if you are interested). I have a feeling mine could be similar for the car above. Maybe.

To figure out even an estimated insurance cost is rather an undertaking. Most options ask you to answer several pages of questions about the car you don't have so it's a bit like solving a murder in Colombo but without Colombo.
The forums bring rather an interesting variety of ideas too ranging from £800 to £4.400 a year depending on the money grabbing insurer, make of the car and age of the driver.

As far as the age goes, I hope that since I am pretty much a geriatric in the world of first-time-car-drivers this will work in my favour.

The actual exam fees seem like buying a coffee in comparison:

Theory exam: £25
Practical exam: £62

The car...

£600-£2.500 ? 

Current savings for the above mission: £10 ;) 

And breathe...What I need now is a driving instructor who wants to trade driving lessons for riding lessons for themselves or their offspring(s) ;)

Until tomorrow!
Wiola