Going, Going, Gone Taxi Insane & Parked Taxicabs In London & No Winning Against City (Bellevue) Hall? & Park of the Week & Authoritarianism Part 2

Goin' Bonkers

Past couple of weeks I too have proved vulnerable to that oversensitivity often overwhelming the exhausted and afflicted cabbie, becoming openly irritated with dumbbell, controlling and essentially deranged passengers.  Though fully knowing what is coming, who they are, what they are, still I am allowing myself to go crazy when forbearance is the appropriate response, not stupidity answering a customer's general inanity. A toothache not helping but that's merely a convenient excuse to be unreasonable, to graphically display a distain building for years---too much abuse a volcanic or seismic fracture spilling or toppling over.  Hopefully my now scheduled dental trip to Mazatlan, Mexico will soothe both the ache and the taxi beast.  I hate it when I am impolite, even to fools.  Besides, these are my invaluable passengers and I ought to love them dearly, or at least in theory I do after sometimes making $400.00 and feeling "taxi fat and happy," all the pain and insult somehow worth the minor slight, the blood dripping from my brow nothing, no nothing at all.   

No business in jolly old London, England

A friend sent me an online article about the pandemic downfall in London and area taxi business, the accompanying photos showing hundreds of "mothballed" cabs parked in fields and parking lots.  There was also a photo of dozens of Heathrow Airport cabs jammed together waiting for what the caption said was one fare in nine hours.  Dismal, and when will it end?  One quoted veteran cabbie was not optimistic.  

Doesn't look good for Tuesday

A couple days ago I found out that the City of Bellevue had not yet acted upon my subpoena requests for the mayor and police chief.  The information officer or clerk I had talked to a number of times kept changing the storyline like a character in a dystopian novel.  I have seen this before, setting me up for the execution.  I will make my appearance but nothing will come of it.  If I want to change Bellevue's anti-cab law, it was take some effort, something I probably won't do, government understanding this, snuffing you out like a cigarette butt.

New feature: Seattle and Area Park of the Week

As I keep telling anyone who will listen, the only good thing left about Seattle are the parks so I will be featuring many of my favorites over the coming weeks. I hope you are inspired to check them out.

"8th Avenue South Park," SE corner of 8th Avenue South and South Portland, officially 760 South Portland Street

This postage stamp-sized park has long been one of my favorites, located as it is directly upon the Duwamish River in the heart of the South Park industrial zone.  This week one could see barges and floating cranes moored close to the park.  The park itself has a few half-buried giant metal gears greeting you.  There is one table and two benches.  This place is unique and you will have it to yourself save for resident rats and gulls soaring overhead.  I love the place and it's easy to find, just turn north off of South Cloverdale onto 8th S. and you will run right into it.  Bring a lunch and enjoy Seattle at its gritty best, a time machine ride back 50 years into the past.  Not much changes in South Park. That's good for those looking for "old time Seattle," this park certainly fitting that description.

And since you're in the general area, visit Resistencia Coffee located 3/4 mile away at 1249 S. Cloverdale Street.  A genuine place!

Authoritarianism Part II

I am inspired to further commentary due to a passenger I picked up on Tuesday, a 77-year old gentleman recovering from a heart attack.  This all happened in Snohomish County, located north of Seattle. I picked him up in Mill Creek and took him back to a rehab center in the city of Snohomish.  His story is short but not particularly sweet, having had his heart-related emergency in a Walmart parking lot while sitting in his Ford Explorer.   His SUV was towed, and soon thereafter, sold at auction while he recovered in the hospital. He knew nothing about it before it was too late to do anything about it.  Now he says he's had enough of the Northwest and will be moving to Las Vegas. 

Remember, this is so-called democratic America where your rights as a citizen are protected and respected. If that's true, how did he lose his SUV?  The answer are confiscation laws allowing police departments to quickly sell impounds along with almost anything found in an suspect's vehicle, and letting them sell the car or truck too.  You don't have to be convicted. Simply by being arrested you can lose you car, house, everything.  Or just have a heart attack.  Poof! your vehicle is gone.  

What is obviously happening are governments and individuals taking advantage of rules and regulations governing our sometimes theoretic democracy.  Last week, newly reelected Senator Lindsey Graham, GOP from South Carolina, called the State of Georgia Secretary of State, who is also a Republican, and asked if he could disqualify some Democratic votes.  Bold! Astounding! 

And he was told hell no! that wouldn't be happening, a bad/good example of both abuse and proper authority. 

Yes, authoritarian appears to be lurking around the very next corner.  Beware or your democracy will be towed away in the middle of the night, while your sneering jailers glare, knowing you are caught in their snare!