Monday the sixth
You're my best mate...
It's only just after midday and I've just taken a bloke from one pub to another. Apparently I'm his best mate.
Concern
I witnessed a man fall over in the street. At first I thought he had been knocked over but it turned out he had lost his footing on the kerb and had fallen in the road as a car was coming round the corner, just missing him. He wouldn't let me call an ambulance even though he was bleeding from his head and his hand, so I just gave him a lift home. I think he just needed to sit down and lick his wounds. Thank goodness for leather seats so I could clean the car up quickly afterwards.
Escape
A and her family were getting away from their old home to their new one. Apparently 'he' had hidden much of their stuff in the garden, including A's knickers in the nettles.
Tuesday the seventh
Assumptions
Despite explaining that I needed to go a longer way round to get to the station because of the traffic but would only charge the shorter route, a customer still complained that I had overcharged, which I hadn't (and wouldn't). It can be frustrating that some people assume you are on the make.
Atom bomb
Mr F was serving in the Royal Navy during the war and was taken to see the damage from one of the Atom bombs. It was interesting to hear his views on how we are making a mess of this world for our grandchildren.
GP advice
V has been told by his GP that he is worn out. He can't stand to look at his bag of bones in the mirror.
"What chance do I have?"
Fear of fire
L suffers from depression and anxiety, in particular she has a particularly strong fear of fire so had to take her kids to her mum's house as there were thunder storms brewing. I didn't tell her that I had seen some lightning in Harlow just a few minutes before. At least there is some logic to being afraid of fire. I once worked in a pub with a young lady who had a real phobia about pineapples.
Edward and Alice
Chris was going to a rehearsal for a play about Edward Elgar and his wife, which will be touring in the autumn. He told me all about it. If it comes to Harlow I hope to go.
Wednesday the eighth
Atheist
A young lady, on seeing my Charles Darwin finger puppet on the dashboard, asked me if I was religious. She seemed very happy when I said no, and we had a lovely chat about atheism and science.
Lost accent
I took a US couple who were just visiting her family in Harlow in the cab. She left Harlow in 1975 and has no trace of an English accent, let alone a Harlow one.
Poor healthcare
Most people are full of praise for the NHS but occasionally things go wrong. This lady had gone into hospital a few weeks ago with severe vomiting but despite the hospital being told by the ambulance crew and her husband, and it being on her notes, nobody had taken into account her type 1 diabetes (I am also a T1D). She ended up going into ketoacidosis, which can be extremely serious and was unwell for much longer as a result. She's okay now though.
Thursday the ninth
Massachusetts
Sometimes you have really nice conversations with people, especially on longer journeys. This couple from Massachusetts were just passing through. Conversations on the US election (she will be probably only vote for Hilary Clinton through gritted teeth), family history, anti-semitism in their town, the MG TD brought back from England by his father after the war, etc. They asked me to take them on the return journey to Heathrow but I was otherwise engaged, sadly.
Titania and Oberon
In response to seeing the William Shakespeare finger puppet on my dashboard, two primary school children told me about the story of Titania and Oberon from A Midsummer Night's Dream that they had been learning about at school. They were very excited to get me because they had seen me passing Staple Tye when they were on their way to school that morning.
V2
Ron, who I wrote about on 21/3/16, was telling me more about his history. His father was a fishmonger in Kennington in 1940 but died when an incendiary bomb exploded in the factory next to the shop. He was evacuated to Staffordshire but moved back to London, this time to Tottenham, when his mother married a butcher (so they would have been okay for meat, I guess). One evening he was at the cinema when there was an almighty explosion. They came out to find most of the windows for a mile around had been smashed, courtesy of a V2 rocket landing nearby.
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| a V2 |
Friday the tenth
Stroke
T suffered a stroke a few years ago and had to relearn how to do basic things such as talking, eating and walking.
Standing out
Y moved to Harlow from Liverpool when she was 10. She had to wear the uniform from her old school for the first few months and with her Scouse accent she stood out like a sore thumb. She dropped her accent quickly. She felt it was very wrong that a child should be put through that.
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