My car has a computer!

On the way back home from Rozi and John's last night my car made a funny noise and the power died. Strangely enough it was still running - although it didn't seem keen on going more than 15 miles an hour. Slowly and steadily I limped home through the side roads of Shenley and Loughton and was pleased to make it home before it conked out altogether!

And so, today I called up the AA to see if they could do a bit of home start. I knew this would be a busy day for them with all those flat batteries, but they came surprisingly quickly - and so I found out what had really taken place...

Apparently there's a little motor attached to my accelerator pedal which controls the throttle. This needs to turn a certain number of times per second but on this occasion - probably because of the cold - it missed a beat. The car's computer spotted this and put the car on safe mode to ensure that I couldn't do any further damage to the car and also limited the power - allowing me to get home. The AA man merely had to connect his computer to the car, read off the data and reset the computer - and bingo all was well again!

I was a bit gob smacked that cars actually work like this! I had no idea! - spot the man who's never had a post 1996 car before.

On one level I actually feel a bit disempowered. Isla had suggested that I look at the car before calling and I did so. I'm no mechanic but I know what a fanbelt is. All this computer based stuff is totally beyond me - there's no way I could possibly fix a problem that's lost in the car's silicon circuitry. The days of tinkering with cars are gone it would seem...

On the other hand, there's something fascinating about the idea of a breakdown caused by dodgy data. In an information based age we're all prone to problems caused by bad information - either about ourselves or about the world around us. We need a system that we can plug into that will diagnose our problems and reveal the truth about our circumstances - followed by a reset and a new beginning. (Another free sermon for those who want to nick it...)

MOT Day

Complicated day...

Had to take car into Bletchley for MOT...

Walked back to Westcroft...

Garage phoned to say they couldn't open the car door...

Managed to talk them through getting in...

Lunch with Karen (our Archdeacon) and Paul (our Lay Chair)...

Visit to Woughton Rectory...

Isla sent home ill...