Most memorable taxi ride?

[pigeonorstatue]

A friend and I were talking last night about how some of our most emotional times have been spent in a taxi with a stranger!

Trips to hospital, getting out after a break-up, excitement on the way to an airport!

What's been your most memorable taxi ride and why?

May 16th 1987.
Our city football team won the FA cup and having watched the match on my mum's TV (she had the best one in the family) me, DH, and 2 DC's caught a taxi to my sister's house on the other side of the city for a street party.
The usual 20 minute journey took about an hour and a half as everyone who couldn't go to Wembley were out on the streets and roads celebrating.
The mood was amazing and despite the crowds being a bit boozy, there was no trouble, just amazement and good humour. Flags were being waved from car windows and horns blared.
Taxi driver refused to take our fare but DH managed to shove a couple of fivers through the window after drop off. Nearest thing to football I could find.

Off the top of my head I can think of 4 immediately:

1. 1999 or thereabouts, got a minicab from a party in Richmond back to Fulham. Drive was an absolutely massive 6ft 6”, 20 stone skinhead brick shithouse of a man. We were a bunch of metal head/goths. We sat in slightly terrified drunken silence for a while until Pink Floyd comes on radio. Passengers start singing along, Drive is silent then barks out “we’re taking a detour…”. We start shitting ourselves as he takes random turns down side streets, parks up on a quiet road, exits the car and tells us he’ll be back in a minute.

He disappears and we discuss making a run for it before he comes back and beats the shit out of us. He appears from a dark house carrying something in his hands and at this point we’re counting down to jumping out the car and legging it. Doors open, he gets in and says “fancy a spliff you lot? Can’t appreciate Floyd without one” and proceeds to masterfully roll the biggest double length joint I’ve ever seen. We all drive aimlessly around the streets of London singing Floyd and getting absolutely off our faces. He delivers us home about 3 hours later, charges us £30 and let’s us know it was the best cab ride he’d ever had.

1. Bali - Up at 5am to get to a boat about 45 mins away. We’re all hungover and half asleep in the truck. I open my eyes in time to notice the taxi drivers eyes closed and we’re drifting across several lanes of speeding oncoming traffic. I shouted at the driver to wake up, cue a white knuckle veer back across to the right side of the road and everyone who was hungover barfed.

1. Before I moved overseas I worked OT at my law firm on Fleet Street. It was 11.30pm and my work paid for our late night cars home. Driver arrives, grunts at me and proceeds to drive me from Fleet Street to Surrey inside 20 fucking minutes. I’ve never been so terrified that I was going to die in a fireball in my life. He knew where every speed camera was so slammed on the brakes before them, then hit the gas again. Over 100 miles an hour down the A3, barely slowed down for corners. Got home, called the car firm immediately to complain.

1. NYC, got a town car from midtown hotel to JFK at 5am. Had plenty of time so wasn’t in massive hurry, but no. Driver had two lots of people for the same flight so had to get back to midtown for another pick up at 5.45am. We were flying down Queens side streets and got there in 25 mins.

Paris, twenty years ago. The driver was so reckless, I genuinely thought we were going to crash.

Crossing the border between Malaysia and Thailand in a taxi with a cracked windscreen and holes in the floor.

High speed taxi ride to the hospital in Lombok, Indonesia as I was really unwell.
It turned out I had Malaria.

My sister and me having a day out in London with our parents as young adults in our 20s, getting a cab back to the main line rail station.

Sister and I actually dying of mortification and embarrassment as we fail to make our dad just shut up. He has clocked from the skin colour of the driver that he is likely to have ancestors from the Indian Subcontinent and urgently wishes to communicate, during the 20 minute ride, the following information:

• That he is not racist at all
• indeed he has a friend who is Indian
• and he went to a hindu wedding once 15 years ago
• and he really likes curry

,,, but of course he can't start mentioning these things straight off so is kicking off the conversation with "where are you from?" ... "No I mean where are you really from like where are your parents from?"

... and there's nothing we can do to stop him. Fortunately it is over eventually.

Cab driver in Vegas. Decided to tell us all about the new world order, then onto mixed race marriages. He ranted for around 20 minutes on that one. I was sat in the back with my mum, who knowing I have a big mouth was sticking her nails into my hand so I didn't start kicking off at him. He was so vile. Mum was convinced he was going to kidnap us. I finally got my say as I got out of his cab. Truly vile creature !

I should add the story of my colleagues who visited a work site in Nigeria and had to get a taxi from their hotel to the site in the country, about 90 mins away. At some point the taxi driver said not to worry too much, but he'd noticed they were being followed by a van with some guys with large guns in, so was going to drive a little faster than normal. The gunmen continued following them for miles until the road was totally deserted, and my colleagues thought they were going to die, they were just waiting to be told to pull over by these gunmen - which happened just as they got to the site. They surrounded the taxi, all holding their guns, knocked on the window and indicated the driver to open the window ...

Then cheerily said "you're leaving at 5pm, yes? We will be here waiting, see you later, have a nice day at work" and got back into their van.

Turns out they were the security guards hired to look after them