I drove a car for the first time in years and 1 | Tech News

This week I was dispatched to check out the new (*1*)Silvertown Tunnel in east London, and, in order to hold out this mission, I clearly needed a car. But I have by this level been with out one for more than two years, having offered my dependable little Ford Fiesta when I moved to London from the East Midlands in March 2023. There was simply no need for it in this excellent world of fixed trains and buses down south.

The vehicle had been essential to me as a native journalist working in Derbyshire, as I drove round hither and dither to cowl tales throughout the county. But after wracking up many miles, this immediately stopped, and, earlier than Monday, I had not been behind the wheel since. This was a disgrace as I had loved driving ever since I handed my take a look at (first time) 10 years in the past in 2015. Indeed, my driving license expires in July, so I was slicing it effective.

I look about 12-years-old in the picture, and in the prime left nook is the EU flag.

The absence of my own car meant a rent car needed to be organized, and I turned up at Enterprise in Lewisham first factor in the morning in order that I might drive by way of the Silvertown Tunnel during peak time.

You can examine how that went (*1*)right here.

A tad nervous, I discovered right away that, when I pulled out of the car park, it was like I’d by no means left the drivers’ seat.

I had a couple of new issues to deal with in the very easy and nice to drive 74 plate Peugeot 208 GT, these being a push to begin button as a substitute of an ignition key, and a handbrake that wasn’t truly a handbrake, more of a swap.

These had been surmountable, albeit initially baffling. My Fiesta was from 2011, so comparatively old style.

Before that, I used my mum’s outdated Toyota Yaris, and I discovered in a diesel Volkswagen Polo.

At one level during the day, it took a couple of minutes to seek out reverse gear as, in the autos I had pushed earlier than, you simply slotted straight in, and there was no swap you needed to fiddle with first.

I was additionally a bit trepidatious about driving in London for the first time, and it was actually very unusual seeing the capital’s streets from neither the pavement nor the level of view of a passenger on a bus.

But, considerably unexpectedly, I discovered that making my method by way of the streets of Lewisham was very acquainted, feeling like many of the locations I’d pushed earlier than elsewhere in the nation. This was aside from the close to fixed 20mph limits – I’m far more used to 30.

The similar went for merging onto the motorways round the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnel.

In truth, I was taken back to my time on the A50 earlier than merging onto the M1 home after a shift at the Derby Telegraph.

Besides one blunder, unintentionally going down the Blackwall Tunnel as a substitute of the Silvertown Tunnel, and a couple of improper turns in an unfamiliar half of the metropolis, which had been shortly rectified, the job went off with out a hitch.

I had predicted that, by the finish, I can be having fun with myself and desirous to go for a longer drive for pleasure.

This turned out to be prescient. But, alas, the workplace was calling, and I needed to truly write up the piece I went out to do.