Farewell 2009 and Welcome 2010 !!!

At last my computer is once again working after breaking down last Sunday. It was finally repaired by a very good friend of mine only from yesterday evening till about 3.30am this morning. There are still a few minor things to be adjusted and added into my computer and it will be as good as new says the "doctor", only thing left for me to do is to go get a new printer as the present one is giving me problems.

The past few days were rather slow and quiet, but tonight, everything changes for it is the last night 0f year 2009, the magical "Count Down" is going to be full of excitement, loud and very noisy with huge crowds waiting for the stroke of midnight to welcome Year 2010 together with colourful and fantastic fireworks display. Its going to be very exciting with the nostalgic tune of "Auld Lang Syne" once again sung and heard everywhere in Singapore and throughout the whole world as we bid goodbye to Year 2009 and usher in the new Year 2010. I must say it has been a very speedy ten years passed from year 2000 filled with fierce and violent "Turbulences" such as the onslaught of the Flu viruses, the infamous Tsunamis, the Great Floods, the huge Financial Crunches, the terror of the Terrorists with their Human Bombs that seemed so endless, the Global Recession, the Climate changes, and so many others that I rather not be reminded. We are also witnessing the emergence or 'awakening' of China to becoming an additional Great World Superpower, and many other nations aggressively vying to attain Nuclear Power dominations together with threatening intentions. What will our future be like in the years to come, well, I think its too scary to think just now, so for the present time being, I wish to heartily wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year !!! CHEERS !!!

peaceful and yet very busy Christmas time......

This Christmas was not what I had expected although I have been kept pretty busy with many passengers that I ferried around. There was not even one memorable incident for me to recall during the past two nights except getting quite tired through the continuous driving till late. I noticed that the huge crowds of revellers that gathered in town were very much more than those in the past few years, I guess the recent increase in the population made the difference. Anyway, I am still feeling quite tired and I think I will go slow today and maybe stop work earlier and get plenty of rest. The New Year celebrations is around the corner and I shall be looking forward to yet another very busy few days ahead.

its a good Christmas eve.........

At 5.00pm, it was the start of a very fruitful and non-stop workday. The first passenger I picked up was this pretty young lady from United Square taxi stand. She was first in the long queue and had been waiting for about 20 minutes. She was going home to Yishun street 11, and along the way, we had a pleasant conversation. She told me she was going to have dinner with her family first and later in the evening at about 10pm, she would be celebrating Christmas with about ten of her former secondary schoolmates including a few childhood friends at St. James Power Station where they had already booked a table in one of the clubs where Cantonese and Hokkien songs are part of the music being played there. She said after finishing her secondary education eight or nine years ago, she and her friends have been keeping in close touch with each other and have partied together on festive occasions regularly and tonight is going to be another big bash. Her metered fare came to $18.30 and fares more or less around this amount seemed to be the order of the day as I worked on.

The beauty of this Christmas eve workday for me is that I did not at any time encountered traffic jams at all. It was smooth travelling and there were eager and ready passengers everywhere throughout my working time. I only took two breaks, half an hour each, and the rest of the time was on the road till I called it a day at 3.25am. My overall gross takings amounted to $247.00 for about nine and a half hours of work which was very good. I could have continued for another two more hours but my legs are feeling very tired right now.

Its Christmas again! Jingle bells, jingle bells......

It is going to be a very hectic evening for me, its Christmas eve! People from all walks of life will be celebrating and partying from night till dawn, and I expect the city streets to be jampacked especially throughout the long stretch of Orchard Road where the road will be closed and taxis will be mostly occupied outside of these areas and there will be very long queues of passengers everywhere waiting for cabs.

Every year during the Christmas season, taxi drivers are all out in full swing and wishing "Merry Christmas!" to all our passengers. This is also the time when we start collecting our year end bonuses. Throughout my years of driving a taxi, earnings during this period can spiral up to twice or even three times what we normally earn on ordinary days. I will be driving till the wee hours of the morning, maybe stopping work around 6.30am then hand over the cab to my relief driver for his turn to do the rounds. As expected I know its going to be a very tiring day for me from 5.00pm onwards and I will definitely need to have enough rest to last the long weekend ahead. There will be plenty of revelry, very noisy and loud singing passengers like in past years and its going to be another very exciting evening, it gets more intense each time. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

business today was very good.......

It was a very good day for me as I had a continuous flow of passengers who paid fares the lowest being $11.50 and the highest at $26.50 so at the end of the day, I managed a collection high of $170/- and after deducting $43/- for rental and $18.70 for diesel, I had a nett take home pay of $108.30 which I consider an excellent earning for one day, hopefully I can score a double tomorrow. Throughout my working hours, nothing eventful happened only the usual "Hello" and "Thank You" and almost all trips were away from the city areas which was a plus, including not getting caught in any traffic jams. At around 9.00pm, I took a very short break at Drive 6 food centre where I had only a bowl of "laksa" and a "kopi-oh" which took only about 20 minutes and I was on the road again.

On all trips, three passengers slept throughout their journey, three were chatting softly on their mobiles all the way and the rest just sat quietly either together with their partners or just by themselves, I drove steadily and at the same time took note of the going ons to keep myself from getting bored, these sort of situations are very rare, but most welcomed although I would have preferred a bit of mouth action off and on which helps keep my mind occupied and alert.

about charitable donations to ...........

At last, my computer is working normally again. Last night, whilst ferrying my caucasian passenger whom I picked up near People's Park Complex going to Royal Hotel at Newton Road, we chatted casually about giving donations to charity. I told him about an anonymous donor in Singapore who would deposit into the charity box of a temple, a $1,000/= note, and this went on for many weeks, of course it was much welcomed without any questions asked. My passenger then told me that the Salvation Army in Toronto sent out many of its volunteers to deposit charity boxes outside the entrances of malls this Christmas. There, the usual coins and notes are dropped into "The Kettle" as the box is known, but yesterday, when the Salvation Army counted their collections, there was this small envelope in one of the boxes that contained a real diamond wedding ring. They concluded that it must have come from a "Full Heart" or from a widower with a "Broken Heart" and of course, it was welcomed without any questions asked............."MERRY CHRISTMAS" to all you blog followers!!!!

Computer Breakdown...

Apologies folks as I get my computer fixed. Meantime, I borrowed some time on my friend's computer to type this. Will post again soon. Cheers!

Performed "angioplasty" in the kitchen......

Picked up this American expat and on the way to his hotel, The Ritz Carlton, he was saying that most people in his country are handy-men. He related that one day, in the kitchen with his wife, she noticed gargling sounds, bubbles and liquid was stucked and so he performed a simple angioplasty. "You mean, you are a surgeon, and you performed angioplasty on your wife, in the kitchen?" I asked.

"Oh, no, no, no," he explained, "My wife noticed that the water in the kitchen sink had refused to go down the drainage opening... obviously there was a blockage in the drainage system and so I performed something similar to angioplasty, clearing the blockage was very similar to angioplasty, you know what I mean, simply pushing down an auger and the clogged pipe (blocked artery) was then free of grease (cholesterol plague) which finally allowed water (blood) to flow freely in the system, got it?"

I laughed and said, "Interesting, comparing our blood arteries to our house drainage pipes!! For a moment I thought ..."

"Yeah, yeah, I knew it!" he chuckled.

This guy then recommended using a cup of bio-degradable degreaser monthly for my sink, its just like drinking warm Chinese tea after dinner to act as a degreaser for all the fatty foods that we eat.

"Hmmm, sounds sensible!!! Thank you." I said, as we arrived at the hotel. He paid the fare plus a little bit extra and said, "Goodnight, drive carefully."

I replied "I will, thank you and goodnight."

As I drove off, I thought he was chatty, interesting and a witty American, nice guy.

satisfaction..........

Everyday I meet up with total strangers in my cab, we wish and greet each other, say countless thank you's and goodbyes, make short conversations, sometimes even talk and joke as if we were old friends, sometimes we even argue over disagreements, show a bit of anger, maybe get involved in mild quarrels over trifle matters such as, which is a better route to take or travelling speed too fast, too slow, or disputes over fare charges, but generally, we experience normal pleasant encounters with our passengers. The most interesting part and rewarding aspect of a taxi driver is, being able to help in assisting one to locate their destination which happens quite often or recovering and returning their properties left in our taxis. At times, we also try to confide and console, as well as listen to whatever problems and woes that our passengers may have. There are those who are happy and grateful to us for helping out and some even express their gratitudes by offering us rewards or giving us good tips. Indeed, we get a lot of 'job satisfaction' in our profession.

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.