We used a taxi driver today who had been helpful, courteous and driven well in the past. Although the car he drives is something like an old banger of a Volkswagon Polo with an automatic gearbox, he knows the car well, seems to anticipate other drivers’ actions well.
Contrast that to a taxi driver who I drove with recently, who had a Subaru Impreza. The choice of car was an obvious indicator as to his driving style, and whilst I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the experience of zipping between lanes and fitting into gaps between cars that I wouldn’t have tried in a much smaller car, I wouldn’t want to have had Ira or Anna with me. Perhaps the fact I was a little drunk at the time helped me to relax 🙂
So why contact certain taxi drivers direct, rather than just ring a company, or flag down a passing motorist? Most of the time, we now need a car that we know has working, and accessible seat belts in the back, to attach Anna’s car seat to. Add on top of that that some drivers dislike the extra time it takes to safely place Anna in a car, and you can see why when we find a driver who takes their time, doesn’t make a car journey feel like a white knuckle roller coaster ride, we take their mobile phone number.
While we are on the topic of cars, I have only just got around to watching some of Robert Llewellyn’s CarPool episodes. Here is one featuring Dave Gorman. Robert Llewellyn is probably still most famous for playing Kryten in the UK comedy series Red Dwarf, and try searching on this blog or checking out his Wiki, to discover who Dave Gorman is.
urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh, yuck. Apologies to anyone who loaded this site in the last three minutes. I had originally embedded a video in this space, but when I went to check how it looked on my site, I discovered it automatically started playing. As I can’t see a ‘autoplay=1’ type argument in the code, I’ll just link to it instead, sorry. http://blip.tv/play/gdw_gYrZQJCkXA
Finally, wanted to give a quick heads up to research publicised in a BBC article on rear facing car seats for children. Apparently they should be used up until the age of four, which is certainly not common practice back in Britain. It would just be amazing to see any type of car seat/restraint used with most children over here in Kazakhstan :/
June 21st, 2009 1:12 am
totally agree, very wise to take the phone number, although I find some drivers are reluctant to give their mobile number to you and prefer to give their ‘driver number’. This is the number that will identify them within the cab company they work for. Give the taxi company controller the number (and the car make/color or number plate usually helps) and they’ll tell if you they’re available.
How about all us Astonions (or Astananees !!..??) swap notes soon about good cabs and ones to avoid (particulary if you need to ferry kids around occasionally in them)
June 21st, 2009 10:49 pm
I’ve never had drivers refuse me their number, and quite a few offer it without any prompting from me. Perhaps they just prefer the rough’n’ready look I tend to sport 😉 Not that I’m saying all taxi drivers are blue. Or that there is anything at all wrong with being blue.
Anyway, note swapping on taxis definitely a good idea, though I’m afraid we’re a little short on good drivers, as we haven’t used them a lot.