U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2022
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • German - Beginners
      • Meditation
      • Russian Literature
      • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Col
    • A - COL
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Art Appreciation
    • Australian History
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • 'Precious Objects'
      • 'Failure'
      • Our Stories - by topic
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Col-G
    • COM - G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology
    • Enjoying the Internet
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Family Stories
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
  • I - R
    • I - R
    • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
    • Investment
    • Jane Austen Book Club
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder Group
  • S - Z
    • S -Z
    • Singing for Fun
    • Sky's the Limit
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Advice
    • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Talks
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
    • Wise Guys Book Group
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide 2023
    • Timetable - Month Overview
    • Full Timetable with Dates
    • New Courses 2023
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • March Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

Fear of Failure - 'The Sydney Tunnels'

26/8/2019

 
I’ve always been quite a courageous driver – I’ve had to be as I’ve lived and worked in both the city and the country for much of my life and, being single, have always been ‘the driver’.  
 
I did wonder recently however whether my usual courage would desert me.  
 
For almost fifty years have driven fairly regularly from Melbourne through Sydney to my aunt’s house near Chatswood on the North Shore.   It has always been a challenge, accompanied by a sigh of relief when finally exiting the Harbour Bridge or the Harbour tunnels.  Getting into the correct lane when entering the southbound tunnel to return home is also a drama, always followed by a sigh of relief.  However, I have never doubted that I could do it.
 
A month or so ago I drove to Sydney via Canberra to visit my now 102-year old aunt living in a nursing home on the Northern Beaches.  Before visiting her, I planned to spend four nights at a boutique hotel in Watson’s Bay attached to Doyle’s Restaurant. 
 
I had not thought much about the challenges involved in doing this until I was just about to leave Canberra. 
 
Oh dear, I thought, I haven’t driven in Sydney for over two years!  I’ve never driven to Watson’s Bay.   Getting to Watson’s Bay involves exiting the tunnel before the Harbour Bridge, a different exit from the tunnel.  I felt a stirring of fear, of anxiety.  Would I still have the reactions, the capacity, to manage this?  
 
I had prepaid my boutique hotel – I could not back out!  
 
I planned strategically, carefully reading and visualising the maps and saving Google maps on my smart phone.  I planned my entrance to Sydney logistically, booking my Trans-tunnel pass online so I would not be anxious about unpaid tolls.  Just before the main tunnel I took a long break at a servo to review the maps.  
 
The drive through the tunnel was certainly more anxiety producing than usual, but my memory didn’t fail me.  I remembered the turnoffs before the turn off required, comfortably entered the left lane and exited without causing chaos.    There were a few moments of confusion near Kings Cross, but with a quick check on my phone and the maps, I righted my course and was soon heading along New South Head Road to Watson’s Bay.  
 
I made it!  Whew!
 
After a few delightful days beside the Harbour travelling the ferries and eating lots of sea food, the reality of negotiating the tunnels again set in.  It was time to carefully read the maps, set directions on my phone’s GPS and strategically plan my route through the tunnels to the Northern Beaches via Manly to see my beloved aunt.  
 
I made it!   What a relief!
 
I made it home again, too, choosing the correct lane to enter the Melbourne Bound tunnel again the only really stressful moment.
 
I learned from this trip that I could still negotiate my way around Sydney, which was a relief and confidence restoring.
 
In terms of ‘life stages’, however,  this trip marked the realisation that instead of being in the zone of gradually increasing possibilities of my youth and early to mid-adulthood, I’ve entered a possibly long Third Age of gradually increasing impossibilities.  The time may not be far off when negotiating my way across Sydney to the Northern Beaches will be ‘too much’ for me. 
 
Hopefully, I will manage a few more trips before then.
 
Who knows? 
 
 
Bev Lee
August 25, 2019
    'Our Stories'
    Picture

    Bev's stories

    As I look through the stories I've written since setting up the memoir writing group some years ago, it seems quite a number of  my stories reflect on my experience of aging! 

    Stories

    All
    2020'
    A Bed Time Story - 'The Little Wallaby'
    'A Childhood Memory'
    'Advice'
    A Friendship Tested
    Alexander Theatre
    'A Love Letter To Travel'
    'A Test Of Courage'
    'Aunts And Uncles'
    'Car Stories'
    'Car Story
    'Causes'
    Claire Bowditch
    'Cockles And Mussels'
    'Community'
    "Cringe"
    'Dear Unfinished Business'
    'Deja Vu'
    'Election Day 2022'
    'Experiencing The Unexplained'
    'Faking It'
    Family Ritual
    'Family Treasures'
    'Fear Of Failure
    'Fiesta Of Festivities'
    'Fish Out Of Water'
    'For Better For Worse'
    Gliding
    Grandparents
    'How I Came Here'
    'I Broke It'
    'If Only!'
    'I Grew Up In...'
    'I Quit'
    'I Was There'
    Jack Manuel
    'Lost And Found'
    Lost In Music
    'Making Waves'
    'Memoir Review'
    Molyullah Sports
    'Monash Modern Dance Group
    Monash University
    'New In Town'
    'Once'
    'On The Job'
    'Paulie Stewart'
    'Peter And The Wolf'
    'Precious Objects'
    'Rebellion'
    'Right Here
    Right Now'
    'Rise And Shine - Waking Up To Milk Arrowroot Biscuits)
    'Running With Scissors'
    'Shaped By Childhood'
    'Stock And Land'
    'The Music Of My Madrid'
    'The Separator Room'
    'The Sky's The Limit'
    TheSydney Tunnels
    'Things I've Left Behind'
    'This (...) Life'
    'This (Time Travelling) Life'
    'Three Wise Monkeys'
    Time
    'Too Hard Basket'
    'Travel Tales'
    'Trees'
    'Trigger'
    'What Happens In Vegas'
    'What I Was Wearing'

    Twitter ....

    @Lee_Bev

    Links

    Coping with Criticism (ie editing!)

    Hannie Rayson memoir interview video link

    The subconscious mind and the creative writing process

    Writing Historical Fiction

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Attribution:

    Image--copyright Mary Leunig; owned by Beverley Lee; permission to use Mary Leunig.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2023
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2023
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2023
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2023
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria