My car was sick this past week. At least that's what I assumed based on the fact that the check engine light was on. With a road trip pending I felt even more urgency than normal to get my car fixed. So I braved my extreme fear of telephoning strangers and called up the car dealership and scheduled an appointment. The appointment being on a workday, I had to figure out a way to work after I dropped my car off to be fixed. Which is how I rode in a taxi for the first time in my life.
I'm kind of an urbanite. I'm a city girl, and riding in a taxi cab has been an unfulfilled dream for pretty much my whole life. When I was nine I got to go to New York City, but a cab ride was not in the stars for me at the time, it was rather disappointing.
The long-awaited cab ride was disappointing on several levels. First off, the cab was red. Granted that was my fault for calling the particular cab company that I did, and normally I love the color red, but in my opinion taxi cabs should be yellow. They just should. Second, every time I looked at the meter, I had a mild panic attack as the dollar amount I owed rose and rose and rose. Third, the cabbie didn't ask me any trivia questions (ok, I didn't expect to be on the show Cash Cab, but I couldn't help but think of that show during my car ride). Fourth, it was kind of awkward to ride with a complete stranger. I actually ended up having two taxi rides to and from work that day. The first cab driver was friendly and we chatted for a little bit, and it was actually pretty fun. The second driver had a pretty severe case of anti-social personality disorder and was stoically silent. I have this compulsion to make conversation when there's silence of any kind, but feeling that it would be less awkward to sit in silence than to strike up a conversation with this gruff, abrupt gentleman, I refrained from trying to fill the silence in this instance. Barely. Finally, the cab ride was disappointing because, as I discovered first-hand, cabs are smelly. It wasn't overwhelming, but it was pretty unpleasant. I'm not sure how some people in larger cities can handle having cab rides as their main mode of transportation--I know that my nose wouldn't be able to handle it.
Although disappointing, I can now say that I've ridden in a cab! Which is oddly fulfilling.
On a completely unrelated note (meaning completely and totally separate from me or my circumstances), did you know that not having your gas cap screwed in tightly enough can set off the check engine light?
You should ride a taxi in London, they're nice and roomy. I rode a cab for the first time in Chicago and I was with three other people so it was fun and less frightening.
ReplyDeleteBy the way that is hilarious that is was just your gas cap :-P