Coming out of the station on my bike last night on the way home I nearly had a crash. A car was pulling out of a driveway and decided not to look in my direction. Where, if he had he may have noticed lots of flashing lights and hi-viz jackets and all the shit cyclists carry just so we’re not ignored. Maybe he did look and thought I was a Christmas tree. At the last moment, whilst he was moving anyway, he did glance in my direction, but chose to ignore me and carry on his journey. What is known, in cycling terminology, as a ‘motherfucker’.

Though the car concerned, amazingly today still not horribly dented with a bike imprint in the door, was a Tesla. One of the new, bigger ones. In fact its an amazing car. Great big four door sleek saloon, like a big Maserati, but without an engine. Ok, it uses battery power, because its a Tesla, but it silently sped up the road in a puff of… nothing. It doesn’t puff, nor pant, nor even steam, vape or anything. It just goes. As if by magic.

Amazing how one’s perception changes so quickly. As I thought: “what a total c… carrrrr”.

The man behind Tesla is Elon Musk. The cartoonishly named paypal inventor and all round clever person. And he’s built a rocket. A space rocket. As you do if you’re a billionaire, very bright and into inventing things. He’s also into renewable, recyclable, save-the-planet ideology. For which we may forgive him.

When a rocket goes into space its finished. Last week the one that took Tim Peake to the space station did its job of taking the passenger bit into space against the massive force of gravity, then, job done, it breaks away and falls back to Earth to drown in the sea. The carrier bit goes on and docks and will come back again. It can do that using gravity. But the rocket bit; done, finished, wasted. Its like every time you pop round to Sainsburys you take the car seat with you and dump the rest of the vehicle. Buy a new one for the journey home.

Until yesterday. When Elon Musk’s rocket, ‘Falcon 9’, took its passenger module into space and then landed back on land, safely, upright and fully intact to be used again. I’m gonna guess that the cost of a space rocket power unit is a bit more than even the new, big Tesla. Considerably more. So to re-use it is quite brilliant. What they’re calling a game-changer for the possibility of space tourism. The EasyJet of the upper stratosphere. Or he could put it on ebay and sell it. ‘Nah, mate, them’s just scratches; polish right out with a bit’a t-cut’.

Off to Jamaica in the morning. So happy Christmas to you.

A xxxx