[URBAN NOTE] Take a ride on the wild side
May. 1st, 2006 06:49 pmWhen I boarded the subway this evening as I fled from my workplace, I got squeezed by the door next to two guys a bit younger than me. One slim and one burly, and each was carrying a plastic-bagged bundle under their arms. The slim one was telling his friend a story.
- So I was standing outside the IKEA when this guy came up to me. He gave me a card.
He passed the card over to his friend. It was a rectangular piece of yellow paper bearing a ten-digit number with the 416 area code printed above traditional Chinese characters.
- "Do you want a taxi?" he asked. I asked him how much to Davisville. "Eighty dollars." "80 dollars?" I said. "No, no, 18 dollars." So I decide, why not?, and follow the guy into this dank underground parking lot to his car. There's no sign on it. "Chinese taxi," he says. So I get into the car.
- And?
- I shouldn't have gotten in, it was sketchy, I was sitting behind him ready to get him if he acted funny. I told him where to turn. I nearly got him when he made a wrong turn. I probably shouldn't have got in. But it's usually 35, 40 dollars!
- So I was standing outside the IKEA when this guy came up to me. He gave me a card.
He passed the card over to his friend. It was a rectangular piece of yellow paper bearing a ten-digit number with the 416 area code printed above traditional Chinese characters.
- "Do you want a taxi?" he asked. I asked him how much to Davisville. "Eighty dollars." "80 dollars?" I said. "No, no, 18 dollars." So I decide, why not?, and follow the guy into this dank underground parking lot to his car. There's no sign on it. "Chinese taxi," he says. So I get into the car.
- And?
- I shouldn't have gotten in, it was sketchy, I was sitting behind him ready to get him if he acted funny. I told him where to turn. I nearly got him when he made a wrong turn. I probably shouldn't have got in. But it's usually 35, 40 dollars!