I can't believe I postponed putting this down for so long, its already fuzzy at the edges ...

A few months ago I was at the German consulate on a visa procurement outing. Even though it was work related, I had only been with the company a short while, and was trying to minimize the out-of-office time to 'make a good impression'.

After filling in my application, I go through my paperwork again, and realize the HQ's email invite has only printed the first page. Sheisse! Not to worry, I have my laptop and I'll just print it out again. Only, I had left the laptop at home. Forget making a good impression, the visa counter was about to close, and if I didn't have it in hand before returning to work, I would be new-person-the-slacker.

So I hustled out, decided to eat the cost, and flagged a passing cab down. The end of the story is that I managed to find an internet cafe with printers, lost the argument to connect my laptop to the printer/network, found a printing shop, purchased a CD, burnt the email to the CD, printed from the CD, and creatively swore at Firefox for subjecting me to this. The interesting part is the cabbie, who mellowed me the heck out with his cross-continental life story.

"So where's that accent from?"

"I've been in the US for the last few years."

"And what do you think of Sydney?"

"Its amazing, blows any US coastal city away. San Francisco included."

"Absolutely! I keep getting American exchange students who are trying to extend their stay here. But you're not American, there's an extra un-American twang there?"

"Good catch, I mostly grew up in Bombay."

"Really? So did I.

Yeah, I was born in Bombay to Iranian Jews fleeing persecution in the '50s*. Then I left when I was twenty and headed for London. Where I fell in love with the most beautiful English girl. She was gorgeous, charming, talented**, I somehow convinced her to marry me and come to Sydney.

We had three kids and an amazing life together. Its been three*** years since cancer took her, and I still miss her like anything. I switched from being an IT manager at NAB*** bank to taxi driving for the flexible hours, so that I could be with her. And I'm still driving around Sydney."

Following which I couldn't get my questions out fast enough. Next time you're in need of a cab, opt for a Silver Cab in the hopes of running into Mr. Sydney-via-London-via-Bombay-via-Tehran.

* I think he said the '50s, but not 100% sure
** Since he was still in love with her, this bit was quite lengthy
*** Not sure about these ones either