... is to learn how to drive a vintage electric tram.

Why?

Why not - it's something very different to anything else I've done, and I do need to get out more :-)

I was visiting the Wellington Tramway Museum in Paekakariki (just down the road from home) a few weeks ago, which runs vintage electric trams along a 2km stretch of track from the museum to the local beach, and I noticed a sign saying they were looking for volunteers to drive trams. After taking a look at a tram cab set up in the museum with dummy controls, I thought this could be an interesting thing to have a go at, and later expressed my interest to some of the museum staff. Next thing I knew I was in the cab of a tram twenty years older than I was, with the driver instructing me in how to operate the controls, and a short time later I was carefully driving 18 tons of tram (no passengers - things were quiet at the time) slowly up the tram line under the driver's careful supervision... and having fun doing it! It was certainly much different to driving a car, with the speed control and brakes in your hands and the bell operated by a pedal on the floor, but I seemed to get the hang of when to apply power and brake fairly quickly.

The next step was obvious: join the club and learn properly. So now I'm signed up as an official member of the Tramway Museum, and already I've been shown how to sell tickets :-).

All going well, I'll be starting proper tram-driving lessons around the end of February, though I do need to undergo a "passenger/heavy trade driver" medical examination prior, but I don't envisage there being a problem with that. Once qualified by the museum, I'll be on the roster for tram driving when the trams are operating on weekends and public holidays. I'm quite looking forward to it!