Casual violence

I went to pick up a customer from a local pub. A group of people were standing outside, smoking and talking, and a short way away, a woman was standing by herself, casually waiting for a taxi. She was striking, with funky pink hair, and interesting clothes. As I pressed the “ringback” button on my datahead, I glanced at her again, and suddenly realised that her face and top were covered in blood.

I ran my eyes over the group near her. A blonde woman was standing amongst them, next to the large male bouncer, and she, too, had gouges and blood on her face, head and clothing. The two women had obviously had a vicious fight, been separated, and woman with pink hair was now making her way home. The bouncer clearly had the situation under remarkable control.

The woman with the pink hair came to my window. “Are you going to …..?” she asked calmly, naming a road in the city centre.

“Sorry, but no,” I replied, truthfully, and she retreated back to the doorway before I could say anything more. My mind whirred, but then my customer appeared. I switched into taxi driver mode, and whisked him home, without mentioning what I had just noticed. Several other customers followed in quick succession, and the incident faded to the back of my mind.

Some time later in the evening, I picked up a lively, tattooed woman with gorgeous, shiny hair. “So what have you been up to tonight?” I asked.

She smiled. “I’ve been up the Brickmakers pub for a charity event,” she explained. “We’ve been filming scenes for The Norwich Zombie Project. There were loads of people made up as zombies, with fake blood and everything. It was great!”

I burst out laughing, and explained what I had seen earlier. Relief washed over me as I realised that what I had thought was the aftermath of an exceptionally brutal fight was nothing more than excellent makeup! Phew. It also explained why everyone was so unbelievably nonchalant, including the women with the hideous injuries!

The Fog

14th March 2014 saw terrible weather conditions.  I  had a very full-on night at work, negotiating my taxi safely through the fog. Normally, most of my work would be within the suburbs of Norwich, however tonight, with horrendously poor visibility, I got not one, but THREE “county” jobs.


The first was taking Tyrion, a lovely young male ferret, and his delightful media student owner, to Downham Market, where he is to be debollocked in just a few hours time. The fog wasn’t too bad.


Next, I took a very drunk doorman, who had obviously had a cracking night off, to Lowestoft. By now it was horrible visibility, with some major road closures, owing to the evening’s tragic helicopter accident, which very sadly left four people dead. My doorman customer was, however, in good fooling, and entertained me all the way to his house.


Much of the time he was difficult to understand, owing to the combination of spectacular slurring, and a full twenty minutes of hiccuping. He was very concerned that I had to return to Norwich in the fog, bless him.


I made it safely back to Norwich, only to pick up a group of four offshore workers, who had been due to fly in to Norwich Airport, but had been diverted to Birmingham, due to the weather, and had endured a lengthy coach ride to Norwich. I collected them from the airport, to take them to Lowestoft and Beccles.


Again, our journey was hampered by the road closures, but a team effort got us to where they needed to go. The fog was, by now, almost impenetrable in places, and I was considering staying overnight in Lowestoft, for safety reasons.


The men were very sweet, and the last chap was concerned that I had to try to make it back to Norwich. He was so appreciative of my efforts to get them all home safely, after their looooong coach journey, that he actually tipped me nearly £60!!!
I am glad to be home, safe and sound. My thoughts are with those affected by the weather conditions, and in particular our emergency services, who will have to carry in regardless. And my heart goes out to those poor families who lost loved ones tonight.