I had to get in earlier to work today to await and supervise some work that was happening in the office. So I took an Uber to avoid the many, many, many, many, many, many, many delays that Great British Railways who now runs South Western Railways have suffered over the past few weeks.
So I was taken to work in a Tesla Model 3. I’ve ridden in Teslas before. They’re okay. Not my cup of tea, but providing they take you from A to B safely, that’s all that matters. I just see them as software on wheels, and that’s not a good thing – as we’re about to find out.
ALAS!
After joining Guildford’s infamous one-way system and heading up to the roundabout by Guildford Business Park, the car stalled, made bleeping noises, and stopped as we entered the roundabout. It took the driver a few seconds to restart the car and we shuddered forward and was back on the move again. Something to do with the gears – and it wasn’t the first time it happened, apparently. But I was generally concerned that after reading about all the problems Teslas had suffered over the years, we had just discovered yet another software bug. Maybe it was. Maybe it was hardware. But it put the living *foghorn* up me. Think I’ll be giving those fancy new Tesla robotaxis a miss.
In other traffic-related news, we had two accidents happen outside of the office within the space of a few seconds. Firstly, a young man apparently had his foot run over by a car. And while this was happening, an much older man who witnessed this, didn’t look where HE was going and tripped up spectacularly and was quite shaken up by it all. It’s a credit to my colleagues (who had just trained as first aiders) who went out to check that everything was okay and to arrange for emergency treatment.