Tuesday 3 June 2014

The Taxi


My first mistake was getting into the front seat, no my first mistake was getting into the taxi in the first place, my second mistake was getting into the front seat. What was I thinking? I like to consider myself as a streetwise, smart, savvy traveller, I know the rules, and rule number one is don’t get into the front seat of a taxi, so why I was acting like an idiot.
I'd been told taxis were safe, just flag one down, get in, don't worry, they'd told me in the hotel. So that's what I'd done, my feet were tired and I wanted to get back to the hotel, so I'd flagged a driver. And what a driver, his English was perfect, old school, colonial English. He seemed so friendly, so kind that when I went to get in the back and he chided me and told me to hop up front with him, I just did as I was told.
'You don't trust my driving?' He said as I went to put my seat belt on. Apparently wearing a seat belt was an insult here. But I never travel upfront without a seatbelt, so even at the risk of upsetting him I pulled the black nylon across me and plugged it in.
'Yes I know where the hotel is, but have you seen the square at night,' he said. I told him I'd only seen it during the day and he said he'd take me there for just 2 euros more. I agreed - mistake number three; I really wasn’t thinking straight.
'Traffic terrible, backstreets better,’  he said, as we bounced along the poorly maintained roads.
I smiled, I genuinely believed he was doing me a favour.
There's a certain Schardenfreude about being in a taxi and watching others hail them, or maybe it's smugness, whatever it is, it’s nice to know you have a cab while others are trying to get one. The last thing you expect is for your cab to stop and pick up another passenger. But as my driver pulled over he explained it was standard practice, the norm for this busy, bustling city where people are plentiful and cabs less so.
I shrugged and smiled my acceptance and said hello to the young woman who had climbed in to the seat behind mine.
At the next set of lights my foolishness began to dawn on me. We were in dingy backstreets away from the prying eyes of the throng; I was up front with a stranger next to me and a stranger behind me. I was a sitting duck,  waiting to be robbed and I didn't have to wait very long. As the lights turned green and the driver sped off I felt the cold blade of a knife touch my left love handle.
'Empty your pockets,’ the woman said to me.
I could see the driver smiling his smile as he drove, his plan had worked perfectly, another gullible tourist, easy prey. I cursed myself. What an idiot I'd been.
My brain did the mental calculation, in my pocket I had my phone and wallet which had some small change and two credit cards, but of course there was also my hotel key card, which led to my passport, my computer, my iPad, my world.
‘Empty’ she said again.
And pressed the cool steal further into my fat. The warm damp feeling at the top of my trousers suggested she'd drawn blood. There was no way out of this, they were going to rob me dead or alive, I had to empty my pockets. The driver was speeding now, he obviously knew the roads like the back of his hand, gliding around potholes, and skipping through nearly red lights. His timing was perfect… almost.

Just as I was getting my phone out of my pocket to hand to the girl there was a screech as he hit the brakes but too late to avoid the car that had pulled out from a side street. We were all thrown forward, my driver hit the steering wheel while my mugger was thrown into the windscreen. I was wearing my seatbelt so despite being shaken around, I was fine. Both my companions would live too but they were no longer in mugging mood, in fact judging from their moans of pain, they weren’t in the mood for much.

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