Taxi Tales–A good journey but not without lies.

Here is no lie at all; on a taxi crowded way to Entebbe in Kampala.

Today’s return to Kampala from my village in Tororo has been relatively good; polite driver and passengers save for one gigantic lady who with all her might immediately asserted her right to spacious leg room upon taking her seat. She demanded that bags under the seats be rearranged or carried by the owners to allow her because she has paid lots of money to travel comfortably.

And not so surprisingly she is the one who kicked off the usual mobile phone lying escapade. Somebody called her asking if she could wait for her and she said the taxi had already left for Kampala whereas we were still at the Tororo Taxi park waiting for the taxi to fill up. The taxi left more than thirty minutes later and was also stuck for about fifteen minutes at junction just outside town because of ongoing road works.

The time between the lady’s receiving the phone request to wait and the time the taxi finally hit the road to Kampala was more than three times the time it should have taken for somebody on a motorbike or car to get from her village to the taxi park, for I know where she hails from and she spoke my native language – Ateso.

Interestingly when I bought a newspaper the lady too called for the same, made a quick perusal and returned to them to the vendor without making any purchase. Some where along the journey after I had filled one of the puzzles, she asked me for my newspaper which I willingly gave her. However, she forgot to return it till I asked for it at the end of the journey.

The driver had several parcels and letters to deliver to people in Jinja and Kampala and he diligently did it, calling the addresses in advance and patiently waiting for those who did not show at the agreed bus stops in time. The passengers too were patient with the driver as he waited for some of the people who had to pick parcels or letters and my neighbor to the right even helped the driver make some calls to the addresses as he drove along.

The journey took a little longer than it could have normally taken in absence of traffic jams and road works hold-ups because of the driver’s commitment to have the several parcels and letters delivered but it was a fine journey after all. There was no conductor but the passengers at the main door way willingly opened and closed the door at several stops for the various passengers who disembarked. I was the only passenger left in the taxi by the time we entered Kampala Central Taxi Park.