Stalling the car is to be expected of learner driver. In fact E doesn't make that mistake very often, but this time instead of re-starting the car she found herself with a snapped off key in her hand. We declared the lesson officially over!
A couple of phone calls later, I discovered that the clever electronic gizmo that releases the car security needs to be active at the same time as the car is being started. The broken key on the right is my "spare". It has just enough space on the broken off part to grip and turn. The newly broken key was a total loss. A trip to the locksmith revealed that this is a common problem--let's call it a design fault. So instead of practicing steering and gear changes we had an exercise in patience and problem solving.
It looked nowhere near as pretty when we'd finished with it, but our tastebuds and tummies were happy. I'm used to thinking of my friend W's daughter as a "young teenager", but as she reminded me last night, in a few weeks it will be her birthday and she'll be old enough to get her Learner's permit. I feel like an old hand with beginning drivers after helping a friend get his licence a year or two ago, but I couldn't help a moment of nostalgia. It seems only yesterday that "young" R's big challenge was learning her times tables. Ah, the joys of witnessing the next generation and their rites of passage!
