IAM - keeping your standards up

[NiceCupOfTea]

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I passed my IAM test last September, really enjoyed the driveouts and working on my driving. I did find things difficult though :

- keeping to the speed limits (I'm often running late and I tend to do a lot of town driving so sometimes feel I never have a chance to stretch the cars legs)
- getting cross at other people's numptiness and driving badly as a result
- having to concentrate to drive well

Definitely a case of the more you learn the more you're dissatisfied with your driving. I like to do things well so I get frustrated when I don't match up to my expectations.

Well, as time went on after my test I was thinking about things less and less (so much town driving my lane driving suffered, so much time spent in jams that I switched off, so much time spent in London that I went into city-centre mode, nipping into gaps and other little bits of naughtiness), to the extent that I don't think putting my IAM head on would instantly get me back to the standard I was at.

Oh yes, I know in theory what I should be doing, but I find it difficult to do this. Mostly, I think, out of sheer frustration of most of the driving I do.

The question is, what do I do? I told my old group I was interested in becoming an observer. I have good teaching skills so I think I could be quite useful. They have been poor about getting back to me and I have been poor about ringing them - truth be told I don't think I'm up to scratch enough to be observing atm.

So how do other people keep their driving up to scratch? I am insanely jealous of my brother who is doing his advanced motorcycle training. Birmingham Advanced Motorcyles seem a really close knit bunch, always going on ride-outs, meets, down the pub, good social side. Whereas my IAM group who shall remain nameless are mostly "older folk" whose interest in driving is limited to safety - and the monthly meetings are rarely anything interesting (I went to one that turned out to be "An armchair tour of EC2" - 2 hours of slides of London :yikes:

So, what to do?

Read Roadcraft again and have some bloody self discipline, not to mention leaving more time for journeys?
Do more fun driving so I don't get so frustrated on the roads?
Get a comfy barge so that I can jsut turn up the stereo and not let things wind me up?
Do RoSPA?
Do RideDrive?
Observe for IAM?

Are there any groups in the SE London area that have a younger membership who are petrolheads and have a social scene and regular driverouts/meets etc a la my brother's group?

What do other people do.

Sorry for the long post.