scottish taxi driver
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | tags: accent, Cabbies, cultural curiosities, Darlington |At Darlington train station I walked up to a man stood by a driverless taxi
Wendy: Are you the Taxi driver?
Scottish Taxi Driver (STD): Yes, Flower
I’m still not used to these gender specific addresses, this one made me smile. He had a broad Scottish accent which my year of living in Scotland has taught me to understand. On our journey the Taxi driver tells me stories. Each story illustrated how ignorant, overly wealthy, and offensive American people are. Stories included being a Jungle warfare trainer based in Malaysia , training the young US troops before they went into Vietnam.
STD: …they had NO idea, they turned up with their scented soap, their radios…
In another story a US soldier was bossing him around in a bar, calling him ‘Boy’ and giving him orders as if the American was superior in some way. One of the orders was to take the Americans travellers cheque for $200 to a currency shop, cash it and return the cash to the American. Can you guess what happened? The cabbie took the cheque, cashed it and never returned to the bar. The cabbie was keen to reassure me that he was not normally a thief but that US soldier needed to be taught a lesson.
I don’t think he thought I had an American accent.
