Mobile Power.

These days, passengers are all accompanied by their faithful Smart phones and iPhones and as soon as they board or even whilst boarding my cab, their mobile is glued to their ears and chatting away continuously. Nestled comfortably in their seat and you notice them staring into their beloved gadget, reading emails, into Facebook or chatting and most of all, playing their favourite online games quietly throughout the entire journey to their destinations.
Times have changed when handphones were just communication tools where we use them as and when we need them to convey and receive calls only. Today, practically everyone owns a mobile, its like a part of our body and you will definitely feel very naked and lost when you are without one. Most passengers no longer watch where they are going, know immediately where they are, how the driver drives or even notice whatever is going on along the routes and surroundings after giving instructions to the taxi driver where they wish to go whilst boarding the taxi. Those were the days when you have passengers telling you which road to take, turn left or right or teach you how to drive, grumbles all the way or sometimes even scolds, but today, the whole scenario has changed because everyone minds their own business all because their beloved mobile companion is with them.

Missing iPhone On Board Bus No.35.

Picked up a young couple at Parkway Parade taxi stand around 9.00pm last night and they asked me if there is a bus terminal at Changi Airport and I told them yes. They wanted to go to the airport. The guy told me he must have lost his iphone in the bus they took, No.35 now heading towards the Airport. I asked him to call his mobile, but he said he left it on silent mode. I asked if his iphone was with him when he was on board the bus and he said yes because he remembered he was checking on a message in his phone. As we proceeded towards the airport, I said they could try to locate where his mobile is with his girlfriend's iphone and they quickly did that and discovered his mobile somewhere at St. Parick's Road. I suggested we hurry there to try to catch up with the bus but he said we might as well go to the bus stop near Changi airport police station to wait for the bus with his iphone in it. At the security gate he went to inquire where the nearest bus stop is and was told nearby, we followed the road and it led us to the Budget Terminal and not a bus stop was in sight. We decided to go to Terminal three where they could find out more from airport authorities as to where the bus bay was. I drove towards the basement of T3 where they asked to alight near the front of the long taxi queue to continue their quest to recover the missing iphone. They told me that the bus was only carrying few passengers and they were seated at the rear seats so hopefully his iphone might still be lying there somewhere. The guy and his girlfriend were visibly stressed and very anxious along the whole journey. I wished them all the luck and hope they recover his lost iphone as we departed.

very happy and grateful to see lost property again....

The past weekend was quite dull and uneventful except for a handphone which I found wedged between my taxi's rear seat and backrest whilst cleaning my cab after calling it a day. It was an old model Nokia handphone left behind by one of my passengers, and whilst looking at the phone, it suddenly rang the old common house telephone ringing tone. I answered it and an excited voice was rambling straightaway about having lost his mobile. He begged me to return the phone and promised me a good reward, all these said before I can even ask him to identify the colour or model or call the number one more time to confirm that it was his property. I told him that he has only to pay me the cab fare when I see him, after I finished washing and cleaning my cab. This passenger happened to be an elderly man, very polite and thankful and happy to see his phone again. He told me that so many precious contacts would have been lost and stored personal important data lost forever if not found. He tried to push a $50/- note into my hands but I refused to accept. He was very persistent, I think more grateful is the word and insisted that I took the money, I eventually accepted $10/- since my fare meter showed $9.20 and that ended a rather quiet but continuous work routine without much break, many traffic jams and I was truly worn out.