We had a Waymo car visit our cul-de-sac the other day. They have been all over Miami, but this one came to our own neighborhood.
So many of us happened to be out on the street at that time too. It was early morning and I was out talking to our condo maintenance man. An elderly neighbor was waiting for an Uber, I helped her get to the sidewalk to wait.
A bunch of workers were on the street – they have been here for many months putting new drainage pipes in and raising sidewalks and the streets themselves. They were putting blacktop down, finally after all this time – the final stages to the long job.
A police officer wea present, they always are when work crews are present.
We also had a bunch of guys putting new pavers down on our property, so they were present, and so were some of our neighbors from next door.
We were all there, about 20 people, all doing our own thing. But when the Waymo came up the street, we all stopped and watched quietly in unison.
The street was blocked at the corner because the steamroller and other equipment were putting down the blacktop, so you could not drive by. There were barricades and a big sign saying “Street Closed” And there was the Waymo. Just staring at us all, wanting to cross the “Street Closed” sign and all the big orange barricades. We all stared back.
The Waymo stared us down for a long time and then slowly turned around. It took a bunch of maneuvers to get it turned around, but it started heading back up the road, from where it came.
One of the workers joked with my older neighbor saying that she should not get into the driverless car for her doctor’s appointment. But luckily, that was not her Uber. Her Uber was trying to get to her on the one-way street where the Waymo had turned around and was heading.
It was almost like a cowboy gunfight standoff. Both the Waymo my neighbor’s Uber just sat there staring at each other. There was nowhere to go.
The Waymo was not going to budge and finally the other car, the Uber, turned into a driveway and allowed the Waymo to pass by.
The Waymo won that fight.
We all laughed and turned back to whatever it was we were all doing. It was a funny way to start a Friday morning.
Till next time . . .
Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.
tomversation.com 