Well, finally it had to happen. My permit was due to expire next month, and although I've been legally driving around on that in conjunction with my UK license for nearly 2 years, and legally on my UK license alone for a year prior to that, it didn't make any sense to not do the road test to only then have to get another permit (farcical computer test required) for another 2 years.
So I psyche myself up, swot up on the book (it's been 2 years remember) and show up.

What a farce! Drive around the block and do a 3 point turn. The cop didn't even check that I knew my hand signals or could parallel park (listed as checkboxes on the form that he signs off on). He did ask me how long I had held a UK driving license for, and maybe he took the 13 years into consideration, but really...Is it any surprise that Boston driving is widely regarded to be amongst the worst in the country?

I feel a bit let down now. I was looking forward to a celebratory beer, but I don't feel that I've earned it. I knew it was going to be much easier that the hour long UK torture test, but I was done within 5 minutes.

At least now I won't get grief whenever I need to hire a car.