Narcoleptic Taxidrivers, C/D

Also he was if not new to the country, at least new to the language, and it was ambiguous how much of the cut and thrust of discussion he was following and how much he was sticking to a basic platform of Give Me My Money.

But yeah, jaysus that sounds scary. I was once driven across London by a cabbie smoking weed in the front and that was scary enough. When getting in cabs its best not to think that you are putting your life in the hands of someone who might be an incompetant neanderthal.

I know you needed to get to the airport, but he could have killed you.

Suzy: that did happen. I might actually have got the order slightly wrong, I think it was we tell him (transport) police are coming -> he starts to clean up and look like he's about to scarper -> Colette rings actual police -> we leave.

this sounds more like a very tired taxi driver rather than a narcoleptic one. If he was narcoleptic he would have been grand in the cab but would then have fallen asleep once the shouting started.

thanks to popular film "Kontroll" I know all about narcolepsy.

I always skip first sentences to save time.

I think it would have been really great if your cab driver had been a load of narcoleptic labrador puppies.

wtf, i know i shouldn't laugh.

Yeah, sorry if I was a bit scary. I was a bit scared too. I don't remember coming that close to violence ever before really, and the fact I still managed to stop myself kicking the shit out of the guy is, I think, probably, perhaps, a good sign.

I know you needed to get to the airport, but he could have killed you.

There wouldn't have been time for a second cab to come, find us, pick us up and take us the rest of the way to the airport. Also, hanging around on the hard shoulder in really bad conditions isn't the safest place to be anyway. Also, when you're flying budget and miss your flight, they don't just put you on the next one, they say "tough, go home" and that would've been us staying at home instead of having a really nice weekend.

I dunno, it was a fucking hard decision to make, and there was no right answer, but we ended up not dead and got to where we were going, so I guess I've got no regrets.

The minute he started drifting I would have demanded he stop, I would have then called his company and asked for another driver, the fact that you let him continue to drive while he was obviously not able to boggles my mind.

yeah, it was really tough. i considered asking him to pull over so *i* could drive the rest of the way, but knew it wasn't going anywhere. he didn't start drifting until he was at least 5 miles outside of london on the motorway, in the cold, dark, rain.

he also had to try for nearly 3 minutes to get over the speed bump to exit a petrol station. in hindsight, we probably should have given up then.

i do want to point out that i was actually very mild mannered in this situation. it was total role-reversal. jim was really really angry, and i was being the 'good cop' for most of the time. well, until i told him i'd seen him fall asleep in the rearview mirror, and he needed to not drive when he was so tired, and he started shouting 'i'm tired?! YOU'RE tired! you should look at yourself!' at which time i exploded with something along the lines of 'i KNOW i'm tired, i work a fucking day job, and i'm not fit to drive, you jackass, which is why i paid to have you do it. now take the money and FUCK OFF!'

ahem.

oh well, all's well that ends well, and all that. tarragona was lovely and beautiful, and the weather was fantastic, and i suggest everyone should go there (and eat at the wonderful vegetarian restaurant)