Sunday, August 22, 2004

Flamsbury Park?

Welcome readers.
Another typical Saturday night out there. I started pretty late today as I was really tired for some reason. Some nice jobs tonight. Kensington to Angel, Kings Cross to Putney Bridge, Fulham to the West End. From Oxford Street I stopped for a guy who stuck his whole head and shoulders in the cab window. I thought he was going to grab my money bag or something like that. He started muttering something like "Flamsbury Park". I said "Do you mean Finsbury Park?" and he nodded then muttered some more (I hate mutterers!!) about a hotel. So, double checking I said "What do you mean one of those hotels on Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park?" to which he muttered yet again something resembling an acknowledgment. Of I goes heading for Camden Town and then turn into Camden Road and guess what? He starts muttering again. I think I was ready for a row by now so I pulled over and said "do what mate?" to which he replied "I think I'm being ripped off here". I said that no one was ripping him off and where the hell did he want me to take him. He started muttering some more and then his phone rang and he started muttering into that. During all the mutterings I established that he wanted the Bloomsbury Park Hotel on Southampton Row. Bloomsbury - Flamsbury; sound sort of similar don't they? Any way to cut a long story short and to save myself a load of grief that this guy probably would have given me I turned the meter off at £10 and took him back into town to his hotel at a loss of about another tenner. The moral of this story is make sure if your passenger is a mutterer you get the correct address out of him.
By 2am I'd had enough and was looking for a fare home when this lovely trio of people flagged me down in Old Brompton Road and asked to be taken to Notting Hill Gate, Royal Oak Tube and finally to West End Lane in West Hampstead. A nice job to take me home and a crisp £20 note as well.

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