TAXI STORY FROM SCOTLAND

John from Scotland writes: Hi folks and yes, I am about to share the secret to life with you. I will start with a story for you which is still fresh in my mind as it happened tonight. Yes it is true and yes it is exactly the way it happend. I am a taxi driver from Fife in Scotland. I work the back and nightshift and this story is of what happend to me a few weeks ago. I had started work at around 6pm. I it was a pretty quiet night tonight and any and all conversation was greeted with extreme enthousiasm. The night passed well and it came to around 4am. I was thinking about coming home and getting some sleep. I was sent for a local hire a few miles away from base. I picked up two you females and proceeded to take them to their destination. I had the usual short journey conversation with them, "How's your night been", "Oh, not bad, could have been busier" etc etc. I dropped the first female of at her home and the remaining female asked me to take her a few streets further on. As I started driving the girl started to speak to me. Broken sentances, "Not my fault"........"I didn't mean it"......"I don't know why their not speaking to me"......... at this point I stopped her and told her I didn't follow a word she was saying. We got to her door and I offered her a cigarette. She accepted and we proceeded to chat. Normaly I would close the conversation off and get my fare but it was the end of my shift and I had this strong feeling that this girl just really wanted someone to talk to. She continued to tell me how she had had a misscariage three weeks previous and she just HAD to speak to someone. Her boyfriend had left her, her friends didn't understand, she couldn't talk to her family and she didn't know where to turn. ( One of those places that we all get to where we just have to share something or we will burst ) I listened, told her what I thought and then listend to what she had to say. The actual words which we exchanged are irrelivant. She thanked me for listening and then left the car. Whats the point ? She left smiling !!! I am a qualified computer programmer and engineer and I know I could be making a lot lot more money than I am presently doing. When I speak with hires and the subject comes up the first thing I am told is "Why don't you just make the money ?" money is not ANYTHING in life. If I had a million pounds in my pocket would that have mattered to this girl last night. I never even got her name, she didn't ask mine. Could I have changed anything for this girl with money. What mattered was I listened. People put too much value in what they have in life. Do you do it ? I do ! Just look at your life at the moment and place money, honestly, on your list of importances. We all do it. In that brief moment tonight it didn't matter. I changed someones night. She might wake up depressed tomorrow, she might get hit by a car next week.......who knows what will happen to her. What does matter is that when she walked away from me she felt that bit better within herself. This made me feel so much better too. That's why I don't work with computers. Would I get the chance to do that if I was in an office. no. Please carry this final thought with you throught today. If you meet someone who isn't smiling then please tell them a joke, if someone isn't happy cheer them up, if someone is sad, listen to their story. take a few minutes from your day to make someone smile. Its worth it. Who knows, that person who you make smile could go home in a good mood and finaly propose to their woman, may not snap at the kids........the possablities are endless. The one thing that is guarenteed is that nothing bad will happen when someone is smiling. You will feel better, they will feel better and you will have found a purpose to your day. Well, there you go. I have shared the secret of life. Make others happy, listen and help when you can. Do this and you will be the happiest people on earth. Trust me.

ONE DOWN AND TWO TO GO.

Hey, hey, can you believe it. A lot of folk are out there that didn't. When the season first started I told my friend Tom and co-author I would be satisfied if they just made the play-offs. Now that they have done that, of course I am a very greedy type of person. One is nice, two is better ( American League Champions) three is World Series Champions. Stranger things have happened. Remember the 1969 Mets, and the Marlins. This is a team without a 20 game winner, unlike Baltimore years ago with 3 20 game winners. Without a big time closer, Troy is good but not a guy like the Angel's have.
Again any thing can happen. Thinking about the Giants. To bad they weren't from California somewhere. They are sold out they should have been sold out a long time ago. They have been either tied or in first place for 100 days. If the numbers are somewhat off oh well I am sorry. Ex-cabbie are not perfect. Almost but not quite. Be careful out there. That first round pick Price is starting tonight. From what I have seen and read he is a sure shot for the big club in next year. Even if he is there now it is not quite the same as starting 30+ games.

The new free ride in downtown Tampa

Hi folks, I got my moving done than my DSL went out. Now I am back. I noticed on the TV news that those electric car are in full force in downtown Tampa. The drivers are doing it just for tips. The dumbass that started it never took into consideration how he is killing the cab drivers that are trying to feed his family, send his kids to school and keep clothes on their back. These little funny looking cars that hold about 4 are even picking people up at the Hotels and taking them to places like the Convention Center and channelside. What happens if some drunk has had to many on his lunch break and knocks the hell out of those little bugs?? If you are downtown think before you get in one.

Think about this...

I walked to the door and knocked. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated'.

<>'Oh, you're such a good boy', she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.

=0 A
'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice'.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' she asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said.

'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into th e dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.


My Sister sent me this, she sends me lots of stories of all kinds as does Larry I read them but I don't dump the contents of my address book and send them along, but after reading this I had to post it here.

I have posted previously about the need for the rest of the world to walk a mile in our shoes, in other words get paid for what they do as apposed to the way they do know because then they would understand what we go through to make a buck.

Having said that many of us have had rides that we have helped people in one way or another, it may not have gone as far as this driver went to help this woman.

Several times I have had a woman with young children in the cab and when we got to where we she was going she didn't have the full fare or nowhere near it.

Yeah I could have called the cops and yes this may have encouraged her to do it to someone else but I still would not have the money and the cop may have just told me to have a heart.

TAXI STORIES

Hey there, sorry about the previous post. I hit the wrong button. As we have a LOT of Spanish speaking folks here in Tampa who refuse to learn our language I have been surfing the web looking for funny things that have happened to cab drivers. I found the following from a web in San Diego.



I don't speak Spanish, but I've picked up a little bit along the way. A Hyundai Tiburon drove by a cab stand and I said the car is okay, but why does it have a nonsensical name? A Mexican-American driver said it means "shark" in Spanish. I had absolutely no idea. I thought the good folks at Hyndai had tried to invent something! Does anyone know about the Buick LaCrosse in Montreal, or the Chevy Nova in South America?I've been using tiburon on the radio lately. We have some yellow taxis, some blue, and some white. When business is slow drivers will identify themselves as "el bandito azule" for the blue ones, etc. One guy has the ID "el mejor", meaning "the best", on account of getting long rides. When I hear these IDs, I'll say (please forgive the spelling), "Jo soy el tiburon!"On a related theme, I remember when a Mexican driver taught me to say, "How are you?" He said, and again please forgive the spelling, "Comme es ta, culo?"I said that to a few drivers, but thankfully not to any Mexican customers, before somebody explained that it means, "How are you, asshole?" The joke was on the gringo.

Getting back to Tampa, or should I say NPC, meaning New Port Richey where I now reside, I spoke with a driver yesterday driving a County Cab in a parking lot of a Sweet Bay market, she related to me that it is very slow here to.

Will it ever get better, we will just have to wait and see. Gas is going down. But I am fearful for you guys out there that the company (Nancy) will have to help by lowering the lease. Ha fat chance.

TAXI STORIES

NEW HOME

Sorry I haven't had any great words of wisdom for a few days but I am in the process of moving. That to the left is a picture of my new front room. The Dodgers are holding their own, but the Rays have lost four stright. The last two by one run. That walk off grandslam by the Blue Jays really, really hurt. Better to walk in a single run than give them four with a pitch down the tubes. I will try to get back to a regualar schedule around Tuesday. It would be nice to have a few comments from someone from greater outdoors. LarryUC157

all in fun

In was the first day of school in Tampa, Florida. A new student named Suzuki, the son of a businessman, entered the fourth grade.
The first day of school the teacher said "le's begin by reviewing some American history." Who said give me liberty or give me death? She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Suzuki who had his hand raised. Patrick Henry, 1775, he said.
"Very good! Who said Government of thre people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish form the earth"
Again no response, except for Suzuki,"Abraham Lincoln, 1863. The teacher snapped at the class, you should be ashamed, Suzuki who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do.

She heard a loud whisper, " Fu$k the Japs" Who said that she demanded, Suzuki stood up and said "Lee Iacocca, 1982'"

At this point, a student in the back said "I am going to puke." The teacher stares at the class now "who said that?" Again Suziki says, "George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.

Now furious, another student yells, "s%ck this, Suzuki jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher, Bill Clinton, 1997.

Now with almost a mob hysteria someone said "you little s&it, if you say anything else, I'll kill you. "Suzuki frantically yells at the top of his voice, Gary Condit to Chandra levy 2001."

The teacher fainted. And as the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said. "Oh sh*t, were f*cked now!" and Suzuki said, "The Taliban, 2001.
It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.

An end of an era

September 21 is the last regular season home game at Yankee Stadium, and barring some last minute heroics, it will be the last game at the Stadium.

It opened in April 18, 1923 across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds there former home and then home of the New York Giants Base Ball Team, who asked the Yankees to leave as they where playing better then and out drawing the Giants at the gate.

Since that 18 day of April in 1923 it has been known as "the house that Ruth built", "the Stadium" and "the Big Ball Orchard in the South Bronx", it is the only major league stadium that does not have a street address, its mailing address is the New York Yankees Bronx, NY.


The Yanks are hated by many me included, growing up in Brooklyn and yes a BROOKLYN Dodger Fan in the 50's, and to this day I can still say 10/4/1955 is one of the greatest days in my life, it was the date of game 7 when the Dodgers at long last broke through and beat the Yankees in the World Series, and all of Brooklyn celebrated. It will be an end of a another era, starting with the 94 season the Yanks have made the playoffs 15 years running while winning 4 World Series in 5 years.

GOOD OLD DAYS

Hey out there does anyone remember how much gas was when these cars were popular. 57' Chevy, 57' Dodge and a 55' Merc. I had a 55' and in 1958 at Pismo Beach this writer become a man. Went into the United States Air Force but still could buy a beer. Gas stations still had people that would come to your car, check your oil and wash your windshields. Now 90% of them don't hardly speak English.

There is a Chevron on ther northeast corner of M.L.K. and Arminia. I went into his store for a bag of 99 cents chips. He said in very broken English that will be $ 1.06. I told him like shit, there is no tax on this item, it is eatable. I told him not I am not going to pay the 7 cents. I started for the door and he said he would call the police , ha go ahead. He then told me to leave. I did with the chips. It was not the 7 cents, it was principal. Needless to say I have never went back in there. That afternoon I talked to the day manager of a Kash and Karry, now SweetBay, if I was right, he said hell yes. It is bad enough that these people from another country come here and don't even try to learn our language but rip us. Now I would like to say that not all of the people who come here are like that, I have met a lot of good men and women that are trying to raise their famalies, in a country that have so many oppertunities to make a good living. UC157 Larry