A co-worker of mine dropped me off at Snowdon metro. I get to the platform to find it’s packed. Finally I asked a woman if the orange line was down. It was. She said that they announced it would be back up within a few minutes, to which I replied, “Je leur crois jamais.” (I never believe them.) So I leave the metro station, get some cash, and wait for a cab.
Well, first of all, I’m on Decarie Blvd., and it still takes me a good ten minutes to hail a cab.
I get in the cab. We’re driving along, and I notice the cabbie is wearing his seat belt. I have never in my entire life seen a cabbie wear a seat belt. I don’t know what it is, but seat belts seem optional for cabbies. And I have to admit I’ve never worn a seat belt in a cab ever before. I have no idea why. (This is a GQ thing…) So he points out that I should put on my seat belt, and I do.
Then I realized something: he wasn’t driving like a total psycho, like most cabbies who’ve driven me. Is this the first ever civilized cabbie?
Things got reeeeeally weird when he popped in a tape of Jehovah’s Witness crap - in French. I was waiting for him to ask me if I’ve found God or something. (“No, honey, I’m gay, it’s too late.”)
He drops me off at Atwater & Ste-Catherine. The fare is $10-something, so I give him a $20 and ask for $8 back. He hands me a $5, then as is usual with cab drivers, he fumbles through his change, hoping that I’ll just get fed up and leave him with a $5 tip. He gives it to me in quarters and loonies.
It was just weird. I should have waited for the metro.
That is all.