Take the next exit on the left.

"So how do you like being a cabby? I bet it's hard work."
"Are you kidding? I set my own hours, I meet all kinds of people, and every day I have new stories to tell. What's not to love?"
"Well, that's great!"
"However, ask me again in three years time, and I'll probably have a far more bitter and resentful answer for you."


When I started out in this business, I had a notebook. In it, I wrote down all and any interesting and weird encounters I had during the course of my work. The idea was to collect the stories for posterity. Perhaps get them published, or at least blog about them. And though I wrote diligently in that notebook for over a year, I never got around to doing anything with it. As time went on, I wrote less and less. After a while, the encounters began to run together into a jaded slurry of drunken idiots, human wrecks, and the eternally infuriating question "So, lots to do tonight?"

So I stopped writing and got to work.

Now it's been three years. And my answer has indeed become far more bitter and resentful. I've come to a point where I've realized I have two alternatives:

a) remain behind the wheel and slowly transform into a bitter, doughy creature with no discernable goals other than the next big tip,

b) start making preparations for my escape and get back to my original goals.

And so, starting now, I choose the second alternative. This blog is in a way my letter of resignation. In it, you will find most of the stories I collected in that notebook. You will find my thoughts and feelings about the everyday madness that is being a cabbie (and trust me, madness is a very, VERY conservative term). You will also, to a lesser extent, find the chronicle of my process out of the business and into the teaching programme at my local university.

Being a cabbie has its perks, and all that I loved about it three years ago still holds true today. But that does not nearly outweigh the bad. The time has come for me to start preparing for my last fare, park my car and walk away.

However, its still a long ride until that day. You're welcome to join me. I'll be happy for your company.

CC