Taxi
Driver From Hell
The
taxi arrived at 7.25am, but there was no need to worry because the
bus stop was only 5 minutes away. Yeah right! I got the taxi driver
from hell!
Murray
(#65) seemed harmless enough. He helped me put my luggage in the
boot, and just before we left, Averill told me not to pay for the
fare because she'd just use her account. No worries, I thought.
After all, she was a cabbie too (same company) so I imagined that
I'd be well looked after. Yeah right!
No
sooner had I sat in the passenger seat, Murray was filling in the
receipt. And as he took off, he passed it over to me to sign. I
quickly glanced at it, then paused with pen in hand.
"I'd
prefer to sign it after we put a price on it," I said.
There
was an extended silence. About a minute later Murray said, "That's
strange."
After
such a long pause, I wasn't sure what he was referring to.
"What's
strange?" I asked.
"That
you won't sign the receipt."
"Why?"
"You're
saying that you don't trust me."
"No,
I'm not saying that," I said, even though that's exactly what I
was saying. "It's just that it's good business to know exactly what
I'm signing for. This isn't my money, so I need to know there won't
be any mistakes made. I'd feel very uncomfortable leaving and not
knowing what expense I'd left Averill with."
"Do
you really think I'd rip off one of my own work mates?" he said.
"You're
incredible," I said, starting to get annoyed. "I can't even believe
we're having this conversation. There's no way known I'm going to
sign a blank cheque. But if you like, tell me how much it'll cost,
and I'll sign it."
"But
I can't tell you until we get there!" he said in a raised voice.
"That's
exactly what I'm saying too," I said.
It
didn't end there. We continued challenging each other all the way
until we finally got to my destination.
"Five
dollars 80 cents," he said sarcastically. "Is that OK with you?"
"Not
a problem," I said as I wrote the amount and signed the receipt.
It
was only 7.35am, and the bus wasn't due for another 10 minutes.
Averill said that the bus stopped at the Tram Stop in the square,
but I didn't see any signs saying Atomic Shuttle anywhere. There
were a couple of buses just 30 metres further up. But there was
also another bus 50 metres behind us. I didn't want to be lugging
30 kgs. of luggage to and fro, so I pushed for some confirmation.
"I
can't see any sign saying Atomic Shuttle bus stop?" I said to Murray.
"I was told to bring you to the Tram Stop, and this is it," he said
without any interest in helping me out.
"Don't
do this to me," I said in a panic. "You can't just leave me here
without knowing for sure that I'm in the right place."
"This
is the Tram Stop," he said again in a raised voice.
"But
is it the Atomic Shuttle stop?" I said as I sat defiantly in the
passenger seat. "Drive me to those buses up ahead."
So
he immediately put the meter back on and drove ahead 30 metres.
The bus driver was from another company, but assured us that the
Atomic Shuttle bus did, in fact, stop opposite the Tram Stop.
"That's
what I've been trying to tell him," Murray shouted, trying to get
some sympathy from whoever he could.
So
he turned the cab around and took me to the bus stop. He then grabbed
the receipt again and increased the amount by 90 cents.
"Do
you want me to initial that?" I asked.
"No.
You've already signed it."
I
unloaded the luggage from the boot and wished him a good day as
he started off. He only traveled a couple of metres before stopping.
Then he got out of the cab and came walking towards me.
What
does he want now, I thought.
"You
forgot your bag in the car," he said, as he handed me a plastic
bag with my plane ticket, contacts list and passport.
Boy,
was I glad that I'd told him to have a good day, and not what I
was really thinking!
Salvaged
Radio Interview And Carpark Prang
At
10.30am, right on schedule, the bus pulled over at the corner of
King Street and Otipua Road ion Timaru, where Lorraine Sprosen was
waiting for me.
As
soon as I got to her place, I rang the radio station (Classic Hits
99 FM) to see if I could still be interviewed. The receptionist
connected me straight through to Brendan. I explained that I'd made
over 20 calls the day before but I'd had the wrong number. Then
when I told him the number I'd been calling, he told me I'd been
dialing their fax number! No wonder I couldn't get through.
Because
of our radio interview blunder in Masterton, I thought I'd pre-empt
any assumptions and asked Brendan if he could give me a copy of
the interview once it was over. This was fine by him, and he suggested
we get straight down to the radio station. In small towns like Timaru,
everything is just 5 minutes away, so in no time at all I was sitting
in front of a microphone being interviewed. It wasn't live, so he
was able to edit the original 2 minute 20 second conversation back
to exactly 2 minutes. Then he handed me my tape. He was a young
guy, but handled his work very professionally.
"You
run a pretty tight schedule," I said referring to the brevity of
the interview. "When I was in Cape Town, they interviewed me for
45 minutes".
"Forty-five
minutes?" Brendan said, trying to figure out how the subject of
LETS could possibly be stretched out that far.
I
found Lorraine to be a very active lady who, at 77, was much fitter
than many women 20 years younger. She had many stories to share,
including a recent one where she'd found herself locked out of the
house and decided to climb in through an unlocked window, landing
on the floor headfirst!
"Some
people have silly children," she said. "My mother was one of them."
And
she said it again later that day after trying to back out of a tight
parking space outside the radio station, straight into the bumper
bar of another car! Luckily there was no damage done to either cars,
but it did rattle her a little. So I took over the driver's wheel
and got it right away from the 2 cars she'd wedged it between, which
was a great relief for Lorraine.
Timaru
LETS Presentation ... Model Event
My
presentation was due to be given at 2pm, so we went directly to
the venue after lunch. Timaru Alternative Trading System (TATS)
had only 40 members, yet we still got about 20 people to the meeting.
The meeting had been well promoted. Apart from the radio interview
which had been organized, they'd also ran a public notice in the
local newspaper …
Timaru
Alternative Trading System - INVITES THE PUBLIC to meet international
traveler and speaker, James Taris, to a public meeting at the
Caroline Bay Community Lounge, on Wednesday, April 9, at 2pm.
James will speak on the subject of local currency and trading
by individuals and how to enhance your life. Gold coin donation.
Afternoon tea provided.
A
large sign outside the main entrance directed the public inside,
where 3 well-designed leaflets were handed to all non-members.
1)
A 3-fold leaflet, LETS Work Together - Trade with Timaru Green Dollars,
gave a very good explanation of how Green Dollars worked, and included
a form which could be handed in, or posted, for further information.
2)
A 2-fold leaflet, Introducing Timaru Alternative Trading System
Inc., gave answers to 15 commonly asked questions about TATS.
3)
A full-sized A4 sheet, had the Membership Application Form on one
side, and a 14-point list of Terms and Conditions on the reverse
side.
Alongside
these leaflets were a couple of good sings.
1)
(DONATION NOTICE) - A Gold Coin Donation will enable us to continue
our Green Dollar work in our community … thank you. (A shallow bowl
was next to it to collect the donations.)
2)
(LETS Trading Day Notice) - I am a local Green Dollar Member. Why
pay cash when you could trade?
And
just when I began my introduction, I realized there was a journalist
from the local newspaper in attendance. She was soon joined by a
newspaper photographer who took numerous photos, and managed to
make me feel just a little self-conscious. After the presentation
I learned that they would be running the story in the newspaper's
Lifestyle section at some time in the future.
So
when it comes to promoting your LETS group, and getting the maximum
exposure possible, you can't do much more than what they did in
Timaru. Well-done TATS. (Of the 3 guests that attended my presentation,
two of them became members the following day.)
Spin
Doctors And Hokey-Pokey
I
was due to be picked up later that night by Dave Robbie and taken
to Invercargill. Unfortunately, Dave had run into car problems and
would be held up for another day. So I was able to have a relaxing
night at Lorraine's. TV took up the bulk of it. One show, Spin Doctors,
was particularly interesting. It was a New Zealand comedy series
which included up to the minute current issues, such as SARS and
the political struggles of the National Party leader, Bill English.
In fact, so current that these topics were only days old! So it
was fascinating to comprehend how such a program could go from script
to screen in just a few days. Amazing!
I
was also introduced to Hokey-Pokey ice cream, and as Lorraine noticed
I was struggling with some foreign objects in my mouth, she said,
"You can eat those. They're caramel balls."
"I
thought they were pips," I said ignorantly, then began to chew them
with confidence.
This
article is taken from the ebook,
Land of the LETS Green
Dollar
About
the book
|
James
Taris web sites
JamesTaris.com
LETS-Linkup.com
Rich-Bastards.com
Honey-BeeBooks.com
TheGloryOfAthens.com
TravelWithoutMoney.com
ChineseArt-ChineseArt.com
ShanghaiPhotoGuide.com
ShockProofMaterial.com
2pups.com
