Not as well as it could have maybe

Well the interview went OK. Not as good as it could have as there were facility specific questions that I didn't really know the answer to. I tried to compromise by talking about how I would have answered the question for the Bristol site but I'm not sure whether they found this acceptable or not. I did manage to get a tour around the facility though and my interview did take slightly longer than the requisite half hour so maybe that points to it going better than I think.

It was good that I left some extra time to get there as although the traffic was OK on the way up I managed to do a tour of Derby trying to work out the missing part from the travel instructions I was given. The moral of this paragraph being to always work out your routes yourself, even if it appears you have been given detailed enough instructions to get there!

I had one embarrassing point though which could have been a whole lot worse than it was. I needed to turn around so I pulled off into a side street and proceeded to do a three point turn in the road as the street appeared quiet. I dutifully did the first part of the turn, my car now perpendicular to the road and blocking one complete lane. I'd checked the gear stick beforehand and knew that reverse was located left and up on this car (If I'm going anywhere with work we always book a hire car so you can end up with many different types depending on how many of you are going etc etc). I pushed the stick left - didn't work. I know some gear shifts have collars that you have to pull up to allow reverse to be selected - no collar apparent. I'm now getting slightly alarmed and as with most people, my slight panic makes it more difficult to diagnose what I need to do to fix it. I'm an engineer so the first instinct is to play...I try twisting the gear stick, prodding the top to see if there is a button I've missed and still nothing works. It now feels like I've been blocking the road for hours even though it's probably only been a few minutes. Thankfully no cars have needed to use the lane I've blocked but a couple of cars have gone by behind me.

I'm really deperate now and seriously considering how embarassing it will be if I have to leave the car to find help. I don't know why but somehow with my frantic wiggling, pulling and joggling of the stick (and doesn't that sound suggestive ;-) ) I realise that THE STICK MOVES DOWN!

Joyous exultations of happiness!

I frantically shove the car in reverse, finish turning round and drive away hoping that not too many people have witnessed my mini-freakout while blocking the road trying to find reverse and acting like a stupid female who doesn't know how to drive...