This is the fifth in a series of posts chronicling conversations I have had with taxi drivers. The first of these posts appeared on 6 June 2018.
23 June
Caught a cab from home to Newtown and the driver was very chatty. We talked about the elections and he told me that the media (I had told him I was a journalist) had done a bad job because Labor was supposed to win the election in May. I said that all the opinion poll companies had predicted a Labor win and that most people lie to research companies when they are surveyed. He was very open and confident and we had a long chat about the election and why Labor had lost.
23 June
On the way back home from Newtown I caught a cab going the wrong way (south) because there were no cabs going north. The driver was Bangladeshi and I told him that I had been to the Middle East recently. He told me his brother works in Dubai. I said that many people from the subcontinent work in the Middle East and he said that 20 million Bangladeshis work there. He was very polite and said he had come from Campbelltown to work. He said the taxi industry is under a lot of pressure from Uber. I said I never use that service. I told him about the problems with getting taxi drivers in the Middle East to put on the meter at the beginning of trips and he said that in his country you have to settle a price before you start the journey. I didn’t tell him that it would be very difficult for a tourist to do that because they wouldn’t know how far they had to travel and how much it would cost. He dropped me off at my place and I paid using EFTPOS.
2 July
Caught a cab from Wolli Creek to home. The driver was Indian and might have been a Sikh, I didn’t ask. We talked about real estate for a while then I brought up hybrid Camrys. Most taxis in Sydney are this type of car. I asked him if he knew of any hybrid Camrys that were plug-in models but he said something like, “No, they’re hybrids.” He seemed not to know that some hybrids are also plug-ins. I thought this conversation said a lot about the level of knowledge in the general community. If a cab driver doesn’t know something about cars then most people won’t know either …
7 July
Caught a cab from Newtown to home. I told the taxi driver about the cab drivers my friend and I had met during our trip to the Middle East, many of whom were dishonest. He told me he was Greek and we talked about Istanbul (which, of course, he reminded me had once belonged to Greece). I recounted some of what I learned about Istiklal Street and he said he had been to Istanbul several times. He said also that used to be in the military police. He had, he said, travelled undercover (that is the word he used) to Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, and Turkey.
I didn’t know what to make of all this. He said the Australian government had brought him to this country. He said that the CIA had a plan to break up Turkey into “four pieces”, and he listed several areas. He said one part was to go to the Kurds and then he said “Syria, Iran,” but I didn’t know what he was referring to by this point. He was getting stranger and stranger with his stories. At one point he told me that the Turks try to take land from Greece 40 times every day, but that the Greek military always forces them back.
When we got close to my destination he said he had a friend who lives in my street, “A multi-millionaire,” he assured me, before asking how much I had paid for my apartment. I told him as I had concluded by this time that he was a fabulist but a harmless one. I paid using EFTPOS and he had warned me earlier, when we were driving through Redfern, that he wouldn’t be able to give me a receipt. I had assured him that it would be fine regardless, and had said I trusted him to do the right thing. I said, “Good to talk with you,” when I got out of the car and he returned the compliment. You meet all types …
10 July
Caught a cab at the NSW Art Gallery to home and the driver was Bangladeshi. He started the conversation by saying that Sydney is expensive and I mentioned that a unit I own in Campsie had not had its rent put up in over two years. He said he lived in a house in Wiley Park, which is a few stations from Campsie. When we were almost at my building I said that Pyrmont is a lot more expensive than Campsie and he said, “Yes, I know.” I told him that I wouldn’t be able to afford the unit I live in if I were to look at buying now and he asked me how much I had paid for it in 2010. I told him and he said that he thought it would be more expensive to buy now. He then said the exact figure that I had received from a real estate agent the last time I had had the place valued. Even taxi drivers in Sydney are property mad …
23 June
Caught a cab from home to Newtown and the driver was very chatty. We talked about the elections and he told me that the media (I had told him I was a journalist) had done a bad job because Labor was supposed to win the election in May. I said that all the opinion poll companies had predicted a Labor win and that most people lie to research companies when they are surveyed. He was very open and confident and we had a long chat about the election and why Labor had lost.
23 June
On the way back home from Newtown I caught a cab going the wrong way (south) because there were no cabs going north. The driver was Bangladeshi and I told him that I had been to the Middle East recently. He told me his brother works in Dubai. I said that many people from the subcontinent work in the Middle East and he said that 20 million Bangladeshis work there. He was very polite and said he had come from Campbelltown to work. He said the taxi industry is under a lot of pressure from Uber. I said I never use that service. I told him about the problems with getting taxi drivers in the Middle East to put on the meter at the beginning of trips and he said that in his country you have to settle a price before you start the journey. I didn’t tell him that it would be very difficult for a tourist to do that because they wouldn’t know how far they had to travel and how much it would cost. He dropped me off at my place and I paid using EFTPOS.
2 July
Caught a cab from Wolli Creek to home. The driver was Indian and might have been a Sikh, I didn’t ask. We talked about real estate for a while then I brought up hybrid Camrys. Most taxis in Sydney are this type of car. I asked him if he knew of any hybrid Camrys that were plug-in models but he said something like, “No, they’re hybrids.” He seemed not to know that some hybrids are also plug-ins. I thought this conversation said a lot about the level of knowledge in the general community. If a cab driver doesn’t know something about cars then most people won’t know either …
7 July
Caught a cab from Newtown to home. I told the taxi driver about the cab drivers my friend and I had met during our trip to the Middle East, many of whom were dishonest. He told me he was Greek and we talked about Istanbul (which, of course, he reminded me had once belonged to Greece). I recounted some of what I learned about Istiklal Street and he said he had been to Istanbul several times. He said also that used to be in the military police. He had, he said, travelled undercover (that is the word he used) to Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, and Turkey.
I didn’t know what to make of all this. He said the Australian government had brought him to this country. He said that the CIA had a plan to break up Turkey into “four pieces”, and he listed several areas. He said one part was to go to the Kurds and then he said “Syria, Iran,” but I didn’t know what he was referring to by this point. He was getting stranger and stranger with his stories. At one point he told me that the Turks try to take land from Greece 40 times every day, but that the Greek military always forces them back.
When we got close to my destination he said he had a friend who lives in my street, “A multi-millionaire,” he assured me, before asking how much I had paid for my apartment. I told him as I had concluded by this time that he was a fabulist but a harmless one. I paid using EFTPOS and he had warned me earlier, when we were driving through Redfern, that he wouldn’t be able to give me a receipt. I had assured him that it would be fine regardless, and had said I trusted him to do the right thing. I said, “Good to talk with you,” when I got out of the car and he returned the compliment. You meet all types …
10 July
Caught a cab at the NSW Art Gallery to home and the driver was Bangladeshi. He started the conversation by saying that Sydney is expensive and I mentioned that a unit I own in Campsie had not had its rent put up in over two years. He said he lived in a house in Wiley Park, which is a few stations from Campsie. When we were almost at my building I said that Pyrmont is a lot more expensive than Campsie and he said, “Yes, I know.” I told him that I wouldn’t be able to afford the unit I live in if I were to look at buying now and he asked me how much I had paid for it in 2010. I told him and he said that he thought it would be more expensive to buy now. He then said the exact figure that I had received from a real estate agent the last time I had had the place valued. Even taxi drivers in Sydney are property mad …
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