I remember years ago I was tasked with going to visit our 'sister' company up in New Jersey. It was the first time I would ride in a taxi by myself. Anyhow, I try to get a taxi driver to take me where I'm going and he says I need to see the 'captain'.
Basically what happens is that the captain assigns a cab to each passenger. So I check in and he writes something down on a slip of paper and hands it to me. He shouts out something to the first driver in line and the driver walks over.
He takes my luggage (one piece) and puts it in the trunk of his cab. I hop in and we take off from the airport. I haven't uttered a word to this man. As he turns the engine over his radio comes on. It is playing the vocal restrains of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Now, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at me, but I'm a big LBM fan. I learned about them during the making of Paul Simon's "Graceland". It was Mr Simon's thumbing-his-nose-at-the-government record that I'm sure you all have heard (or heard of).
Once he realized what was playing, the driver turned off the music. "Wait", I said "was that Ladysmith?"
"Yea", he said in a deep, accented voice. "I like them, you can play them if you want".
And here it is... here is my remembrance: Sitting in a taxi on the Jersey Turnpike (and I do mean 'sitting' -- we didn't move for 20 minutes) listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
When we got closer to where I was going he asked me which building it was. I told him I'd never been here so I didn't know. We stopped in the middle of an intersection and he got out and asked a policeman who was directing traffic.
The policeman pointed at a building and we were off again. "This is it", said the driver, pointing at a nearby building. He pulled me through the turnabout and dropped me off at the front of the building where our 'sister' company was headquartered. I paid the fare and he gave me a receipt. For some reason it was at this moment that I looked at the piece of paper that the 'captain' gave me back at the airport.
It was a summary of my trip... that I started out at the airport, where I was going, and an estimate of what the cab fare was. It also talked about tipping averages.
Not so exciting, huh? The funny thing is: I'm not sure why I have such vivid memories of this or why it's coming back to me at this moment. Interesting what the mind remembers.
Basically what happens is that the captain assigns a cab to each passenger. So I check in and he writes something down on a slip of paper and hands it to me. He shouts out something to the first driver in line and the driver walks over.
He takes my luggage (one piece) and puts it in the trunk of his cab. I hop in and we take off from the airport. I haven't uttered a word to this man. As he turns the engine over his radio comes on. It is playing the vocal restrains of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Now, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at me, but I'm a big LBM fan. I learned about them during the making of Paul Simon's "Graceland". It was Mr Simon's thumbing-his-nose-at-the-government record that I'm sure you all have heard (or heard of).
Once he realized what was playing, the driver turned off the music. "Wait", I said "was that Ladysmith?"
"Yea", he said in a deep, accented voice. "I like them, you can play them if you want".
And here it is... here is my remembrance: Sitting in a taxi on the Jersey Turnpike (and I do mean 'sitting' -- we didn't move for 20 minutes) listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
When we got closer to where I was going he asked me which building it was. I told him I'd never been here so I didn't know. We stopped in the middle of an intersection and he got out and asked a policeman who was directing traffic.
The policeman pointed at a building and we were off again. "This is it", said the driver, pointing at a nearby building. He pulled me through the turnabout and dropped me off at the front of the building where our 'sister' company was headquartered. I paid the fare and he gave me a receipt. For some reason it was at this moment that I looked at the piece of paper that the 'captain' gave me back at the airport.
It was a summary of my trip... that I started out at the airport, where I was going, and an estimate of what the cab fare was. It also talked about tipping averages.
Not so exciting, huh? The funny thing is: I'm not sure why I have such vivid memories of this or why it's coming back to me at this moment. Interesting what the mind remembers.