Just found out about this site from Elaine yesterday - http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/

It is a very compelling read. Wow. And for some reason i feel very touched and pensive after reading. I cant single out a favourite entry, but just to quote an entry that i just read-

"(2)

According to my yet to be verified theory, when people ride with a taxi driver, many of them tend to drop their masks they normally wear on other social occasions. They don’t bother to pretend to be somebody they are not. They don’t pretend, for example, to be more gracious, or more cultivated, than they really are, as they would when they are on their jobs or in other social functions. The reason for this is multifold. Aside from the fact that some people regard taxi drivers as the lowest form of life in the society, placed roughly at the same level as their maids at home, one obvious reason is that a ride with a particular taxi driver is a chance encounter that is unlikely to be repeated, excluding, of course, the commuters who use taxis regularly. The chance of randomly picking up the same customer on the street for a second time is much rarer than hitting a triple 7 on a slot machine.

But, you never know.

Tonight after midnight, a middle aged man boarded my taxi on Anson road. He came in and settled in the front seat and told me to go to Sengkang. “Which way you like me to take?” I asked, as I started moving.

“Hey, I know you.” He exclaimed. “You, you are the professor, right?”

I took a look at him and recognized him too. I drove him before, about three weeks ago, though I couldn't recall where I picked him up. “I am glad to see you again,” I said with a genuine smile.

“You still remember where I live, don’t you?” He asked.

“Um, not really. But I guess I can take ECP and KPE?”

“Anyway you like,” he said joyously.

On the way, he talked with me enthusiastically like I was an old friend of his. He said he remembered last time he took my taxi, I had no idea how to get him home. He was soaked with beers that night and was having a terrible headache. But he fought to stay awake in order to direct me to take the right routes. I said how unbelievable that he still remembered things so well even though he was as drunk as a skunk at the time. “Oh yeah,” he said. “I still remember a lot of things you told me last time, like how you become a cabdriver from a professor and so on.”

When we were near the KPE entrance, he said, “don’t turn in. Just keep going straight.”

“Going straight is to go to the airport,” I said.

“Doesn’t matter. Later you turn to PIE and TPE. Let’s take a long ride.”

“That will be at least twice as long, you know.” I said unsurely. “Why would you want to do that?”

“I want to have more time to talk to you,” he said.

“Nah, it’s too late now.” I turned into KPE just in time, despite the instructions from him. “We will meet again. I am sure of that.” ……"

I really like the first paragraph and i really agree. And also, haha actually i find this episode rather platonically romantic ho hum.

+ another good entry - “Although taxi driving is a noble job….”