Seen better days

Although some black taxis do have meters, they tend to be the clapped out rusty old mechanical ones that have long stopped dancing to the tune of a fare. Whilst I was admiring the light on this particular one, the driver surprised me by flicking a switch and making it jump to life with a satisfying clunk (and even a flashy red light). With the rate still set to 1970s prices however, he quickly shut it down again lest his seemingly Arabic speaking passenger started to get any ideas about paying less than the standard 5LE for short trips.