Pete goes back
Apr. 27th, 2008 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyring"You can never go back."
That's what the other Silver Service drivers say. Going back to a regular cab is a pretty big drop.
I got back on Tuesday night, spent Wednesday sleeping, mostly, celebrated a family dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and on Thursday I was ready to drive again.
The owner didn't have a Silver Service cab for me, and I can't say that I was expecting to go straight back to my regular schedule. For one thing, my day driver found another career and so the owner would have found another team to drive Taxi 112. Taxi 81 was still in the workshop following an accident, and the bottom line was that I was to drive Taxi 131 for three days until something better could be arranged.
Exciting prospects on the horizon. The owner is buying some new cars and I'll be driving one of them.
But until then, I'm driving whatever's available.
I turned up Thursday arvo to take over my cab. Back into Canberra Cabs uniform, though I kept my Silver Service tie. I just don't feel comfortable wearing a long-sleeved button-down collar shirt without a tie. Besides, I feel more professional-looking if I dress up a little.
Cab 131 is an older model Falcon. An AU II much the same as my first cab, Taxi 94. This one's a station wagon and the seat covers aren't lime green, so that's an advantage. Otherwise it's pretty ratty. It works, mostly, and the engine runs sweetly, but it's just not the same as my beautiful Fairlane. No climate control, no six-stacker CD, no leather upholstery, no loads of legroom in the back. ***SIGH***
Still, it's good to be driving again. Canberra is beautiful this time of year as the leaves turn. Some streets I just gasp at the beauty of the leaves. Not yet cold, though there's a bite in mornings and late evenings.
A couple of tourists from Queensland hopped in. "Oooh, it's cold out there!" one said, then looked at me. "Why are you smiling?"
"I was in London earlier this week, and it was bloody freezing, so I'm glad to be back in the warm."
Thursday was the day the Olympic torch came through Canberra. The paper predicted traffic chaos in the morning, but I didn't mind, because it would all be back to normal by the time I started work at three. Still, the helicopters buzzing over the route made sleep difficult.
A few jobs to the airport, and then I got a call to the train station. "I'm from Beijing in China", my passenger said, "and the train to Sydney, it go."
I had to take him to the bus terminal. He met up with five other Chinese folk, and they were very downcast. All the planes and train and bus seats were sold out. "How much to take a taxi to Sydney?" they asked.
I ventured an opinion that it would be about three hundred to four hundred dollars. I couldn't take them, because I'm limited to four passengers, not to mention the lack of a Sydney street directory or GPS, but I arranged with base for a maxitaxi.
The Chinese Embassy must have contacted every Chinese student in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra and told them to line the parade route. With flags.
So there were no problems with security and it all went off very well.
With Friday being the Anzac Day public holiday, a lot of Canberrans decided to take the Thursday as well, avoid the traffic problems and road closures, and have a four day long weekend. Those that were left decided to have their Friday evening drinks on Thursday.
So it was a busy night for me.
Anzac Day, and a lot of people - veterans especially - start drinking a gunfire breakfast of rum and milk after the dawn service and keep it up through the day. By the time I started work, there were a lot of drunks around and the police were visible at the pubs nearest the War Memorial.
I was kind of worried about bad behaviour, but I had a good night. Picked up three young servicewomen from Olims on Ainslie Avenue and took them to the Civic RSL (Returned Services League). They told me to speed it up, becuase they were busting for a pee. They were more than a little merry, and every now and then they'd say "Close your ears, driver, because this is girl talk", and some lightly salacious gossip would float by. At one point a pair of hands came out of the back seat and clamped down over my ears for a particularly juicy titbit. I just laughed.
Got them there without any accidents.
It was a busy night, but quite different to my regular patterns. No airport work, for starters. Afternoon drunks. Tourists to and from the War Memorial.
I picked up a veteran from Manuka. Other people waiting in line gave him priority and I took him out to Rivett. We had a nice chatty ride, and when I got him home - a twenty six dollar fare - I clicked off the meter and cleared it. He was astonished, but I told him that anyone wearing medals on Anzac Day wasn't going to pay in my cab. I didn't quite say "You paid this fare forty years ago", but that was the idea.
Another good night.
Saturday night and I started an hour or so late. Somewhere I've mislaid my Bluetooth speaker and I don't like having to actually pick up the phone and answer it while driving, especially if there's a passenger in the cab. So I did some quick shopping and bought a smart black Blueant model that clips onto the sunvisor. No installation, easy operation, and simple controls, so I don't have to fiddle or look away from the road. The iPhone paired in a flash and it seems to work OK.
Slow for a Saturday. I spent some time happily sitting on Manuka rank, sipping Artoven cappucino and reading a chicklit book "Weekend in Paris". Dreaming of Paris. We had such a wonderful time there, browsing through the Latin Quarter, threading our way through the tourists outside Notre Dame, wearing our feet off in Versailles, kissing on top of the Eiffel Tower. ***SIGH***
I might not be driving a particularly wonderful cab at the moment, but the money goes towards paying off the holiday. Weeks of twelve-hour night shifts add up to a month or so each year of dreams and memories. Well worth it.
That's what the other Silver Service drivers say. Going back to a regular cab is a pretty big drop.
I got back on Tuesday night, spent Wednesday sleeping, mostly, celebrated a family dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and on Thursday I was ready to drive again.
The owner didn't have a Silver Service cab for me, and I can't say that I was expecting to go straight back to my regular schedule. For one thing, my day driver found another career and so the owner would have found another team to drive Taxi 112. Taxi 81 was still in the workshop following an accident, and the bottom line was that I was to drive Taxi 131 for three days until something better could be arranged.
Exciting prospects on the horizon. The owner is buying some new cars and I'll be driving one of them.
But until then, I'm driving whatever's available.
I turned up Thursday arvo to take over my cab. Back into Canberra Cabs uniform, though I kept my Silver Service tie. I just don't feel comfortable wearing a long-sleeved button-down collar shirt without a tie. Besides, I feel more professional-looking if I dress up a little.
Cab 131 is an older model Falcon. An AU II much the same as my first cab, Taxi 94. This one's a station wagon and the seat covers aren't lime green, so that's an advantage. Otherwise it's pretty ratty. It works, mostly, and the engine runs sweetly, but it's just not the same as my beautiful Fairlane. No climate control, no six-stacker CD, no leather upholstery, no loads of legroom in the back. ***SIGH***
Still, it's good to be driving again. Canberra is beautiful this time of year as the leaves turn. Some streets I just gasp at the beauty of the leaves. Not yet cold, though there's a bite in mornings and late evenings.
A couple of tourists from Queensland hopped in. "Oooh, it's cold out there!" one said, then looked at me. "Why are you smiling?"
"I was in London earlier this week, and it was bloody freezing, so I'm glad to be back in the warm."
Thursday was the day the Olympic torch came through Canberra. The paper predicted traffic chaos in the morning, but I didn't mind, because it would all be back to normal by the time I started work at three. Still, the helicopters buzzing over the route made sleep difficult.
A few jobs to the airport, and then I got a call to the train station. "I'm from Beijing in China", my passenger said, "and the train to Sydney, it go."
I had to take him to the bus terminal. He met up with five other Chinese folk, and they were very downcast. All the planes and train and bus seats were sold out. "How much to take a taxi to Sydney?" they asked.
I ventured an opinion that it would be about three hundred to four hundred dollars. I couldn't take them, because I'm limited to four passengers, not to mention the lack of a Sydney street directory or GPS, but I arranged with base for a maxitaxi.
The Chinese Embassy must have contacted every Chinese student in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra and told them to line the parade route. With flags.
So there were no problems with security and it all went off very well.
With Friday being the Anzac Day public holiday, a lot of Canberrans decided to take the Thursday as well, avoid the traffic problems and road closures, and have a four day long weekend. Those that were left decided to have their Friday evening drinks on Thursday.
So it was a busy night for me.
Anzac Day, and a lot of people - veterans especially - start drinking a gunfire breakfast of rum and milk after the dawn service and keep it up through the day. By the time I started work, there were a lot of drunks around and the police were visible at the pubs nearest the War Memorial.
I was kind of worried about bad behaviour, but I had a good night. Picked up three young servicewomen from Olims on Ainslie Avenue and took them to the Civic RSL (Returned Services League). They told me to speed it up, becuase they were busting for a pee. They were more than a little merry, and every now and then they'd say "Close your ears, driver, because this is girl talk", and some lightly salacious gossip would float by. At one point a pair of hands came out of the back seat and clamped down over my ears for a particularly juicy titbit. I just laughed.
Got them there without any accidents.
It was a busy night, but quite different to my regular patterns. No airport work, for starters. Afternoon drunks. Tourists to and from the War Memorial.
I picked up a veteran from Manuka. Other people waiting in line gave him priority and I took him out to Rivett. We had a nice chatty ride, and when I got him home - a twenty six dollar fare - I clicked off the meter and cleared it. He was astonished, but I told him that anyone wearing medals on Anzac Day wasn't going to pay in my cab. I didn't quite say "You paid this fare forty years ago", but that was the idea.
Another good night.
Saturday night and I started an hour or so late. Somewhere I've mislaid my Bluetooth speaker and I don't like having to actually pick up the phone and answer it while driving, especially if there's a passenger in the cab. So I did some quick shopping and bought a smart black Blueant model that clips onto the sunvisor. No installation, easy operation, and simple controls, so I don't have to fiddle or look away from the road. The iPhone paired in a flash and it seems to work OK.
Slow for a Saturday. I spent some time happily sitting on Manuka rank, sipping Artoven cappucino and reading a chicklit book "Weekend in Paris". Dreaming of Paris. We had such a wonderful time there, browsing through the Latin Quarter, threading our way through the tourists outside Notre Dame, wearing our feet off in Versailles, kissing on top of the Eiffel Tower. ***SIGH***
I might not be driving a particularly wonderful cab at the moment, but the money goes towards paying off the holiday. Weeks of twelve-hour night shifts add up to a month or so each year of dreams and memories. Well worth it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 03:23 pm (UTC)Lovely reading what you're up to now you're back home. Hugs to Kerri ha ha - hope you've apologised for my over-hugging!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 04:05 pm (UTC)Kerri doesn't mind me hugging beautiful women. She knows how much pleasure I take from the company of other BookCrossers. At the end of the day, she knows that my heart is hers.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 04:14 pm (UTC)I wanted to apologise for hugging *Kerri* as I think I surprised and alarmed her!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 05:16 pm (UTC)I'll tell her, but I think she already knows that BookCrossers are friendly people, especially in groups. And she knows that people who know me are interested in what sort of superwoman could possibly put up with my foibles.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 09:37 pm (UTC)Very nice gesture towards the Vet you carried for free - that's our generous and thoughtful Skyring.
sucks that you are home BUT
Date: 2008-04-27 10:30 pm (UTC)Re: sucks that you are home BUT
Date: 2008-04-28 01:19 am (UTC)It's been a great trip, but about as long as we could take. Unlikely that we'll take anything as long for several years, actually.
I can live off dreams and memories between trips. Besides, I enjoy my daily existence.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 01:19 am (UTC)Although you didn't mention the absolute chaos the torch relay made of the bus routes. I would have been better off taking a taxi! Well, if there had been a chance you weren't sleeping...
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 01:22 am (UTC)If it's any consolation, the disruption in Paris was pretty severe. We took a taxi to get from the hire car place to our hotel, and it probably took twice as long as it should have, due to road closures and congestion.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:46 am (UTC)Hugs and smooches.
Mwah******
no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 03:47 am (UTC)The Duke of Wellington, after a glittering career, said that if he was to do it all over again, he would have given out more praise. For me, I've found that being kind and generous to people who deserve it is its own reward.
Even as we speak, you are discovering some of the wonderful BookCrossers I've met. It is giving me an immense amount of pleasure to see and hear of your meetings. It's like reading a favorite book!
As for the veteran, I don't have any words that haven't already been said a thousand times by better folk than I. It was a pleasure and a privilege.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 01:13 am (UTC)I'm glad it was worth it.