Question about driving on US Licence: My year is almost up...any advice?

I was just wondering if anyone had some advice about my current driving situation:

I moved to England in August 2009 and got my provisional UK licence in February 2010.  I have been taking driving lessons and have just booked my practical test for mid-September.  I finally feel comfortable driving and, due to my DH having foot surgery recently, have been doing almost all of our driving. I sometimes drive on my own without L plates according to the one year on the US licence rule, but I am reluctant to give up that freedom once my one year anniversary rolls around.  It's only a month between that and my driving test, so I am willing to suck it up and take the train to work and such. But then I had a thought, I went back to the States for a few weeks in December, could my year possibly start over when I returned from that trip? I definitely don't want to be shady though- does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

Nope, unfortunately, the year starts when your residency does...so no resetting! Congrats on feeling so comfortable though, and good luck on your test!

   Wanted to come out of lurkdom   to share with you my experience since we're on a similar timeline (I came in July '09)...try and move your test up if you can--I didn't realize when I started the whole process just how long it can all take, especially scheduling the practical driving test. There's a website: http://www.drivingtestcancellations.co.uk/ that I signed up for and while a bit pricey, I moved my test up by 5 weeks the first time (then I failed the test for one of those hauntingly dumb reasons) then I was still able to use the software to reschedule my second test and moved it up twice (you're allowed to move it 3 times) so that it was 11 business days after my first (it was 8 weeks away prior to that)....pretty good and made me feel like it was money well spent. If you don't want to pay for it, check the DSA website for times later at night, like between 10-11.30pm as they seem to pop up then.
   Luckily I passed my test second time around as I think I was more confident and less nervous as I knew what it would be like at that point. I took 2 driving lessons before my test with an instructor which helped pick out some bad habits that I would need to be mindful of to pass the test here, I would recommend a couple of lessons to make sure you know what's expected on the test.
   Anyway, I wanted to share my experience as I know how hard it is to have the freedom of driving taken away from you! I ended up having about 3 weeks where my US license ran out before I passed my UK test...I know it's not fun! Good Luck