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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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 I
flew over the English Channel during the first week in December
to claim a 'wee bonus' with a stint in the saddle, but it seems
that every year that I come back to work for a few night shifts
just before Christmas, there are evermore drunken guttersnipes
rolling around the streets of London spoiling for a punch-up!It’s over 5 years now since I enjoyed good quality radio work with Dial-a-Cab and as a night man, preferred not to cover too much street work. But with no more radio, it was a case of picking and choosing, checking for slurred speech or funny walks. However, even a steady jaunt down Park Lane one night was a case of running the gauntlet and outside the Grosvenor House |
Hotel there was sheer chaos on my approach. There
were 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 Lords-a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing and 8 maids-a-milking - and all fighting to get in my hired Fairway! It appeared I was the only taxi in Mayfair at the time these boozers needed cruisers! I was having none of it - the suit with mad eyes and face pressed against my nearside window, carrot and coriander soup smeared down his frilly white shirt that looked like it had come out of Adam Ant's wardrobe, was mouthing inaudible expletives - probably advising me where to stick the partridge and pear tree no doubt, as he struggled to grasp the simple concept of a central locking system. I’d had enough by now, slipped the stick into gear |
and rolled away gesticulating to him the good old-fashioned holiday wrist action! If the night work was exciting, daytime was boring by comparison. I was delivering wine orders - bottled wine from our vineyard near Carcassonne in the Corbieres region of the south of France. I had already transported a few pallets earlier in the year to my 'lock-up' near Colchester. It is a good grape that ends up on tables in restaurants in London and Essex and during the New Year, I shall offering cases of wine to DaC subscribers at remarkably discounted prices. In the meantime, un Bon Joyeuse Année…
Bob Woodford (Ex-P49) |
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