Whilst driving the other day, I begun to wonder how much people’s driving skills have deteriorated since passing their driving tests? 

Now I’m not saying I’m a perfect driver by any means.  However, when did drivers stop indicating when they turn left?  How many times have you found yourself behind someone at a set of traffic lights, and the driver in front is see-sawing back and forth on the clutch?  How many drivers don’t switch their head lights on at night? Are they working on the theory of “if I can see people,  they must be able to see me!”  How many drivers have you seen that tail-gate on the motorways/freeways?  How many drivers have never reversed parked since their driving tests? Normally the ones proclaiming “Who ever reverse parks anyway”…  Well I do! 

I practise a little mental exercise every week or so. My father, who for many years was a driving instructor for the R.A.C., advised me to do this exercise. 

Pretend just for one journey (say of five miles), that you are taking your driving test again.  Remember all the things you  now take for granted, such as M.S.M. (mirror signal manoeuvre).  Applying the hand-brake on hills rather than balancing the weight of the car on the clutch.   Remember to leave plenty of room between you and the car in front.  Always indicate when changing lanes and don’t brake at the last minute.  The list is endless - but I think his tip works as it does make you think about the standard of your driving.

Now moving onto a nother lost skill… writing.   When was the last time you wrote a letter?  The printer for my computer broke down last week and I had to construct a letter to a friend.  I could mentally construct the sentence in my head – no problem!  However, my hand writing was terrible, it looked like a child had scrawled it!  Then I tried to remember the last time I hand wrote a letter? It was years and years ago. 

Like most people nowadays we have a P.C. with a printer, so I print off letters rather than hand write as its much quicker.  Most important for me is being able to use spell-check and grammar check!  In the end my partner took the pen and paper off of me as she couldn’t stand the muttering and the swearing under my breath!  Being the star she is she wrote it out for me.

 Another lost skill – cooking.  Being a guy I wouldn’t say I’m a brilliant cook.  I did live on my own for eight years so I have some skills but I’m not a chef!  I can cook a roast dinner for example,  potatoes in their jackets, or cheese on toast.  I can cook a full English breakfast I.e. eggs bacon, sausages, mushrooms, hash browns, and coffee.  My partner is the real cook of the house hold (I have to say this she reads my articles!) seriously she is a good cook.

 Jamie Oliver produced a cooking programme recently, to see how many parents can actually cook.  Jamie visited a part of Yorkshire, very near to where I live and the results were shocking! Several families could not boil an egg or even peel potatoes.  They had never even tried to cook something as simple as peas, or carrots.  Indeed one lady admitted “My mother didn’t cook, I don’t cook and my children aren’t going to cook!”  The family survived on only pre-cooked dinners that were cooked in the microwave.  The family in question did not have a conventional oven!  More basic life skills lost in the sands of time.

Probably one of the biggest basic skills that has been lost, is the use of the English language! When I listen to teenagers talking now, its very hard to discern what they are talking about.  For example the normal disucssion goes something like “Na wot I mean Bredrin? Its like this innit?  Me and ma possie is gonna hang out at the McDonald’s.  Innit tho? Na what I mean?” Roughly translated into English, they mean “We are going to McDonald’s for a while, and will get something to eat no-doubt.”  Most youngsters want to talk in some form of ghetto related gangster rap (even though they don’t come from the ghetto!)

One of the problems occur when teenagers try to fill out application forms for a job.  They don’t know how to construct, or spell a proper sentence in English.  Recently, there was a campaign launched by some tutors, to do away with spelling words as stipulated in the dictionary.  They claimed that it was stifling the students!  Instead they voted for phonetic spelling, where you spell the word as it sounds, rather than as it is written.  For example, before is written as b4, or later becomes L8r, just the same ways as teenagers spell words when they are texting people. Luckily the break-away movement was crushed. 

The art of speaking/communication is another skill which is slowly being lost, mainly due to the invention of television.  Does the T.V. ever get switched off in your house?   For many households, it has become an involuntary act now to get up in the morning, and the first thing you do is switch on the T.V.   Then when you come home from work, on goes the T.V. again.   I know that it can be just background noise, but it is stifling our imaginations and communication skills.

I’m not proclaiming to be a saint, I’m as guilty as the next person, as I’m becoming lazy practising my life skills.  However, I am going to try to hang onto some basic life skills.  As long as I am able to do such things as cooking, driving properly, speaking in a language that other people can understand and be courteous and retain good manners, I’m playing my part.

Is anyone else willing to join me?

Lord Banks