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1961 Letter Home -- Testing for a Driver's License
John Bing
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[Several TEAAers have reported recently that they have rediscovered their letters home, often while going through a deceased parent's things. Emily Hines Cantieri used her letters home to write her book, East African Odyssey. If you have your letters, you might wish to check them for content that others might enjoy. We could make letter excerpts a frequent feature of the newsletter. -ed] Here's an excerpt from a letter I wrote on August 16th in 1961. We were at Makerere. The letter began with a description of a satisfying morning break at Mary Stuart Hall (coffee, cheese, bread and crackers and "sometimes" bananas in their common room) and then describes the attempt to get a driver's license. I think the other person, not fully mentioned in the letter, was Pat McGowan. It simply refers to "Pat." The letter gives an interesting view of the bureaucracy of the time, the rather relaxed and obliging attitude toward Europeans and the problems we faced orienting ourselves to this very new environment. Eventually, of course, I got the license and Gus Lewis and I hitchhiked to Nairobi, bought an old VW and drove around Kenya during our first break. Last Friday was an example of a full day. After two classes and a coffee break in the morning we went into town in the afternoon to get a driver's license. The officer in charge, a smiling British type with Meerschaum pipe and blond mustache and shirt untucked around an ample waist, told us that our America licenses weren't any good and that there was a two month wait for appointments. However, he said, he would try to work with me that afternoon if I got all the necessary papers. Hunt's Motors would know how to go about this, he claimed, and sent me over there, neglecting to give directions. After wandering in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, we asked, turned around, picked up a copy of the Uganda Driving Code and went to Hunt's Motors. There they were happy to oblige and gave us a chauffeured car. They gave the driver directions to pick up what we needed. We went to the wrong building first and then to the right one. We paid five shillings and got a temporary license. We drove back to the college where I got my Polaroid camera to take the three pictures of myself needed. Returning the car at about 1:00 we said we'd pick it up at about 2:00 for the test at 2:30 and had lunch at the Imperial Hotel, reading our book between courses. I got up before the meal was completely finished to pick up the car telling the waiter that my friend was staying. Our waiter thought that this meant that we were staying at the hotel and tore up our bill and made out a separate one. The manager investigated and Pat told me afterwards that they finally straightened it out. I walked the mile or so down to where the car was and picked it up with driver, practiced a little and went down to the driving test building. I then found that we still needed yet another form, so we drove to another building and got the form - 10 shillings. Finally, back at the test building I got into the car with the pleasant Englishman and drove around town. I didn't look carefully at one intersection and almost got rammed, but otherwise thought I did O.K. Before we left the inspector had asked the Hunt's driver how I was and he had replied great or something like that. On returning he asked Pat it he'd ever driven with me on the left hand side of the road. On entering the building he told I'd flunked, that I wasn't sure enough of shifting with my left hand and to come back after I'd practiced some more. So I took the car off, practiced for 45 minutes and returned to Hunt's Motors. Result a 40 shilling charge for the car, 15 shillings for papers and no license. |