In my travels around the great city of Portsmouth I see many things. I see things that amuse me, annoy me, enlighten me, and humbles me. Sometimes I fell like a voyeur of the world. People watching is definantly one of my favorite pass times.
When the cabbing is slow I like to sit in Market Square and take mental snap shots of the diversity of people who inhabit the area. There are the uptight business people in suits in a hurry to get somewhere. Outside of the South Church there are always the same young, misguided youth hanging around looking for their next misadventures. Sitting at the chairs outside of Breaking New Ground ( a coffee shop) there is always a mix of young locals who live in the downtown area, tourist from who knows where and several rough neck motorcycle types. Then every once in a while, if I get lucky, I see that dude who rides his bike with a goggle wearing parrot on his shoulder.
Once I get rolling and I'm cruising around town looking for my next fare or trying to get my customer to where they want to go, I deal with a some of my pet peeves that I try to cope with on a daily basis.
I'm not trying to alienate any of my readers who may be guilty of my pet peeves. So please don't be offended. After all, often the people who annoys us the most are the people we love!
Whats the deal with smokers? I know that the majority of my friends and family are smokers, so please let me know what you think. I find a lot of them inconsiderate of others around them. They often try to light up in my cab, then get mad when I tell them to wait till I drop them off. I also don't understand why they so uncaringly fling their butts out the window. I think its rude and disgusting.
So whats the deal with bikers dressing like they are going to win the Tour De France. Dont they realize the look like 5 pounds of shit in a 1 pound bag. Not to mention I really dont like the look of their moose knuckles and camel toes! I dont have any thing against people who ride bicycles to get where they going. But they expect me to share the road with them but they dont share it with me. I dont think they understand the rule of tonnage. I would never intintionally pull out in front of an 18 wheeler so why would they cut me off! I always feel like the are trying to run some kinda scam on me.
Ok enough of things that annoy me. That is a long list of things. Maybe in future post I will cover more of them.
Every once in a while I get someone in my cab that I find interesting and kinda inspires me. Last week I picked up a guy at his huge ass house. He was went downtown to meet with a client who was interested in buying whatever it was he was selling. A few hours later he called for me to go pick him up. He was kinda intoxicated when I got him. On the trip home, he asked me if I knew what seperates succesful people from average people When I said no , he replied that succesful people arent afraid to ask for thing. I found that interesting because often I catch myself being nervous to ask people especially stangers for anything.
On the other hand, from time to time I pick people up who reminds me how lucky I am. Portsmouth is often considered a hoity-toity city with all well to do people. Though on the outside looking in you may think that. But when you get to the underbelly of the town you find that there are lots of unfortunant souls in the area who have made mistakes in their lives and are paying dearly for it. Ive watched a lady drink rubbing alcohol. Ive picked a family at the bus station and brought them to the homeless shelter. I also brought a woman from the hospital to a local hotel who was telling me her husband had a stroke while working and he may never be his normal again. I could go on and on about some of the people Ive given rides to who were down on their luck.
By the end of my shifts I have often went through a whole roller coaster of emotions. Im exhausted and I just want to go home. But I love it. It makes me feel alive and often I cant wait for my next shift in my cab!
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