This is Steve, a London cabbie. A Londoner through and through. A philosopher. A great guy. David interviewed him. He talks about “doing the knowledge” (“the intellectual equivalent of memorising the complete works of Shakespeare”), about his vehicle, about cabbie argot, about what his working day is like, about cabmen’s shelters, about what’s it been like for him and his fellow cabbies during Covid, about his step-father author of a book on the Krays. And more…
“It’s a great job”
“over 20,000 black cab drivers”
“What can you do?”
“in London now they want zero emissions”
“if you rent these it’s like £350 a week”
“I committed myself and nine months later it’s lockdown”
“we call ’em ‘kipper months’ – January – sleeper”
“if it comes worse to worse and I have to change my job I’ll miss it”
“I’ve had a few famous people in the back of my cab”
“you can put your hand out and you’ve got someone there to help you”
“you know what I mean”
“that’s no problem”
“Surviving the Krays”
“there are about 390 routes you have to learn – took me four years”
“it’s what it is”
“you want some sort of luxury for that”
“whoever pays you is your boss”
“the flexibility of the job is wonderful”
“if you’re waiting in the stations you can wait anywhere up to two or three hours”
“it’s a bit shocking”