Day 3 has arrived, Its been a long day, I started at 7am and didn’t finish until 5.30pm due to being with one other trainee. So please excuse if the grammar is poor or it is very brief as its a bit of a blur.
So here goes, I awake at the usual time of 5.20am which is far too early to arrive at the training centre for 7am, as usual I arrive around 10 to 15 minutes early. As I pull up George (the other trainee with me today) also pulls up, we go in together and are chucked the keys by our instructor Robin for the day. We go to do our checks and have to un-couple and couple up the trailer, George is slightly unfamiliar with this so I let him do it and just watch, picking up things he misses and we get through it together. Everything is complete including trailer checks ect, Robin comes over jumps in and we get on our way, George is driving for around the first hour. This is actually quite helpful observing someone else as you see their mistakes and see what you should and shouldn’t do. I have got to say without being a big head I feel I am a better driver on the road test standard wise, only because George has driven class 2 with his company for the last 4 years and has picked up many bad habits.
So not much to say for the first hour really as I was not driving, now on to the bit I was dreading, the reversing! First off me and George get out and Robin does a demo reverse and shows us how it should be done. We both stand there observing his every move like hawks, all this time Robin is talking us through exactly what he was doing. So with that complete George is up first, Robin talks him through the first reverse, he nails it no sweat at all, now my nerves are kicking in. I then find out he has been reversing trailers around his yard since he was 16 (yes for 4 years!), great it will just be me looking like a knob today then 
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So as I have not reversed an arctic before ever Robin suggests we do a couple of straight reverses in to the bay to begin with, I begin to get my bearings eventually and understand which way to turn the wheel. So after a few attempts I can keep the trailer straight and back in to the bay, Hooray! This isn’t that bad after all, or is it! Next off I try an angled reverse in to the bay, wow this ■■■■ just got ten times harder! I now have to come back at an angle, bend the trailer into the bay then straighten up to finish off. Yes this is easier said then done I am at this for a good 30 minutes to an hour (well it felt like that anyway, poor George!)until I finally get it in to my head what I should be doing. Right George does a few reverses now to see if I have put him off with my poor display of reversing skills, but no, there is no catching this lad out with reversing he knows exactly what he is doing!
Right I have now kind of mastered that bit, good job we had a lesson together today or I never would have managed to even get this far! So I say to Robin I am ready to attempt the reverse properly, he agrees and off I go! So first of all I pull up as close to the left cone as possible, then right hand down until full lock is engaged I then bring it back until I can see the two pieces of tape in my mirror, this makes my back tractor unit wheels just over a foot away from the yellow line. Next off, left hand down until full lock is engaged as soon as possible or you will hit the yellow line, now your front tractor unit wheels are riding the yellow line and you have a nice bend in your trailer 
. As you straighten up you can now begin to see B cone that you had to manoeuvre around, if you can not see B cone you have ■■■■■■ up and will have to adjust accordingly (easier said then done!). So now your trailer is straight you bring it back nice and slowly and bend it in to the bay, this is easier said then done as I always felt I was too close to the first cone in the bay, which in fact I wasn’t so this made me go too far over on nearly every reverse! Which resulted in me making a shunt on nearly every reverse 
. I am not going to bore you with the details guys but I was here for around 3 hours doing this, I still can not get my head around it, I could see my instructor and George were bored out there skulls and both thinking I wish he would bloody get this right!
So basically after being there for hours on end we decided we should move on, George has test tomorrow so he needs to get dome driving done. First off I drive for around an hour, covering all test routes. I negotiate many difficult junctions and roundabouts like before, I learn how to take them without hitting the kerbs also Robin allows me to think the different situations through, I make my own decisions about what I should do, like straddle lanes ect. If I am doing anything wrong he picks me up on it, other then that he lets me drive independently just giving me directions as and when he pleases . Again I am going to be big headed and say no real problems here, if only reversing was as easy as going forwards!
So I swap over and let George drive, he drives for the remainder of the time we have left, mainly due to the fact I used lots of time up on reversing and his test is tomorrow. Also he is the one with a double lesson not me, so in theory I am the one getting extra tuition here for free, so I kindly let him crack on practicing. I am not going to cover what George did and didn’t do as my head is mush, before I know it we are back at the training centre. Here I drop the trailer successfully and safely with no real problems, with George observing.
Today to sum up, what have I actually learnt? Reversing is so much ■■■■■■■ harder then it looks! Hats off to all you arctic drivers out there that make it look effortless. I have been told I am at test standard with my driving and my reversing is ok, ok is being nice lets face it! I do not feel happy with my reversing at all, I am going to speak to the instructor tomorrow and just go have about 5 attempts at reversing to try and conquer it. As they say practice makes perfect, but I don’t have a lot of time. I have observed George today, a very good driver, I have learnt a few things from watching him drive. I can see he has bad habits but this will not stop him nailing his test tomorrow. Lastly best of luck to George tomorrow, I know you will smash it! Guys please pop back tomorrow for day 4, I promise you I will have mastered my reverse by then and hopefully be 100% happy to go to test on Friday! My head is spinning, off to bed I go!
. As for the class 2 with 3 instructors well what can I say, they all had to experience my brilliance didn’t they, they had to see it with there own two eyes 
. Thanks for the advice regarding backwards evil, correct me if I am wrong have you booked your class one yet? you agency noob 
he loves the banter. Thanks ROG that’s what I thought just thought I would check with you.
. I am either too slow or too fast, Robin is constantly bending my ear telling me to put my foot down ect, but it is wet so I feel it wasn’t as if I wasn’t progressing at all I was just being cautious!