Black cab Insights

Black cab Insights

Just landed after a two-hour flight. The cabin resounds with the “pling” tones of a multitude of mobile devices.

People fix their gaze on their device; fingers tap hasty responses to a screed of emails and texts.

Catch train to city center, the vast majority hold their device, either tapping a message, talking or listening to music.

Sitting in the taxi I check my emails once again.

I catch the gaze of the driver in the mirror.

“Busy day Ma’am “ he asks.

We engage in conversation. His name is Jim; he has been driving his black cab for 23 years. He tells me how it used to be in the “old days” when his customers talked to him.

He laughed with warmth as he recalled a favorite story about a well-known actor who rode in his cab. He recalled his pride at being able to recite the points of interest as customers looked out the window.

He explained how he could  “read” his customers – if they wanted to talk, or if they preferred to sit in quiet contemplation.

” Those were the days” he sighed. I detected a longing in his tone.

I reflected on his words as I took time to look out the window – phone in hand, Ipad and laptop in my handbag.

While our online lifestyle delivers many benefits, we perhaps loose interactivity and spontaneity with others, the casual chat, and the pleasantries.

For the remainder of that day, and subsequently, I have put his wise insights into practice.

The result is rewarding.

Note to self: Take time to look out the window, chat to the cab driver, sit in quiet contemplation now and again, experience doing nothing; be in the present – once in a while anyway.

Thanks Jim. I hope to ride with you in your cab again!

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