80 days what a ride! Will I get to 100? If I do I’ll probably put streamers in my car and party poppers. Did I find myself driving people around? Perhaps. In a foreign land you can lose your identity. Forget who you are. Struggle to see things in a clear and important manner. I observe people every day. I interrogate them, OK I converse with them. Every person is different. Every person has their own story. My first rider was a student studying business and hospitality. As I was driving him to his apartment a lady hovered on the street corner as if she was going to cross the road then took a sharp left away from the street. “If that was me I would have waved the car on”. My passenger agreed with me. People have no respect.
Next passenger was a lady from Chile who lived in Canada for 20 years before moving to the United States. She talked about her life in the USA and how it has changed dramatically from when she moved here 35 years ago. Her thick accent was wonderful to listen to. Right at the end of the drive I said “hasta luego”. “You speak Spanish?” She asked, “no I don’t speak Spanish”. I replied.
After dropping her off I remembered I still wanted to learn Spanish. Even though it wasn’t a subject offered at the time. Ping! Who will I have next in my car? But a student who works at Haggen a grocery store in town. She told me about the lack of dullness associated with working there. I didn’t expect the story she was going to tell me. One lady would steal specific items from the store every now and then. A homeless lady that was rather obnoxious. They banned her from the store. Until one day two weeks ago she returned and started verbally abusing people. One of the cashiers copped a barrage of strange insults. Including “you have wooden teeth”. My passenger was perplexed by this statement and asked me “were false teeth ever wooden?” I remember mercury used to be found in false teeth back in the day, before it was seen as hazardous to wearers. She heard an urban legend once about George Washington wearing wooden teeth. It’s of course a myth and I’m not sure where it sprouted from? I couldn’t help but joke if he did. “Wouldn’t wooden teeth be a compliment in this country if George Washington wore them?” I eventually found an article stating that the Japanese in the 16th century had wooden teeth inserted in some dentures. Eventually human, animal, and ivory were later used instead of wood.
Moriyama, N.; & Hasegawa, M. (1987). “The history of the characteristic Japanese wooden history of the denture”. Bulletin of the History of Dentistry. 35 (1): 9–16.
Article about wooden teeth
The lady was arrested after saying the cashier had wooden teeth, because she was making one heck of a scene. Perhaps the lady was a meth addict and didn’t have any teeth left? Who knows? But sounds like every job has it’s highlights. If you can call it that?
Next customer was an Iranian man who lived in Israel, before he moved to America. He acquired his green card seven years ago and thought about becoming a citizen, but unfortunately his computer got hacked and all his personal files with key information got wiped. I felt sorry for the man. Every 10 years he has to renew his green card and the idea of becoming a citizen is far from a reality. It was an intriguing conversation and then our end point struck me. The cemetery. I didn’t pry into who he was there to see. A loved one? A friend? It was a tranquil place with a big open gate out the front. Rows, upon rows of headstones. Statues, different styles of grave stones including gothic, crosses, concave, convex, pulpit, box tombs, and flat styles. Reminded me of the battle ship curve report I had to do from university. It was an interesting lesson. My passenger just told me to drop him off at the first row. I found it strange that literally a year ago on Halloween I was staring at a human mandible with teeth still present and then a year later the day before Halloween I’m in a cemetery. I still remember the day I sent the photos to my boss at the time and he thought I was sending him pictures of a dog mandible at first, then he looked again and realised they were human teeth smiling at him. He came out immediately. It was a strange time for everyone. I had dug a shovel probe on the job site literally 5 metres away from where the excavator dug out the bones. You can test all you like and you might be missing loads of archaeological cultural material. It’s hit and miss. I drove away from my passenger after dropping him off. He was about to search for someone. No hurry. Pay his respects and leave.
Another student needed a pickup. He was studying to become a heart and lung doctor. One who removes fluid from the heart and lungs. There’s a specific term he used beginning with the P.
Next was a nurse from Seattle who has kids.
But finally one of my favourite story’s of the day. A Jill of all trades. She had done everything from being a merchant to a hairdresser, to making coffee to helping the needy. Her family lives in New Mexico. When she was younger she traveled to California, then decided to hitchike to Alaska. She got as far as Bellingham and stayed. She never continued her journey due to the awkward position of Alaska. What if she got stuck in Canada? I have thought to myself it takes a lot of guts to jump in a random vehicle and just go, especially if you don’t know the driver. I guess the difference between me and a hitchhiker situation is all drivers have to go through a background check.
That’s it for Wednesday. 2 trips uber. 5 trips Lyft. Lyft is the winner of the day. Next is thirsty Thursday.
