Repetition, repetition, repetition

Since last week's entry there's not been much to report. It would seem that we have now covered all of the required knowledge on our basic traction and are spending our time mopping up any points that we feel we don't fully grasp and endlessly practising things like coupling and uncoupling units, train prep and fault finding.

Although the practise is good and helpful to get the various procedures set in our minds, I'm just beginning to get a little bored with the course. I guess I'm just getting a bit impatient now. Maybe I'm overdue a break. We've all started talking wistfully about the possibility of taking some leave so that we might be able to have a holiday. If there is one criticism that I could level at the structure and administration of the driver training programme it is that each element of the training follows hard on the heels of the one before and there's no chance to stop and have a breather. There's an awful lot of hard work involved in taking on board and understanding all this new information, and I know that I'm beginning to feel tired.

Hopefully there will be an opportunity for some time off once we get to the minder driving stage, but that isn't due to start until mid-September. Until then we'll keep soldiering on.