Thursday 13 April 2006

Taxi Driver Story #2

I needed another taxi ride to get to the other campus. Met another colourful taxi driver :)

***Radio playing "You can't Manufacture a Miracle" By Robbie Williams

Gary: *tapping feet*
Will: ....
Gary: *tapping feet and taps steering wheel like drum*
Will: ....
Gary: *tapping feet, tapping steering wheel and bobs head with beat*
Will: ...
Gary: *sings* IF YOU CAN"T WAKE UP IN THE MORNING.. la la la LOST... HURT.. TIRED AND LONELY..
Will: *eyes open wide, heart rate doubles. Looks at driver without moving head*
Will: *looks at door - it's not locked.. phew!.. I can still jump out!!*

Actually Gary was a sincerely nice guy. He kinda looked like Steve Martin with his white hair and smiley face. His sudden karaoke performance just surprised me that's all. But I did join him in singing the next chorus :P

Gary and I got into a conversation after the song. We saw a convoy of horse-mounted policemen and our conversation drifted to horses. Gary used to be a professional horse jockey. He shared his horse riding moments and told me that he hasn't been on a horse for a long time. His 18 year stint was because he promised his daughter the next time he'll go horse riding, it'll be with her. She's very sick he said.

Will: So is it hard to be a jockey?
Gary: Naahh. Not really. You need to do a bit of training but it's not hard. It's like riding a bike. See, there's two key things that's important in horse riding. One of them is rhythm. You need to be able to go with the horse when they're going at their fastest. They go about 30 miles per hour you see. The other thing is confidence. Its like this driving this taxi.. or anything else. You need to have confidence in your skill because your safety and the safety of others are on your hands. That's why you need to believe in yourself because so many others depend on you.
Will: *nod in approval*

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ditto. Yeah. In order to succeed in everything that you do, you have to believe in yourself. Good thing that you've met a person like that. He's heaven-sent, I must say. :-)

Anonymous said...

too much confidence can get someone into trouble. i'd say he should also bring caution with him.

Anonymous said...

haha.. this story reminds me of my art teacher suddenly singing "only youuuu..."

Anonymous said...

Really interesting.

"You need to have confidence in your skill because your safety and the safety of others are on your hands. That's why you need to believe in yourself because so many others depend on you."

I love this line!

Anonymous said...

talamsca,
yes he was a lovely chap. everytime i meet a taxi driver they seem to share a pearl of wisdom with me :P

Anonymous said...

bing
true - too much confidence can be dangerous. caution is needed or else people might end up being too reckless.

Anonymous said...

najjems,
hahaha. its funny when people just start singing out of the blue. It would be better if they knew the lyrics as well . :P

Anonymous said...

ade,
yeah, kinda modified the line a bit. i forgot what he said, but that was the gist of it. im such a fraud! hahaha :)