Rose Ross
In the vibrant night city life of cosmopolitan london or other big cities, when partying is over, its time to think of how to get home.
There is no single form of transport which is safe; the safety is relative to many factors. Thankfully,Paddy and Claire Wise have it all under control, as their blue chip company had booked their transport through a local mini cab firm. They sneak in their friend Monique, so is their assumption still valid?
When considering an issue which lingers in the minds of most females, or people who feel responsible over their female acquaintances or relatives, the biggest fear is of rape and of course the possible consequences.
If this is the only issue in mind, who do you entrust yourself or your loved one to? On top of the list especially at night time would be a black cab or through a licensed minicab office. If booked strictly in accordance to the law, the second option would be the most desirable one, and possibly the safest.
Following media coverage on this topic, especially that recently involving the serial black cab rapist, one is left with a number of unanswered questions.
Compliance with law is important. Anything however short of self respect, respect for others and the law would be self deception.
Looks are deceiptful, who has all these qualities. Possibly, it's safest to be sober when using transport outside that provided by known acquaintances, remain alert through out the journey, if uneasy, end your journey when safe to do so, pay pro rata or if necessary full amount, and call somebody known to you to come and pick you up. Always trust your instincts than live to regret.
Find out What happens to Monique.I guarantee its not what you think, is a surprise.
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THE WAITING IS OVER, THE JOURNEY BEGINS
The shift had been a very slow moving one, and most drivers either retired to the comfort of their warmed cars, or making mobile phone calls, or just chatting with fellow drivers. Mustafa normally liked waiting in his car, and this to him was like any other day. As he waited, he felt cold, switched on the engine, put the heating on and put on one of his favorite cd music. His mind drifted from this to that and with the nice background music, he drifted to a well deserved short snooze.
His XDA bleeped and he woke from the light sleep. He realized that after waiting for 3 solid hours, he had landed on a decent multiple drop job, and could not help thanking Allah, his Muslim God. He thought from the way things were, he would have even waited longer were it not for his people carrier (mpv). Sometime back, when he had a small car, there were times he could go home having not had a single job from the office. When he sold that saloon car, his mates questioned his logic, but he had to give it a go, and he never looked back on that decision.
The pickup was from the corner of Gresham and Queen Street, probably the senior professionals or the retired professionals coming from their usual get together evenings at the Guildhall.
Clients picked from this point were very polite and rarely too drunk, normally gave very good tips and so every driver loved them.
As he headed to pick the client, his wife called just to wish him goodnight, but his blue tooth was not having good reception, so they did not talk long, however she managed to gather he was going for his first job despite having left home four hours. I hour was used for traveling as there was usually a lot of traffic. She was so touched and reminded him he had to think about their discussion about him babysitting in the weekdays so that she could take back her old job as an assistant admin in the local college.
As he approached the client, he found himself having a small self talk, “come on man, you are not acting like a man enough, how can you allow your wife to talk you to take to baby sitting? Who is wearing the trousers in this family, you or your wife? What will your friends or your family think of you, has she got you really twisted on her finger this time? Its time to act like a man. She is clearly showing no respect” He challenged this self criticism by saying, “Well I am not also man enough if I have a house, and yet here I am waiting and sleeping in the street waiting for people to decide if they want to go home or not and if they want to be taken by me or not, if the later, I can go home worse off than how I left home as I will have to buy petrol, pay office rent and insurance.” He then made up his mind it was more rewarding to do the shared baby sitting than what he was doing. The takings were sometimes very good but it was too depressing as you could not predict what would happen. Two years ago, he left the corporate cab company he worked for as they lost their major contracts to a competitor company offering cheaper fares. It had proved hard to get another decent company with enough work.
