Taxi Vignettes

As my fare settled into the taxi he let out a long sigh of relief. I asked him, "Need to get away?" My question led to a story of work and worry.

He told me that his company supplies Apple with components for the new iPhone. Getting ready for today, June 29, had taken him many worrisome hours of conference calls and meetings with the Apple elite. Though exhausted he said with enthusiasm, "This is so big." When I asked if he had an iPhone he said, "No, I have to buy one like everyone else."

He was on his way to Atlantic City for a much needed break, and where he could find one (iPhone) at a small obscure Apple Store. I laughed at that notion - an obscure Apple Store!

I drove away from the airport with a greater appreciation of the work that went into the iPhone production. I also learned the number of available iPhones. Think, 'Tickle Me Elmo!'

Hello iPhone

My busy day had been filled with nothing but predictable ho-hum runs to the airport, until I took that one last call...

I pulled up to the address as the door opened. A man and woman came out wearing what I guessed, correctly, were their dinner clothes. The gentleman was holding what looked to be several pieces of cardboard. They waved goodbye to the kids, who were bouncing up and down on a trampoline as the babysitter looked on. The dad said that they were going to Manresa, but first we needed to pick up another couple. Thus four well mannered upper class people going to one of the top restaurants in the world. This would be a profitable and civilized trip.

As their friends were getting into the taxi the man threw the cardboard over the back seat saying to the other guy, "We should wait until it gets dark."

In front of the restaurant I was asked if I would return for them at 10pm. The guys saying that they had some posters (the cardboard) to put up on the way home. Manresa is a lovely little restaurant praised around the world for its innovative menu. It must be outstanding because diners are reluctant to leave, or Chef David Kinch, is not one to be rushed. I knew in reality it would be much later than 10pm, but I had to see what they were planning to do with those posters.

A few minutes after 11:30 we were on our way to a neighborhood in Campbell. My passengers were feeling the drink that had accompanied their dinner, and searching for the illusive house that needed to be decked out in posters, was becoming comical. Suddenly one guy said, "This is it!" He asked me to pull around the corner. The other fellow thought for sure we were at the wrong house. I really hoped not.

As soon as I stopped the taxi the men burst out into the dark with the posters in hand. The women following just behind them, stepping gingerly through the flower beds in their high heeled pumps. Getting into the mood I was bringing up the rear with my camera. Nothing like a photo to document the deed.

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Just click the blogger's choice award button on the sidebar. I have just about run out of family members, so please sign-up and vote it is easy.

Thanks to a heads-up from one of my flickr buddies, I heard that there would be a press conference at San José City Hall regarding the San José 2007 Grand Prix. Since my taxi is wrapped with an ad for the race I figured I should attend.

Not knowing that it was by invitation, I found the doors to the City Hall Rotunda locked. If you remember, I don't let locked doors stop me. I knocked on one of the side doors until a woman opened it just a crack. She said, "Yes?" I told her that I was a Yellow cab driver and could I come in? What she said next floored me, "Are you Joann?"

I am the only woman driving a wrapped billboard for the race, so I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised that she guessed who I was. She gave me a press kit and I took a place behind the guys with the really big cameras.

Last night on ABC's American Inventor I saw contestant Steven J. Cousineau present his bike wheel covers to George Foreman and the other judges. This morning I was talking with him in San Jose.

Though the show turned down his invention he hasn't given up hope.

Check my post on Metroblogging San Jose

The first call of the morning was in Willow Glen, where it is not uncommon to find a small 2 bedroom home, built in the first half of the 20th century, go for over $1,000,000.

The cute door of the million dollar cottage opened and bags began to appear on the front steps; then the door closed. I could tell that I would be the one expected to get all four bags into the cab.

The bags were all loaded when once again the door opened. Out came four casual, but well dressed women looking to be in their upper 40s. Each was holding a large colorful tote bag, big straw hat, and a small white cup of coffee.

Between yawning and complaining about the early hour (6:45am) the women giggled about going to Mexico the entire 20 minute ride to the airport.

Curbside in front of Frontier Air, they stood searching through their tote bags for the cab fare, as I dragged their luggage out of the back. They did eventually give me $30. Not bad considering it only ran $23.

This morning I did a 4:45am pick up. By 5:45am I was a hundred dollars richer, so I figured while I was in Starbucks I might as well help out old Paul.

Along the side of the case it reads: At the end of the end--It's the start of a journey--To a much better place--And a much better place--Would have to be special--No reason to cry. On the day that I die--I'd like bells to be rung--And songs that were sung--To be hung out like blankets in...

memory almost full

As a taxi driver I must sometimes put on a different hat. My public personality shifts from ride to ride. I must be able to change my personae to identify with the passenger and the situation.

The call was at the Left Bank. A chic little place located at Santana Row. It is billed as an authentic Parisian-style brasserie, though I think the guys I picked up there were only interested in the bar. Santana Row has many topnotch restaurants, but the guys wanted to have dinner at Steamer's Grillhouse in Los Gatos.

After I had helped my fare up to the curbside check-in at the San Francisco airport, I was walking back to the taxi when I spotted them. Them being music cases. The kind of cases that say, "real band."

The real band was Spearhead. I asked Michael Franti where their next performance would be, and he said that they were off to Asheville, North Carolina.