The other Barbadan taxi driver

Saturday, the day I was due to come home form Barbados , must have been Lionel the driver’s day off.

Because went to the cab to put my suitcase in the boot, it was a different fella. A white dude about in his mid-thirties, but clearly a local.

But he seemed ok, friendly enough….talked quite a bit (mainly to himself) and fast too...……he also seemed to find the most mundane things funny enough to giggle over.

Everything was going fine, until he started driving.

The main roads in Barbados are like our back country lanes with no tarmac on.

So the majority of cars over there are careful to try and avoid the potholes, which is probably why the little jeep type vehicles are very popular on the island.

However this cab was more like an old 70’s Ford Capri.

This driver was hitting every pot-hole he could find and finding it all extremely funny while doing it. I looked over at the speedometer.....…it was just past 70 miles per hour.

Then he decided it was time for a bit of music as he turned the car radio on full blast and was singing along at the top of his voice (badly).

This bloke must be on something, I thought. It was then that it fell into place …and it finally dawned...…this bloke was on something!

The cab driver was as high as the plane I was about to get on!

But what could I do about it?

Get out?

No way!

I’d end up splattered all over the road in the middle of gawd knows where.

Well….....if you can’t beat them, join them…....I just started to sing along too, he looked over and gave me a knowing smile.

I smiled back….....he must have thought I was on what he was on, but all I was on was pure adrenaline!

Surprisingly enough, we got to the airport with time to spare, despite the driver taking a couple of wrong turns on the way.

I got out of the car, retrieved my suitcase and gave the man a good tip, after all, I was happy to still be alive.

Compared to the car journey, the flight home across the Atlantic was the smoothest one I had ever experienced!!