We visited my sister-in-law at her cottage. Ingrid drove us all the way there, over 100 km through very varied conditions: city traffic, large roundabouts, long stretches of busy motorway, and then ever smaller country lanes. Along the way she got to practise all kinds of skills, from cruise control, to overtaking lorries, to making space for vehicles on on-ramps.

For all practical purposes, she can drive. Under supervision, for now, because she sometimes forgets some details. But when she took a driving lesson earlier this week to get a gauge on her skills, she came home dejected and stressed out – the teacher made her feel like she knew nothing. They are incredibly nit-picky about things such as the timing of gear changes, how aggressively to accelerate when taking off after a traffic light, etc. If I had to take a driving test today, I would certainly fail.