(no subject)
Nov. 7th, 2007 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringThere's a lot happening, I just don't have time to tell you about it all...
Yesterday was Melbourne Cup Day. Traditionally every workplace in Australia has a late lunch of chicken and champagne and watches the race on telly, cursing and cheering according to whether the horse they drew in the sweep is going well or not. The remainder of the day is a writeoff.
For the first time this year, the Australian Capital Territory declared it a public holiday, which meant everyone missed out on the office party.
I got to spend my entire shift on the higher rate 2, instead of just the six or seven hours after nine PM. So I cleaned up. Not a lot of the normal business type traffic, but a lot of "wheel the drunks from pub to pub and then home" stuff. The racetrack was stiff with thousands of people all wanting a cab. Quite a cold day, so the women in their flimsy clothing were desperate, the blokes somewhat less so. One chap paid me $40 to go from All Bar Nun to the City, normally about a $10 fare.
Usually when I drive drunks about, it's mostly cash trade, with very little credit card and EFTPOS. Not last night - I think about half my passengers had done their dough on the horses and had no folding money left. A few cabbies had problems with customers. Towards the end of the night I was very selective in who I picked up. If your clothing was at all rumpled, I sailed on by. It was a shift where up until two in the morning there were far more people wanting cabs than there were cabs to go home in. I drove around with the doors locked to stop desperate drunks climbing in at traffic lights.
So I ended my shift unpunched, fully paid, and in a clean cab. I'm here to say that there were a more than a few cabbies regretting the night.
And once again, there's a strong case for better public transport in Canberra. The buses aren't good at the best of times, running an hour apart outside peak hours, and after midnight they stop entirely. If you are drunk, it's a cab or nothing.
In other news, Kerri took DS and a girlfriend up to Sydney to collect DD back from New Zealand. They had a pleasant, chatty trip up and back. DD got slugged $200 excess baggage. Mostly books. Now you know why I'm so keen on elite status with the attendant increase in luggage allowances.
Good to have her back, and Claude the cat is celebrating in a slothful manner at having his lover back home. Mind you, I now have to battle to make sure I've got a car to get to work in. With four drivers and three cars and a crap public transport system, it's a bit of a juggling act sometimes.
What else? Long, two and a half hour phone call in the middle of my night from an old uni mate. My phone has a cracked display. I'm way behind in my NaNo. It's been raining. I love my job. I'm looking forward to Guernsey.
Yesterday was Melbourne Cup Day. Traditionally every workplace in Australia has a late lunch of chicken and champagne and watches the race on telly, cursing and cheering according to whether the horse they drew in the sweep is going well or not. The remainder of the day is a writeoff.
For the first time this year, the Australian Capital Territory declared it a public holiday, which meant everyone missed out on the office party.
I got to spend my entire shift on the higher rate 2, instead of just the six or seven hours after nine PM. So I cleaned up. Not a lot of the normal business type traffic, but a lot of "wheel the drunks from pub to pub and then home" stuff. The racetrack was stiff with thousands of people all wanting a cab. Quite a cold day, so the women in their flimsy clothing were desperate, the blokes somewhat less so. One chap paid me $40 to go from All Bar Nun to the City, normally about a $10 fare.
Usually when I drive drunks about, it's mostly cash trade, with very little credit card and EFTPOS. Not last night - I think about half my passengers had done their dough on the horses and had no folding money left. A few cabbies had problems with customers. Towards the end of the night I was very selective in who I picked up. If your clothing was at all rumpled, I sailed on by. It was a shift where up until two in the morning there were far more people wanting cabs than there were cabs to go home in. I drove around with the doors locked to stop desperate drunks climbing in at traffic lights.
So I ended my shift unpunched, fully paid, and in a clean cab. I'm here to say that there were a more than a few cabbies regretting the night.
And once again, there's a strong case for better public transport in Canberra. The buses aren't good at the best of times, running an hour apart outside peak hours, and after midnight they stop entirely. If you are drunk, it's a cab or nothing.
In other news, Kerri took DS and a girlfriend up to Sydney to collect DD back from New Zealand. They had a pleasant, chatty trip up and back. DD got slugged $200 excess baggage. Mostly books. Now you know why I'm so keen on elite status with the attendant increase in luggage allowances.
Good to have her back, and Claude the cat is celebrating in a slothful manner at having his lover back home. Mind you, I now have to battle to make sure I've got a car to get to work in. With four drivers and three cars and a crap public transport system, it's a bit of a juggling act sometimes.
What else? Long, two and a half hour phone call in the middle of my night from an old uni mate. My phone has a cracked display. I'm way behind in my NaNo. It's been raining. I love my job. I'm looking forward to Guernsey.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-07 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-07 06:14 am (UTC)Your phone's screen is an easy and reasonly cheap fix. Let David know what sort and he may be able to get you a trade price.
EEk for the excess baggage!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-07 06:31 am (UTC)