For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 21, 2021

Canadians do get their driving licenses at sixteen, right? Or does that vary from province/territory to province/territory?

I have been told that when my dad was transferred back to the US, both my mom and my sister had to retake their driving tests. They had a station wagon at the time.

That’s funny. My sons were born to drive. As minor permit holders, they jumped into the car and drove like a pro. Perhaps all the videogames they played into that. They, including my husband, say I am the worst driver in the family. Know what else is funny? My older son has been in accidents the most of us all. My husband was in an accident twice as a youth and once as an adult. My younger son got into a minor dent accident in a parking lot. Me? Never. The worst driver, eh? Right.

What the heck? Ellie and John look like an earthquake just hit the house. That’s one way to react, I guess.

The shock of suddenly realizing reality.

Hold off on the new car until he’s a competent driver.

She is a Mom, Michael. You can get your dream car when you make your own money.

A new car and a new insurance premium too. What fun for the household budget.

I see no one has mentioned the dreaded “parallel parking” component of the test. I was so traumatized by it I’ve only done it twice in the many years since! Fortunately it is not needed where I now live. I would sooner park a quarter-mile away and walk.

I wouldn’t let an asshat like Michael anywhere near the driver’s seat.

I got my first car, a 71 Mustang , almost a year before i got my license. I had a lot of fun practicing in that car. Back then there was no graduated licensing, so the first week i had my license i did more night time driving than I had while learning to drive in total. Only reason i got the Mustang so early was because my older brother and his new wife were upgrading to a new vehicle so he no longer needed it. This was back in the mid-late 80’s.

If she wants to buy something similar to the one she’s got, and the one she’s got now is a lemon, maybe she better rethink her choices. How about reading “Consumer Reports” and making an informed decision?

Time for the sports car is when the kids are out of the house.

He should get “beige Betty” (from the commercial)

911!

WAKE UP CALL! Michael is going to get behind the wheel soon. Alert the Ministry.

“Fogey wagon”. I like that. So-called classic cars are not always what the faithful make them out to be.

There could be a strip which flashes back to when Elly was 17, and remarking that she is due to take her driver’s test. It could show Elly’s parents reacting in the same manner! Then again, have there been any strips which show John and Elly as a childless couple, or one where they were kids themselves? It would be interesting to see something such as Elizabeth asking about the landing on the Moon, then Elly thinking to herself where she was when that happened.

My daughter will be eligible to get a learner’s permit in a year. This hits close to home. :-P

Maybe things have changed a lot since I was a kid (I’m now over 70), but when we were growing up in PA, the only way we could get a ’learner’s permit’ was if our parents said we could have one. Are Canadian kids allowed to get one without parental approval?

Yet another of the ways of dividing people into groups – there are those who see cars as just utilitarian transportation … and then there is the rest of us. :-)

I can’t imagine being a teen and describing something as “sexy” to my parents. Or being in my 40s, which I am now, and describing something as “sexy” to my parents.

Buy a 1952 Studebaker pickup. That’ll crush his Speed Racer illusions.

Keep the old car for the learner. But, as this is in Canada, get a new Subaru with its front wheel drive for the snow.

Could have gone all day without saying that. Now Mom’s going to get a tank.

Well I would say that canceled out a “new” car.

Somebody had better do the Heimlich on Mom!

That took them off guard. Do not get red, we used to have red with dark interior, middle of winter only time felt great; otherwise an oven broiler inside.

No wonder when then when I was learning (in Ohio in the 1969’s), they told us to beware of the Cars with Michigan plates!

I was going to post an “interesting fact” for you all that in the U.S. you could get your PILOT’S license at 14 (USE to be true,) but I checked this before posting and it appears Big Brother has increased the ages to 16 for a Student License and 17 for a Private Pilot License (18 for a Commercial Pilot License.)

Mike, I have news for you. Just because you are eligible for a permit in 3 months does NOT mean you will have one. I am certain your parents will place conditions and restrictions on your ability to even test for a permit.

Not likely Michael.

My dad had a ‘56 Nomad with a 409. He sold it in between me getting my learner’s permit and getting my driver’s license.

I did drive it once. That beauty had some power.

There is likely a strong correlation between those two statements.

Think something I can use to carry home the groceries that you eat. Having a car your son does NOT want to drive can be a real blessing. I had an old VW Vanagon that my son refused to be seen in. A win for me!

And with that remark, her blood pressure tripled

See if I were a parent my response would be "I’m hearing a surplus tank with the weapons removed. Large, moves slow, virtually indestructible, works great on most terrain, amazing safety features, seats only two to three people, and comes in your favorite colors: provided those colors are green or beige. "

After reading that last panel I need a new rip lol at ELL face

Novel idea, Michael: You want a flashy car, buy it when you move out of your parents’ house, pay all your own expenses, to include registration and insurance. No one can tell a man who makes his own money what he can and cannot buy. As long as your mother is buying a car she prefers with her own money, you have no say in the matter.

If John and Elly reacted like this now that Michael is eligible for his learner’s permit, what is going to happen when they realize the Enjo kids are driving? Are they going to have heart attacks?