Anyways, yesterday I had arranged to meet a friend down in Boat Quay. Immediately inside the taxi, I realized something was wrong. This driver was EVEN MORE unhappy about having a customer than usual. He was visibly upset about the idea of driving to BQ- I assumed this was because it was far and he felt he'd be loosing money. However, on the way there he explained to me that the problem wasn't the money but that he desperately needed to go to the toilet. What do you say to that? It seemed reasonable to offer him to stop on the way, but he decided to brave it. Throughout the journey he described exactly how desperate he was to go, and quite vividly how his stomach was feeling. Alas! About half a minute away from the agreed drop off place, he suddenly hits the breaks and shouts "out!". This man really needed to go. Of course I got out, trying to find the change to pay the man his fare. i did not have time though as he quickly drove up to a cafe nearby to run into the toilet. So I walked off to the meeting point, quite shaken. It is not known to man that a taxi driver forfeits his fare.
The friend in question is actually a friend of my American-Italian friend who's now building up a movie website in Rome. Check it out: www.35mm.it
My roman friend had put me in touch with his old schoolmate from France. Pretty confusing back-story, something like half-philipino, half-spanish, lived in UK/US, culturally french now living in Singapore kind of thing. Amazingly this man seemed to knowthe answer to the age-old mystery: "what is halfway between a back-packer and an expat?"
A boheme!
Sitting outside New Asia:
YAY! It's raining cats and dogs outside. I'm working from home today to let my creative juices flow freely. It's quite a feeling sitting by the balcony, overlooking suburbian streets lined with palm-trees and listening to the sound of tropical rain. Quality of life, that's what I call it.
