Sad to say, but in a only a little more than a week, Lauren and Morgan's parents will be leaving Hoboken to move to their sprawling newly built home in Warren County, NJ. I have mixed feelings about this move. On one hand, the headache of building a home will be behind them and we'll have an awesome place to visit on weekends. On the other, a home cooked meal with great wine and the people who have become family won't be be just a simple PATH ride away.
Oddly enough, the most bizarre cab experience of my life (and I think my three fellow passengers will agree) took place in Hoboken not too long ago. Lauren, Morgan, and another friend Shruti, and I piled into a cab for what we thought would be just another $5 quick ride to Maxwell Place. Our driver was clearly miffed that all four of us were going to the same place (because two stops means more money), and he repeatedly said so in Arabic to his wife over the phone as we began our doomed journey.
When Morgan let on that she could understand some of what he was saying, he began telling us how he thinks certain languages sound really bad when spoken, like Japanese, Chinese, and Indian (not all of which are actual languages). Shruti is Indian and decided it wasn't worth arguing, so she kept quiet.
We learned that he was from Egypt, and soon he was telling us that he auditioned for American Idol, and that yes, Randy called him 'dog' and Simon didn't like his performance. This of course led to a sample performance in the cab--he serendaded us to 'How Deep is Your Love' by the Beegees, and then promptly turned into oncoming traffic.
So there we were, parked in the opposite direction of traffic, when two cops pull up beside us. I understand he drove recklessly and could have caused a more serious problem, but these cops were major jerks. Our driver made the mistake of arguing and not giving his license and registration over immediately, and instead begged us for help. Feeling very awkward, we quickly paid him and exited the cab to walk the rest of the way.
Believe it or not, here is our Egyptian American Idol contestant of a cab driver.
If you can top that cab story, please do so in comments.
winner: the NJ police department
loser: Alaa Youakeem, our singing cabbie with poor driving skills
The year ~1995 ASHP convention in Atlanta Ga. Randy (a friend from Danville) and I had just been treated to dinner by a drug co. in the nearby suburb of Buckhorn. We decided to catch a cab back to our hotel. Our cabbie was weaving in and out of traffic (as they all do) when he side swiped a car that was also vying for the same lane. That caused the cab to veer sharply to the left across 2 lanes of on coming traffic. The traffic missed us but the light pole didn't. In fact, the cab looked a lot like your PIC court. We got a free cab ride as compensation!!
ReplyDeleteLOOOL omg this is hilarious court!
ReplyDeleteloves it.