Mixed bag and maniacs...

Hello again. If you've made it back for the 2nd installment, welcome back.

Again, I should clarify that my images will mostly be taken from my day's work on the taxis so I won't be able to get them online the same day, but I endeavour to get them on before I get to bed that night/morning so I can compose my thoughts of the day or when I get up after a few hours kip.

Apologies for another 'rainbow' photo. I do love rainbows, but I will try to ensure I remember to stop for 2 seconds to capture other images on my travels to make it a little more interesting.

Last night's shift was a bit of a mixed bag. It started OK ticking over. Starting to come across a few regular faces (like the guy who introduced me to blipfoto). I have a mum & daughter that I often get. The little girl is about 8, I'm guessing, but she comes running over to the taxi and we have a good blether (am I sounding Scottish yet?).

Her Mum was telling me how she loves the colour of the taxi and it's quite spacious, and how her daughter comments and feels sad when she does get my taxi for a lift home. The little girl commented on the colour of the taxi and then added she wished it was the same colour as my top I was wearing. It's nice to have a little chat with her and her Mum.

The evening then went pretty quiet and I realised that I had made the mistake of leaving my coat at home because it felt quite mild when I left home. I hope I don't make that mistake again as it was quite chilly later on.

Got a very local hire into the High Street, which was a little frustrating (not that I don't object to getting the hires) as there were about 12 or so cars behind me in the rank and I'd have to wait a while for another hire. But as I dropped off, there was a guy waiting at the rank in the town which was strangely empty. I dropped the first passenger off, and then picked the guy up.

I'd never waited at this rank before and I guess I still feel a bit territorial when other drivers use my "home" rank, but, of course, we are free to use any rank really. The guy moaned how he'd waited 15 minutes for a taxi and his pizza was going cold but he was grateful I had arrived. It was still another short hire but I got 2 hires out of the 1 so I shouldn't complain. I headed back round the block to this other rank and it was still empty so I waited there again until a couple of the regulars returned. I felt a tad uncomfortable and left a short while later. I needed some fuel anyway so used to it as an excuse before heading back to my usual haunt.

Had a couple more nice passengers, though, before heading up into Dunfermline for a few hours.

I'm still new to the taxi business and am trying to get used to dealing with drunk passengers. Have heard a few horror stories from my colleagues. One of them was driving a few sailors back to the boat in Rosyth and was pelted with chicken nuggets by them - not a nice experience and one I dread to be caught up in. Remember when you have your night out and have a good time, the poor taxi driver who has to take you and your leary friends home. We really don't deserve some of that treatment and we are doing you a favour getting you home safely so none of you have to play 'Des' (Designated Driver).

As you can tell, drunks still make me nervous. But last night I was treated to a gentleman who had just got out of the police station over an allegation that he had stolen a bike which he was adamantly telling me he hadn't. We had a nice chat but I know you have to be careful what you say to certain passengers so you are cautious over what you say.

Then I had two young girls, one of them seemed to have been in a big argument with her mother on a night out. Her mother refused to get in the same taxi as her, which lead the girl to have hysterics in the taxi and be in floods of tears with her friend trying to console her. Again, I suspect a lot of it was drink-related.

Me and the other taxi carrying the mother arrived back at their house at the same time and judging by the comments I was hearing on the journey, fireworks were definitely going to ensue. I hope things passed peacefully. I do hate seeing people in conflict.

That reminds me, as well, that there was a touch of "Cab Wars" at the rank between two drivers. I'm not quite sure what it was all about, but one of them had offered to fight the other one and pushed him a bit before walking back to his cab and driving off with his hire. It was over fairly quickly, but raised a few eyebrows from the other drivers and people around the rank.

As I say, it was quite a manic night in many respects. Maybe it makes the shift sound quite eventful. But I guess it might be interesting to look back upon over the future weeks and maybe gives you an insight into a cabbie's life.

Just getting myself ready for tonight's shift and hope it's a bit 'quieter' in the aggro stakes - but I suspect it won't be...