I learned to drive in my dad's old Dodge Fargo truck. What a sense of pride I had when I could finally master the on-the-steering column stick shift. Across our fields I would go, shifting smoothly from first, to second and then third gear.

For many years, I drove a standard transmission. That came to end shortly after I moved to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

The constant fits of stopping and starting, all part of big-city living, plus the change in my joint function, made it too much of a challenge to drive a standard transmission.

I switched to the new standard in vehicles - an automatic transmission. It was a relatively easy thing to accept, aided by the fact that I would hurt - a lot - after spending time driving in the city.