Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Holiday: Part 3 (or boredom, anxiety, panic and relief)...

We got an early start on Thursday because we had to clean the holiday cottage before we left.  Christine and I cleaned up while Martin loaded the car.  Then it was a greasy full English fry-up at the truck stop and the open road.

We took the scenic way home, which was absolutely beautiful.  Unfortunately, it was a bit TOO scenic.  I had my Britishness test scheduled in Sheffield at 1:30pm, and was supposed to meet Noelle (she was taking it as well) at Meadowhall at 12:30pm.  I did a bit of studying on the way there, but started to get more anxious as it got later and later.  At 12:25pm I sent her a text to let her know that I was running late.  I asked her for the postcode of the testing centre as we had Laurie and Christine's sat-nav for the trip, I programmed it in, and we weren't going to arrive there until 1:47pm. 

This is when panic ensued.

Martin drove like the wind.  Seriously, he was SPEEDY!  Then the battery in the sat-nav (btw, that's GPS for all you Yanks out there) started to die and we were in the middle of Sheffield with no idea where we were going.  Every time we had to stop at a red light, I had a mini panic attack!  Noelle was texting me updates, including what the building looked like, where to go once inside the building, how many people were ahead of her in line to pay and register, etc.  Those texts were a God-send!

I finally bolted up the stairs to the testing centre at 1:37pm, just as Noelle (the last in line) stood up to take her seat.  I got registered, and even had the chance to use the toilets (been holding it for the last 45 minutes, no time to stop!) before the test began.

All that stress, and it only took me 6 minutes to complete the 25 questions on the test.  I was the second one done--Noelle beat me by about a minute.  We waited for our results, and both of us had passed.  Good news--I didn't waste all that time and the £35!

I had been so worried that we weren't going to make it to the testing centre that I didn't even feel nervous about the test itself.

Some of the questions that I remember from the test were:

What percentage of the UK's population live in England?

What are the two main purposes of the United Nations?

What percentage of children in the UK attend a private school?

By what percentage has the population in the UK grown since 1971?

Does the UK have an international football team?

Just to name a few, of course.  They didn't tell you how many questions you had missed afterwards--you either passed or failed.  I think I might have missed as many as 4, but think I only missed probably 2.  It was easy-peasy lemon squeezy!

Met up with the family at a pub where they were just getting finished with lunch, drove back to Lincolnshire, dropped Christine off at her house, came home, fixed dinner, got the kids in bed, then collapsed.

Holidays are hard work!

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