The Private Life Of The Taxi

The most scary taxi trip I ever took was a mad cap journey from Midtown Manhattan to Little Italy . The taxi driver gunned it down one of the roughest roads I have ever had the misfortune to travel along and the Prof and I basically went weightless in the back of the cab as we sped Downtown .
The Yellow Taxis of New York are not built for guys my size

Last night in the early hours of this morning, I had to catch a taxi home from Rhyl. The driver was cheerful enough but was acting as dispatcher and driver of what was essentially just a two man enterprise, and so we roared homeward bound well over the speed limit with him answering phone calls every few seconds or so on his hand held
This was at one o'clock in the morning.
" Pick up now in Denbigh to Towyn  to return at 4 am"
( Apparantly a regular " shag trip" after a bottle of wine)
" Pick up from one part of Prestatyn to another and return"
( Apparantly a drug pick up)
And "another pick up from one part of Rhyl to overnight shop and return"
( alcohol pick up)
" customer stopped at a service till then did a runner without paying"
All this within our ten minute journey home.

No matter where you live, there seems an underclass, an underworld of activities far, far removed from what you know and feel comfortable with. It's a world of deals, of antisocial behaviour, of drugs and " life on the edge" and sitting in the passenger seat of a speeding taxi, I caught the tiniest of glimpses of this world last night.

Not nice!

Anyhow I will leave you with the first Entry to the INTERNATIONAL NOVELTY VEG/ FRUIT COMPETITION ..thanks to Karen D.


32 comments:

  1. ugh; so glad I am asleep at that hour. I don't need to see the filthy underbelly of "society".

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  2. My son is a volunteer paramedic for the ambulance and, does nightshifts once every 13th night (after his normal 8 hours working day). He has stopped telling me what he sees during his shifts, as it was putting anxiety on me.
    Greetings Maria x

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  3. It's a mad, mad world out there.

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  4. You should see the Police reports of the night before that I record everyday. Some even manage to shock me. All relate to domestic violence of one sort or another fuelled by alcohol and/or drugs or both.

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  5. It certainly puts life into perspective, what some might think of as boring or dull, others see as safe and secure.
    I have lived in cities and places where things could be dicey at night but they were never too scary.. but now that I live in a "gated community" .. I find I feel no more secure but much more walled in rather than Them being kept out ..

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    1. PS .... I totally love the First Entry in the competition !

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  6. Taxi drivers must be exempted from laws that strive to clamp down on the use of mobile phones when driving. This is a very dangerous habit and in Sheffield I frequently see taxi drivers on their phones when driving. If it happened when I was a passenger I would say "Stop the cab!" and get out. My safety is far more important than a taxi driver's phone call or text message.

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    1. My husband told a taxi driver in Buenos Aires one time to stop and let us out, the driver was talking non stop on his phone and almost ran a red light.. he apologized profusely and got off the phone and drove us safely to our destination. Which surprised us .. lol

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  7. It is funny, I always think about the seediness of what goes on at night, but I feel like it is ten times worse when it happens during the day. Maybe because I feel like in daylight you should be seen or saved? Also, shame on that man talking on the phone while driving!!
    MissFifi

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  8. Makes us appreciate our nice quiet lives even more.

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  9. When I was visiting my daughter once in Asheville, North Carolina, she and I and our friend Lis got a Uber ride one night and the driver ended up telling us all about how he delivered his last child with the help of a midwife via skype just a few days before. It was awesome!

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  10. Underclass indeed John - so few of us ever witness it or have experience of it (the events yesterday give rise to this thought).
    Maybe I have an idea after that vegetable. Watch this space.

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  11. For the driver, having you as a passenger client must have been a refreshing change. On the other hand he might have been thinking "What a strange man!"

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  12. The Loch Ness Monster! Proof!!!

    Ah, yes, a cab ride in Manhattan. Nothing like it (well, except maybe in Rome). But your ride from Rhyl sure sounds educational.

    I misread the title as "The Private Life of The Taxi Dancer."

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  13. The fact that there is an international novelty veg/fruit competition makes me happy.

    NY City cab drivers are not known for their mild manners or courteous driving.

    Not sure if it's better living where all of that is generally hidden in darkness, or in a city where it's all out in the open. Did you happen to stop in Paterson, New Jersey during your time in the US? The cops don't even try anymore, most streets are like the McHeroin drive-thru.

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    1. I would not drive through Paterson in the daytime either ! horrible place.

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  14. The international novelty vegetable/fruit competition gives some light-heartedness and frivolity in an otherwise dark and corrupt World. Three cheers for John's International novelty vegetable/fruit competition and long may it reign!

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  15. Nessie is alive!!!!!!!

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  16. aww, I love the first novelty veg entry.

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  17. Your cabbies certainly see the seamy side of life. Belfast taxis are much more sedate. But then there's not much scope for shenanigans between our posh residential street and Belfast City Airport, which is our usual taxi ride.

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  18. It's vegetable competitions already? How I love them!
    The only scary taxi ride was when Bill-someone picked me up for a Dr. appt. Flirty, easy to ignore. But then he reached behind and patted my knee. Not tip for him.

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    1. Susan, Just read your last blog entry......MORE PLEASE!!

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  19. Love Nessie.
    Sigh on the underbelly of society. So many people, struggling with battles which are alien to me. Sruggling with the same battles and issues I fight...

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  20. Had a hilarious Nessie hunt in a little boat at midnight!. We are convinced we saw her!. Nothing to do with the beverages consumed, or 1 am bonfire on the beach to get the atmosphere. Was magical!. and fun!.

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  21. What a cutie! John, do you want physical craft entries this year?

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  22. Love Nessie. At least the drunks and druggies were calling for a cab instead of driving under the influence and hurting someone.


    Next visit--subway? [you should see my streets, the potholes from Hurricane Sandy are still with us and growing all the time.]

    lizzy

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  23. Underbelly of society, as I live Edinburgh could scratch the surface of some areas and would not be my world!.think Irvine Welsh Trainspotting.
    Not my world!.
    25 years ago my sis worked on the vice squad in London, she took me on a tour of her patch, in her friends mini car disguised . Opened my eyes!.yep was the underbelly , telling me who people were n what they were up to.
    Not my world.

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  24. That happened to me too!!
    A late night trip with a taxi driver zooming down a 35mph at about 80mph! I went air born too. (it was kind of exciting!)

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  25. I have never been in a taxi cab for this exact reason. Late nights, especially. Yikes! I thought nothing good happened after 2am, but it sounds like we'll have to move that up to Midnight.

    Stay safe out there!

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  26. Late night taxi rides are my favorite ! no traffic ..
    In Buenos Aires we took taxis every day all over the place .. the music alone was worth the fare. I like to think I am not aso sedate that I can't endure a fast car ride :)
    **reminds me of a funny story where someones grandmother kept shouting slow down , slow down! and the driver said he was backing out of the driveway at a crawl ..**

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  27. I'm glad I'm tucked up in my bed while all this is going on.

    My son works Comms for the police, some of the tales he can tell are alarming enough, the ones he can't talk about must be dreadful 😩

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