Lovely Passengers.

It started last Tuesday evening around 5.30pm when I picked up my first three passengers at United Square taxi stand. A cute Primary one school girl with her Primary three elder brother and their maid. As soon as they boarded my cab, the little girl immediately said, "Uncle, please bring us to Serangoon Garden Estate but could you stop along Serangoon Avenue 3 first for a short while, just opposite a Secondary School because my brother wants to buy something at a sundry shop and then after that proceed to Serangoon Garden Estate by Jalan Nira thank you". "Okay girl, I will" I replied smiling and thought that was very good spoken English, such clear instructions, polite and well mannered from one so young.
After fetching them to their destination, I drove to Nex Mall taxi stand where I picked up my second passenger, a pretty first year Psychology student from a local University who said,  "Uncle please bring me to Jalan Riang, I think it's quite nearby, as quick as possible because I am late for a job interview thank you". "What time is your interview?" I asked, and she said "6pm". "But its now exactly 6pm already" as I looked at my watch. "I know, I'm so sorry, but can you please help me?" she pleaded. "Okay, I'll try my best" I replied. She told me along the way that she wanted to work during the coming Uni holidays to get some working experience and also earn some pocket money. She was quite cool and very pleasant during our conversation and I did manage to get her there in exactly 6 minutes. I could tell she was very relieved as she paid her fare and thanked me for my effort. I wished her success in her job interview as I drove off.
Finally, my third passenger whom I picked up when I returned to Nex Mall taxi stand, a young and very pleasant female office executive who wanted to go home to Yishun Avenue 6 and requested me to travel by Jalan Kayu and straight into former Seletar British Airbase entrance which was quite an unfamiliar new route for me. "Can we go through by this way?, I have never gone by this way before and not aware at all that this way can lead us to Yishun Avenue 1" I asked and she said "Uncle, not many people know how to get to Yishun Ave 1 by this route, but I have travelled a few times this way and I will direct you, its not congested with traffic and its fairly smooth so don't worry". "Okay, thank you, that's good" I replied and so she began to guide me through and not only that, she was also kind enough to tell me about buildings along the way and new ones to be constructed soon. She was like a "Tourist Guide" to me, a taxi driver. We had an interesting and wonderful chit chat till we reached her home. I thanked her for guiding me through this new route and educating me about the nearby surroundings.
These first three trips were the start of many more pleasant ones for me for the rest of my working shift and I enjoyed them all, yes, it was a good day.

 

Ferrying Top Celebrities.

Last night at around 8.00pm, I picked up a Caucasian man at Orchard Tower taxi stand. "Hello, I would like to go to Fort Road please" he said. "Hi, sure, ok" I answered. "Please go straight along Orchard Road and then take the ECP and also, I am a bit tired, I need to rest. Please wake me up when we are there thanks" he requested. "Okay, sure, will do" I replied. As soon as I turned into Fort Road from the ECP, I said, "Hello, we are along Fort Road now", and he sat up and asked "Could you go to Meyer Road and then Arthur Road from here?". I answered "Yes of course" and continued driving towards his destination. I stopped my cab at the Condo's lobby, the fare meter showed $10.60, as I switched on the ceiling light, turned around and told him the fare amount and suddenly he looked very familiar. I asked "Hello, you must be the popular Andrew Frost, the horse racing presenter at Kranji Turf Club!" he said "Yes" and smiled as he paid me the fare. "What was your Cup tip of the day?" I asked and he quickly replied Hong Kong's "Military Attack". Wow, the New Paper's Top Tipster has got it right again. Yes, he is Kranji Turf Club's Racing Celebrity, also a very popular Television racing presenter as well and overall Top Race Tipster for the past few years. He has recently resigned from his post to join the highly successful weekly race magazine "Racing Guide" organization. I wished him Good Luck in his new assignment as we bade farewell.

Not very often do I get Celebrity passengers, but two months ago I was again lucky to have ferried another Top Celebrity in the form of well-known Neil Humphreys, columnist and writer, Author of seven books of which, Best-Seller "Return to a Sexy Island", a copy of his book was given to me 'free' with his best compliments whilst he was on board my taxi. Neil and I had a memorable time chatting with one another, sharing lots of stories, jokes and laughter. I was lucky to have met him and truly enjoyed his company.

Passenger Extraordinaire.

Ferrying my passengers recently was quite dull and boring as most of my passengers were always very quiet, kept to themselves throughout the trips, returned short mono syllable answers to my curious questions, no chit-chats, too engrossed in their handsets, usually playing games or into their ipads and therefore nothing exciting or interesting happens during these journeys which has kept me slow in posting interesting or informative blogs lately.

This evening, around 10.30pm, I picked up a passenger at Clarke Quay taxi stand. He comes from England, a fifty-ish English guy who wanted to go to Orchard Towers. I wished him and commented "A bit quiet tonight in Clarke Quay isn't it, but it would be lively with women activities over at OT". He replied "Yeah, I'm going there and maybe can meet up with my ex". "Woh, that'll be nice!" I said, adding "What's her Nationality by the way?". He answered quickly, "A bitch". And then it all started as we headed towards OT with him asking me if I knew what a deer was and I said "Yes, its an animal". "Right" he said, "but this deer has got no eye" and I asked him "How come and why?" he replied "No eye-deer" (No idea) I laughed aloud and he continued, "The deer remained very still, you know why?" I said "No, I don't" and he said "Still No eye deer" after which he immediately started telling me fantastic jokes one after another, mostly vulgar and obscene ones which got me laughing hysterically non stop all the way to OT. Mind you, his repertoire of kinky, obscene and very vulgar jokes were fast, continuous, seemed endless and I just could not help being tickled so badly as he kept spewing out all the jokes that kept me laughing with him loudly all the way to the taxi stand at Orchard Towers.

He paid his fare and gave me an extra $3.00 tip together with a last obscene joke as he alighted. Wow, I was all shooked up, wide awake and tried hard to remember his jokes as I drove off. Suddenly my taxi work became so full of life, exciting as I continued laughing quietly till I finished my shift. I wish I could duplicate and pen his vulgar jokes and short quips to share with you guys too, but no, I cannot do it, its too shamelessly obscene. He was indeed a fantastic stand up comedian whom I'll miss as he will be flying home tomorrow night. My only regret is, I forgot to ask him for his name and contact.    

Unbelievable but True.

We had a great get together Saturday night when me and my regular taxi buddies started telling and exchanging tales of our funniest and weirdest encounters with our passengers past and present. The most hilarious was this incident told by my friend Thomas, a veteran cabby of more than 25 years, about this young and pretty, but truly drunk lady that he picked up around 2.00am near Orchard Plaza quite some time ago. This drunk lady's friend hailed his cab, and asked Thomas to send her drunk friend safely home which is somewhere in Hougang estate. She handed $50.00 together with a slip of paper indicating the exact address where her friend lived and thanked him in advance for his kind services. As soon as he started driving on his way, this drunk lady began to climb from the back seat to the front passenger seat in such an awkward manner that she fell head on, landed on the floor mat in front of the passenger seat and with her tank top blouse pulled up to her waist exposing her naked breasts as she wore no bra at all. The rest of us suddenly burst into loud and wild laughter as he continued his story. He said he quickly stopped his taxi by the side of the road and helped her get seated and pulled her tank top back in place for her, making us exclaim with 'woos and ahhs' before he proceeded on his way. This drunk lady was truly unaware of her condition but did not cause anymore problems for Thomas in her half awake dishevelled disposition the rest of the journey. Upon arrival near the foot of her apartment, he told her that the metered fare was more than $20,00 dollars, and she was able to tell him to keep the change. He alighted, went to assist her out of his taxi and also helped walk her to the apartment's lift and had to accompany her to her door knowing that she will not be able to walk without any assistance. Now, this is where the most unlikely and unbelievable thing which really happened which got all of us in stitches, wide eyed and astounded. This pretty young lady did the most unthinkable as she pulled down her panties, squatted and started to pee in front of him which truly shocked and stunned him. The lift reached her floor and he shakily helped her to her apartment, took her door keys, opened the door for her and once she was inside with her door closed, he quickly made his way back to his taxi, still in shock, half amused and a bit messed up himself but otherwise happy with extra earnings he made for his unlikely efforts.

We all shared in our discussions after listening to this incident and wholeheartedly agreed that when women drink until they are 'dead' drunk, their dignity will be totally lost, especially so when in their drunken state they will unknowingly do the most unladylike, shameful and disgusting acts sometimes but mostly in front of friends and strangers alike, making them an unforgettable shameless 'spectacle' forever.

Regular Get Together and Fellowship.

Once or twice a week, me and my regular taxi buddies, usually five of us would meet at a coffee shop or at a food centre to eat, have drinks and engage in chit chats, serious talks, sharing each others work day experiences as well as discussing all kinds of daily issues practically all subjects such as family, income, encounters with passengers, health, travels, food, discoveries of new cctv locations, speed traps, vehicle breakdowns and accidents, government policies and getting penalised with summonses, talk about politics here and abroad, share jokes, you name it we talk about it, most of all, we thoroughly enjoy sharing laughter together. We look forward to our regular get together weekly and often call to remind each other to make sure we meet at our usual agreed day, time and place. Our get together sessions would usually last for at least an hour each time. These meetings have been going on for us for at least more than fifteen years as cabbies. We have been friends for more than forty years maybe more. Of course between us we do have arguments, disagreements in anything, our likes and dislikes, on sensitive subjects and often cajoling one another in every way. Time has passed us by so very quickly and we are nearly all senior citizens now.

Most cabbies have their own group of friends and meet up regularly for fellowship, have coffee or tea, eat together and share everyday news, all sorts of information and daily happenings at home and abroad. Most important we help and assist one another whenever we meet with difficulties whilst at work and also in our everyday lives.

Shock After Shock.

                                            (Source: The New Paper, dd 2nd April, 2013)

This is just horrific, after posting a blog about taxi drivers making Headlines and Stories on front pages of our daily Newspapers on Monday 1st April, 2013 at 1.20am, I received this shocking front page picture in The New Paper only about 5 hours later in the morning when it arrived. When is this madness going to stop? The Authorities must surely be aware that taxi drivers are easy targets for unreasonable and violent passengers and even general public abuse often getting cabbies badly bashed up and these incidents are on the rise. Heavier penalties and harsher punishments should be meted out by The Authorities against this sort of hooliganism and blatant violence with immediate effect. Taxi drivers are not allowed to retaliate nor engage in fights with whoever whilst in the course of their duties lest their vocational licence be revoked and livelihood abruptly ended.

On September 12th, 2012, a 58 year old cabby was beaten up on the head and kicked in the face by a passenger who accused him of taking a longer route from Grand Hyatt Hotel to Newton Road and then a few days later, on September 16th, 2012, a 65 year old cabby was attacked by young men who became annoyed and violent after being prevented from jaywalking because he drove too slowly on Coleman Street, the 2 young men were subsequently arrested. In another separate incident on this same day, a 45 year old cabby was attacked by a gang of motorcyclists along Upper Bukit Timah Road and he suffered a broken nose, a cracked jaw and multiple cheek fractures.

If this sorry state of affairs carry on unchecked, I dread to think what taxi drivers may resort to in order to protect themselves against sudden and untimely attacks, hopefully not to become fearful violent attackers themselves. I have heard quite often from other cabbies who received bad verbal abuse thrown at them and how they have kept their cool and restraint from hitting back not because they are weak or scared but fear for loss of livelihood. Lets hope The Authorities start serious Legal acts to protect our taxi drivers and safeguard them from further violent attacks.

Rare and Beautiful Flowers.

Wow, see how beautiful the bamboo flowers look when in full bloom. Taken at 2.30am on 2nd April, 2013. Its such a thrill to see this very rare bamboo plant flower bloom, look so grand with its intricate design.

Making Headlines.

News headlines, front page pictures and stories about taxi drivers have been the talk of the town lately. Not long ago, there was this drunk foreign expat who started bashing up a taxi driver claiming that he took a longer route. Then there was this hit and run taxi who caused the death of a foreign worker working on the roadside, investigations are ongoing and it is just a matter of time before the errand taxi driver gets arrested. After this, we read about the taxi driver who managed to catch a fare cheat trying to getaway without paying his metered fare of $18.00 dollars and most recently, about two days ago, this young lady who could not pay her $5.00 taxi fare but instead offered sex and tried to seduce the taxi driver who just asked her "Then how?" she exposed herself and started making sexual advances as well as groping him.

Well well well, so many front page headline stories about taxi drivers in such a short period of time, but mind you, these are only the exposed stories that we read from the daily newspapers. There are many, many more ugly and dangerous incidents about taxi drivers and their passengers which go unreported most likely due to lack of evidence and time constraints. Taxi drivers need to earn a living, and time spent making police reports and being interviewed is loss of time and income for us and that is why many of us choose to shrug away our unfortunate incidents and mishaps by continuing to provide our services, at the same time still brood and cursing our bad luck till we end our shifts.

A Lovely Surprise.

Surprise, surprise, two days after the Mata Puteh family left, leaving their nest neat, spic and span, what did I see, two lovely bamboo flowers. Its as if the bamboo plant is showing its appreciation also by producing the two beautiful flowers. For me, its truly rewarding being involved in this fantastic and moving episode. Unbelievabe finale with the bamboo plant flowering.

Happy Departure Soon My Mata Puteh Friends.

On 15th March till today, 22nd March, exactly one week later, see how fast the Mata Puteh chicks have grown. Feathers sprouting its beautiful yellowish and greenish colours, heads have grown bigger with the third chick always partially hidden. It will be just a matter of days when they are full grown and then they will be off to greener pastures. I have watched many times the sequence from construction of the nest, laying of the eggs, getting hatched, naked and then adorning their beautiful coat of feathers before they fly away. I do not know when another new nest will be built but I will look after and keep this second nest together with the first one intact. These Mata Puteh Families, especially the mother bird have always been a joy and great pleasure for me to be associated with. I look forward for their future generations to come.