Eclectic Views

    
How's it going these days, static? I'd like to read more of your
stories.  
  

    
Last month I took a straight job in an office which does not involve
taxis. I am now only a few miles from my home and have no bridge toll
to pay anymore. Health and dental benefits are included. With fuel
prices what they are, I think that I made the right choice.

On the other hand, I am started at this new job at a very, very low
wage, so I have driven the taxi a couple of times on the weekend just
to make some 'walk-around' money.

As long as I have my license (called an "A" card) up to date, I can
drive a taxi anytime in the City of San Francisco.

There are a couple of stories that I keep meaning to write down and I
hope to write those "missing" articles soon.

BTW: My pal (and fellow taxi driver) Brad Newsham has been dancing
with the SF Chronicle to take over the 'Night Cabbie" column. He is a
much better writer than I can ever hope to be, so let's hope that they
hire him. I have seen his "sample" columns, and, in my opinion, he is a
quadzillion times better than the "Night Cabbie".
  

    
congrats on the new job! and looking forward to seeing your friend's
columns.
  

    
glad to see you posting here again, <static>
  

    
Glad to hear you got a job w/ bennies, <static>.  Your own writing is just 
fine though - don't sell it short.  I would love to see some more stories 
from your cabdriving days.
  

    
You write really well, static. Hope your straight job is a good thing for
you, even if it cuts down my enjoyment of the taxi tales you tell.
  

    
I've enjoyed the taxi saga, but it's better seeing you wrap it up than ride
it into the ground.

I've also enjoyed when folks have posted about taking other drivers' cabs.

Sitting in a taxi with a driver is such an unusual private conversational
interlude.  When else do you sit privately with a stranger and maybe talk?
  

    
Congratulations on the office job. Even if the pay's not huge, it's a
regular thing, and benefits are good to have. I'll be happy to see your
taxi stories when you feel like writing them.

Hope your friend gets the Chronicle gig, but I think you could do a
dandy job at something like that, too. I've always enjoyed reading your
stuff here.
  

    
Glad to hear you got a "regular" job, even if that means fewer stores
about your irregular one. I'll second what everyone's been saying, your
stories are wonderful, and you are very much appreciated here,
<static>.
  

    
When I joined the fraternity of taxi drivers, I was not immediately
accepted. The drivers were already a tight-knitbunch, and so I glommed
onto the misfits and outcasts of the bunch. Those people I identified
with, as I was one too.

One of the drivers was a cantankerous German with a thick accent named
Dieter. He drove cab # 656. We got along fabulously, but few others at
the taxi company liked him or would even speak to him. He was a truly
a strange duck. We got along fine.

I spent many mornings discussing life with him as he chained-smoked
Marlboro lights and worked on his crossword puzzles (with a pen). He
gave me, a newcomer, advice, tips and a sense of belonging. We shared
jokes and friendship.

He didn't own a car, so every day he took Muni from his crummy little
Lower Nob Hill (upper Tenderloin) apartment all the way to the cab lot
at Army and Evans. 

A couple of days ago, he didn't make it past his doorway.
Dieter had a heart attack. He didn't survive the trip to SF General.

Dieter was 56. 
  

    

that's very sad, static.
  

    
RIP Dieter. 

May you have full meter fares with extras and big fucking tips on your
journey.
  

    
Gute Kasse, Dieter!
  

    
A Talk, a Snack, a Chance at $45 or More
By ANDREW JACOBS

They call it "the lot" or "the pen," although it is also sarcastically
referred to as "the cabby country club" or less charitably as "taxi
driver purgatory." From the air, it is a shimmering yellow blob on an
otherwise colorless landscape of tarmac and terminals. Hidden amid the
cargo depots at Kennedy International Airport, the four-acre lot
contains hundreds of taxis waiting for lucrative fares to Manhattan,
the dreaded "shorty" trips to Brooklyn and Queens or the dream rides to
New Jersey and Connecticut. Its official name is the Central Taxi
Hold, and the wait can stretch up to five hours. 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/nyregion/28taxi.html?ex=1115352000&en=4ce12960c290af37&ei=5070>
  

    
There's one of those (sort of) at SFO, right?  In the bottom level of
the main garage? 
  

    
See <369> above.
  

    
Ah, that's it, yes, thanks. 
  

    
My pal and mentor who should be the Night Cabbie
http://www.bradnewsham.com/articles/c-c-cabbie.shtml