A Tuesday night is normally student night, noisy young things full of vodka and dreams singing along to the radio (which can be off putting when its Talk Sport) generally having a good time.
This won't be a usual cabbys moan about "bloody students", I quite like them, they are always handy for topping up your small change levels and so far, none of them have ever tried to rob me (so far).
I often quite enjoy listening to them talk about what they will get up to that night, so and so fancies so and so, so and so slept with so and so, and so and so has caught something off that dirty so and so who slept with so and so.
The majority are bright young things who have the whole world (and the odd clinic) to look forwards to and you can almost smell the optimism (with the chicken burgers and kebabs).
But last Tuesday (bang up to date this blog) brought a touching little tale I thought I would share with you (assuming anyone is actually reading this s**t).
A lovely young girl got in, very pretty, well spoken and obviously very very nervous. She was gabbing away at ten to the dozen "have I got my keys? Where is my phone? Can we stop at the bank? Oh no I don't need it I've got money" etc.
I mentioned to her that she should just relax and work on the assumption that whatever it is she has forgotten, she has forgotten, and she should therefore just forget about it (still with me?)
She laughed and apologised and went onto explain,
"I'm going on a first date"
Now I always love it when someone tells you something like that, to me its gold standard conversation material. as a cab driver I am always desperate to grab onto a a conversation that pulls you away from the usual topics of the football or "Have you been busy?" variety.
So I dived right in,
"Wow, where did you meet him?"
"Well I haven't yet"
"Really? Oh god a blind date!"
"Well not really... I'm a bit embarrassed to say I met him on a dating website"
I made all the usual noises about "oh don't be daft" etc. But I was actually quite shocked. A young pretty girl, at Uni, on a dating website? I thought dating websites were basically for losers like me! Not for young people living their dreams. I asked why she was using a site to meet guys, she replied,
"I had the same boyfriend since I was thirteen, nearly ten years, I didn't know what else to do, I've never really been on a date"
Now I knew why she was nervous! A first date at the age of twenty odd must have been a nightmare! The last time someone asked her out she was on her way home from buying "Bunty" after a hard days skipping. And here she was, in the age of "Sex In The City" and BBC Three nervously telling me that she had all the experience of a Jane Austin character in the ways of modern dating
"Are you married?" she asked
"No, It's just me and the dog, and to be honest he is looking for another place" I replied
"What do you talk about when you go on a date?"
And it suddenly struck me, there was I feeling sorry for her and the last topical conversation I had on a date was about the poll tax riots!
I replied
"Oh I gab about anything, just be yourself" (I'm all for honesty in the cab, but not from me) "He'll be just as nervous as you are"
She nodded and asked me if her hair was okay and I told her it was and we soon arrived at her destination, she paid me and thanked me and pointed out a nervous looking young lad standing outside The Alma De Cuba bar,
"That's him, what do you think?"
"He looks a bit shifty to me"
She laughed and thanked me and off she went.
It was lovely watching her head toward him and to watch him smile in that way that blokes do when they can't help it.
He pecked her on the cheek and they went up the step into the bar, she turned back and gave me a little wave, and like a dope I waved back and gave her a thumbs up and they disappeared.
I felt like a father must do when he sees his daughter walk down the path with a scruffy young oik for the first time, I almost shouted
"Make sure you have her home by half past ten!"
But she was gone and I'll never know how it turned out or what time she got in.
Now, what does "non smoker gsoh own car, must like dogs" sound like?
This won't be a usual cabbys moan about "bloody students", I quite like them, they are always handy for topping up your small change levels and so far, none of them have ever tried to rob me (so far).
I often quite enjoy listening to them talk about what they will get up to that night, so and so fancies so and so, so and so slept with so and so, and so and so has caught something off that dirty so and so who slept with so and so.
The majority are bright young things who have the whole world (and the odd clinic) to look forwards to and you can almost smell the optimism (with the chicken burgers and kebabs).
But last Tuesday (bang up to date this blog) brought a touching little tale I thought I would share with you (assuming anyone is actually reading this s**t).
A lovely young girl got in, very pretty, well spoken and obviously very very nervous. She was gabbing away at ten to the dozen "have I got my keys? Where is my phone? Can we stop at the bank? Oh no I don't need it I've got money" etc.
I mentioned to her that she should just relax and work on the assumption that whatever it is she has forgotten, she has forgotten, and she should therefore just forget about it (still with me?)
She laughed and apologised and went onto explain,
"I'm going on a first date"
Now I always love it when someone tells you something like that, to me its gold standard conversation material. as a cab driver I am always desperate to grab onto a a conversation that pulls you away from the usual topics of the football or "Have you been busy?" variety.
So I dived right in,
"Wow, where did you meet him?"
"Well I haven't yet"
"Really? Oh god a blind date!"
"Well not really... I'm a bit embarrassed to say I met him on a dating website"
I made all the usual noises about "oh don't be daft" etc. But I was actually quite shocked. A young pretty girl, at Uni, on a dating website? I thought dating websites were basically for losers like me! Not for young people living their dreams. I asked why she was using a site to meet guys, she replied,
"I had the same boyfriend since I was thirteen, nearly ten years, I didn't know what else to do, I've never really been on a date"
Now I knew why she was nervous! A first date at the age of twenty odd must have been a nightmare! The last time someone asked her out she was on her way home from buying "Bunty" after a hard days skipping. And here she was, in the age of "Sex In The City" and BBC Three nervously telling me that she had all the experience of a Jane Austin character in the ways of modern dating
"Are you married?" she asked
"No, It's just me and the dog, and to be honest he is looking for another place" I replied
"What do you talk about when you go on a date?"
And it suddenly struck me, there was I feeling sorry for her and the last topical conversation I had on a date was about the poll tax riots!
I replied
"Oh I gab about anything, just be yourself" (I'm all for honesty in the cab, but not from me) "He'll be just as nervous as you are"
She nodded and asked me if her hair was okay and I told her it was and we soon arrived at her destination, she paid me and thanked me and pointed out a nervous looking young lad standing outside The Alma De Cuba bar,
"That's him, what do you think?"
"He looks a bit shifty to me"
She laughed and thanked me and off she went.
It was lovely watching her head toward him and to watch him smile in that way that blokes do when they can't help it.
He pecked her on the cheek and they went up the step into the bar, she turned back and gave me a little wave, and like a dope I waved back and gave her a thumbs up and they disappeared.
I felt like a father must do when he sees his daughter walk down the path with a scruffy young oik for the first time, I almost shouted
"Make sure you have her home by half past ten!"
But she was gone and I'll never know how it turned out or what time she got in.
Now, what does "non smoker gsoh own car, must like dogs" sound like?
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