Ghosts should remain veiled, much like the mysteries of certain days.
Some days are just different than the others.
The brand new VOYAH FREE stands outside getting charged up. The salad tastes surprisingly good, and deserves an A+, even this is just a basic rest stop restaurant. But you need to make most of your time, and this is the life of an electric-car owner, especially when the Performance mode in the FREE is quite energy-draining. Charging station stops are regular. It is late fall, or maybe early winter could be more descriptive, but let’s say it is still fall because the temperature is just above zero degrees, and it cannot really drop below zero. The FREE has summer tires, and there is a significant risk for snow in the upcoming days. At the moment, however, it is only raining. But the FREE is certainly living its best life. What an attention seeker! All the Tesla owners are jealously looking at it, like they would be regretting their choice.
There is now enough battery to enjoy the few last hours of daylight by driving around but something is not quite right. The application tells that the charging has been stopped but the so-called congestion charge keeps ticking as if it has gone mad. The charging cable has jammed into the FREE’s charging port. Locking and unlocking the vehicle does not help, neither does the charging unit’s emergency stop. Repeating these steps does not work either and the application has now decided to stop working.
“Hello from the customer service, how can I help you?”
“You drive what? I have never heard of that manufacturer or model.”
“Have you tried locking and unlocking the car?”
Minutes go by.
“Give me one last chance. I will try to re-start and stop the charging remotely.”
“Oh, good to hear. Could I please have the name of manufacturer again? I need to update our instructions.”
This final trick was certainly a relief, and the whole incident a new experience. They later refunded the congestion charge without any hesitation.
Later that day, after the darkness had arrived, the plan was to find a quiet place to film a few stories. That is what you do in the era of social media, right? The FREE, after all, is a relatively impressive sight even in the dark. Now, here is when the day takes a slightly unexpected turn.
The lesson of today is to always remember to check the gate opening hours before driving into a fenced area because the gate can suddenly close without any warning. That happened, in the middle of filming, and there was no way getting in the FREE and driving out before the gate got completely closed. And to be frank, one could expect the gate to be automatic, so that there was a possibility to drive out at least. The weirdest part is that there were still 3 minutes to the time when the gate was supposed to get closed according to the sign on the gate. The funnies thing is that you can see this sign only from the inside when the gate is already closed. But luckily, there was a number of security company, so it was time for the second customer service call of the day. The person on the other side of the line was very helpful for a small fee of around 100 euros. It was not necessarily about the fee itself but it felt unreasonable to agree on that when the gate closed before it was supposed to do that. The fee was the same around the clock so why not investigating another option to get out.
Except for a few cars, the massive parking lot was empty and there seemed to be no people around but better to check than be sorry and paying this ridiculous fee. The FREE got to experience its first ever moments of rallying. It has an Outing mode which lifts the car up in more difficult terrain, so why not putting it into a proper test and taking it around this place to see whether there is a hole in the fence or something. Understandably, it is perhaps not appropriate to disclose any details of this place but someone had decided to do a proper fencing around it. All the doors were closed, no door bells or similar and most of the buildings were completely unlit. And honestly, it was a Sunday evening so it felt very unlikely that the situation would change in anyway. No one was coming to work before Monday. It did not feel a very attractive idea to leave the FREE there overnight when, in addition to everything else, there were signs of a private parking company. Either you pay for the gate opening or a parking ticket.
But as always, there was some hope – light echoed from one window and finally the curiosity took over. The blinds were completely closed but through one hole it seemed that there was a lady working with a computer. Knock now in the window and she might actually get a heart attack, or believe that there is a ghost behind the windows. Why is she even working this late at the office on a Sunday? Even lawyers are charging up for the upcoming week.
But she must leave through the gate at some point, right? She cannot stay there for the whole night. It felt more likely that she would leave at some point and there seem to be only one way out. Therefore, the FREE got parked right next to the gate. It was so dark outside that no one could see the FREE being parked there.
After an hour or so, waiting, the gate suddenly started moving but there was nobody around. Then a car appeared and drove in. Half- asleep, it all went fast but after the vehicle had passed, the FREE literally flew out from the gate. No one probably saw that, not even the car driving in, but this could have been a movie scene. What a win!
