It's a bit rough on men. There's a lot of talk about the equality of the sexes, yet the poor blokes are still expected to know about, or be able to do, certain things. He needs to know about sports, action films, when to open the door for a woman and when that will get him called a sexist pig and most of all, he needs to know about cars.
Learning to drive
Knowing how to drive and actually passing your test aren't necessarily the same thing. You may be able to move the car around smoothly but unless you learn the rules of the road, you're not getting that coveted full licence. You'll get there faster with extra time behind the wheel, so the best thing to do is to purchase some cheap learner driver insurance for your own or for the family's car and take it for a supervised spin in between formal lessons. You'll soon get the hang of it.
Maintenance
Nothing feels quite as good as saying to your mates "I'll be working on the car at the weekend." Not only will you get an untold amount of 'man points' but you'll save a fair bit of money as well. If you can change your own oil and filters, replace broken bulbs and worn out wipers, you'll be able to cut down considerably on the cost of keeping your car on the road. There are excellent manuals available for many cars, that give a set of detailed instructions - with illustrations - of how to do most jobs. Buy one and work your way up from small jobs to larger ones.
Emergencies
When your car breaks down, it's important to know what to do. Basic things, such as putting on your hazard warning lights if you're likely to cause an obstruction or knowing how to jump start a car and carrying jump leads can keep you out of unnecessary trouble. You should definitely learn how to change a tyre safely; it's not difficult and the instructions are on numerous websites and in manuals. Let's be honest, though; there'll be times when you will need expert help and membership of a good breakdown recovery company is something you'll be glad of one day.
Knowing the way
In the age of the sat nav, there's very little excuse for getting lost, but every man should know how to read a map; it might be cloudy, the sat nav may have incorrect information, the battery may be dead. If you're going somewhere unusual, take a map; you can buy one or simply download a set of instructions, with a map attached, from the internet and then you can feel confident about getting to your destination.
These days, it's far more common to share driving duties. You may be using your parents' car or jointly own one with a partner and it's only fair that you should share other duties as well. You should both, for example, be able to change a wheel, replace a broken wiper or remove a week's worth of empty fizzy drink containers from the back seat, if necessary. The only thing a man really, really needs to know isthat nobody thinks it's cool to hang fluffy dice from the mirror unless you're making a film about the 1970s.
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