Page 207 - The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1. Born in the USSR

230. It was obvious that the previous owner treated the car very well. The car had a lot

of additional devices; the most interest-ing was the device which made it possible to
increase or decrease the pressure in wheels without getting out of the car. So, after some
hesitation, I purchased it.

I got my driving license shortly before my journey to Germany and I had managed
to drive a car only a couple of times—when I prepared myself for my driving exams. In
my childhood my grandmother allowed me to drive her “Zaporozets” once or twice. But
it hardly could be considered driving lessons. Then I had some difficulty in making a car
move. It was explained that in order to make the car move, I should simultaneously
release the clutch pedal and with my other leg softly press the accelerator. It became a
problem for me. Instead of slightly pressing the accelerator and slowly releasing the
clutch pedal, I tried to “catch” the moment of clutching, moving the pedals
simultaneously. Some times I succeeded, but far from always.

My grandmother appeared to be a bad driving teacher. But despite this ridiculous
misunderstanding, I liked cars very much. Only this fact changed nothing—I had no
possibility to buy myself one. In fact, I could save money to buy a second- hand car, but
there always was a situation when I had to help to someone else, so I always failed to
save the necessary sum. Therefore, I was not able to have my driving experience. That

is why when I purchased a Mercedes, I hadn’t the least idea how to drive it.

I had sat in the passenger seat next to a driver on more than one occasion. However,
it is one thing to sit near and see how another person does it, and quite another thing to
do it yourself. More-over, the internal lay-out of soviet cars differed considerably from
German ones. Especially at night—many luminous devices created the impression you
were inside a UFO or at least in the cockpit of an airplane! Besides, my Mercedes had
an automatic gear-box and only two pedals, in-stead of three. Certainly, there is nothing
difficult there, but when you do not know what it's all about, you are a little bit lost.

I did not take the risk of driving the car to the house, where I rented a room. But in
the evening, when no one could see my attempts to master a car, I began to “bridle” my
iron horse. In fact, I worried in vain, everything was very simple and I quickly became
accustomed to controlling the car. Next day I “raced” on German roads. And the
following day I tested the autobahn. I felt the speed and distance pretty well and
experienced no fear either of other cars or the speed. The first thing I did on the autobahn
was to try and get the maximum speed out of my car.

Regrettably, it had the limit of only two hundred twenty kilometers per hour (about
140 mph!). But, despite this there was an amazing feeling of motion with this speed,
especially on excellent German roads. The car was very steady at such a speed. The
motion of the car was incredibly soft and smooth—I found it hard to believe such a thing
was possible, taking into account the pitiful condition of Russian roads. I purchased
some gifts for my nearest and dearest and some things for me, like a Japanese TV set, a
videotape recorder, etc. I also changed the Mercedes’ tyres for new Swedish winter ones.
In short, my car was converted into a “bonbon”. It was a pleasure to look at, and
especially to drive.

There was a little accident before my departure. I had not yet got accustomed to the
dimensions of the car, especially when I parked it. The road near the house where I lived
went upwards and when I was parking on the slope between two neighbours’ cars, I went

Back to contents
207