| Let’s
not get sidetracked on the pros and cons about global warming.
Just concede weather patterns seem cyclical. July and August
this year have been warmer than usual for Denver. On a hot day
in July, I recalled another hot day years ago. I was dispatched
to the service entrance of a Jeep dealership. A young lady came out carrying an infant in a carrier and I helped her secure the baby seat with the seat belt. As we were doing that, she described her horrible day. The car belonged to her parents and she’d taken it to fill up with gas. The car broke down on a busy thoroughfare and she’d had to carry the baby for nearly a mile to locate a pay phone to call for a tow truck. Then trudged back in the heat and waited more than an hour for the tow truck. The tow was driven by a seedy character who gave her the "creeps." The seat in the truck was filthy, etc. To top it off, the dealership wouldn’t take her cheque because the Wagoneer wasn’t registered in her name. You get the idea - she was having a bad day. "So where are we going," I asked? She replied: "First to the bank, then out to Bow Mar." Bow Mar is a limited access subdivision of Littleton, a Denver suburb. "Which bank?" "Norwest on Broadway. I have to get some cash." "Then to what address in Bow Mar?" I asked. "I’ll show you the way," she explained. "Nobody can find it, the way the streets wind around." |
Wendell White drives a taxi in Denver,
Colorado. He is also a regular on-line reader and writes the
occasional column for Call Sign… Sign… OUT AND ABOUT IN DENVER… |
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"OK. But I’ll still need the street
address," I agreed. "4700 Larkspur." I immediately said, "I know the house. The Frosts live there. Are they back from California?" In the mirror I saw her eyes pop wide open. "How do you know that?" Smiling, I said: "Cab drivers are supposed to know a little bit about everything." "They’re my parents!" She looked as if I’d spooked her. "Then you must be Allison’s little sister." With that she seemed ready to jump out of the cab. "How do you know Allison?" "Simple. Her husband is a vice president of an insurance company in the Tech Center and he travels a lot, right? Guess who takes Rick back and forth to the airport? Me!" The rest of her trip was pleasant. The Frosts, having been one of the first to build a home in Bow Mar, knew a lot of the residents there. For months |
afterwards, many people from Bow Mar would ask if
I was the driver who brought Holly home last summer? Enough hot weather! Let’s cool off with a story from last winter. As this summer has been on the warm side, last December was a bit cooler than usual. The Judge and his wife were going to spend Christmas and New Year with their daughter and new grandson. I was to take them to Denver International Airport for a late-night flight. While the judge was bringing out the last of their baggage, Martha stood outside the cab with the collar of her coat wrapped over her head. "Brrrr," she said, "it’s cold!" "Martha," I retorted, "Just think how cold it would have been if we didn’t have global warming!" Wendell White for Call Sign Denver, Colorado Congratulations to Wendell on winning the TLPA Taxi Driver of the Year award… |
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Former Dial-a-Cab driver, Bob Woodford, writes a regular column for Call Sign from his home in Languedoc, France… CALL SIGN EN LA BELLE FRANCE |
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It’s been blisteringly hot as usual down here in the Languedoc
these past few weeks, while your weather back home has been
gearing towards autumn - I know, having spent some considerable
time recently back in England setting up my new wine importing
business with the relevant authorities. What a rigmarole that is, enough paper work to smash the scales at Ryanair's check-in desks at Stansted, so it’s a good job I have a 'UK Office' in Little Clacton to house the bulk of HM Customs and Excise booklets! So, meetings with my accountant, the VAT man, storage unit owners and various business advisory agencies were daunting enough, but all dove-tailed nicely with |
 renting a taxi to knock out a few shifts! Although I miss the more lucrative radio work, I have to say that I found cash work on the street during August in surprisingly good supply, although still coupled with the usual moans and groans from occupants of the Piccolo bars - so nothing changes there! I guess it must always seem that way for the full time cabbie as opposed to the 'opportunist thieves' like me who dip in whenever it suits - but that's the nature of the game and I |
would
never let my licence lapse because of that. As I said, some things never change and Millwall continue to lose football matches. So even when my trips back to London overlap home fixtures, I still cannot be tempted back to the Den - and your Editor thinks that Spurs have problems! If any Dial-a-Cab subscriber fancies a late break - and October is usually very good weather over here - then look us up at www.southoffrancelets.com. A bientot Bob Woodford (Ex-P49) Saint Genies de Fontedit, Languedoc, France |
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