I Just Had to Write About This

Earlier today I was standing in my kitchen and happened to look out the window to see a cab parked outside, with the driver (or a man I assumed to be the driver) sitting in the backseat. I noticed him because he was sort of crouched over, near the door farthest from the sidewalk, but closest to me, as he was parked across the street. I wondered what he was doing and then I saw him...fiddling. With his pants. My first thought was that he was doing something incredibly nefarious. Dirty mind? Maybe, but what else am I to assume if he's crouched over, hand in his pants, looking furtively around. I sat there watching for a minute (are you starting to wonder about me yet?) but I was moving between my kitchen and living room windows so he wouldn't catch me looking at him. I wanted to see what exactly he was doing, without looking like a Peeping Tom (Peeping Thomasina?). So here I am, watching a guy doing something involving his pants in a cab, and I am worried about looking like a sicko. Then it occurred to me that as a cab driver, he may not have easy access to bathrooms, and so he was probably relieving himself, to put it nicely. And sure enough, he finishes, I guess buttons or zips his pants and gets out of the backseat and back into the driver's seat, holding a HUGE water bottle, FILLED with YELLOW liquid. And then he drives off!

At this point I felt sick. It was bad enough I watched a guy go to the bathroom in his cab, on the street in front of my apartment/flat. But then to watch him get into the car, with his pee(!) and drive off, it was too much. And the bottle was nearly filled. It was one of those big water bottles, the kind I buy and then drink out of for 3 days because it holds TOO much water. And yet this driver had nearly filled it with his own pee! I wondered a) how many bathroom trips it held at that point and b) what he was planning on doing with it. He drove off, so obviously the idea was to hold on to it for a while. I guess if he had to go again, he had a container all ready and waiting. I know other professions may have to resort to this method (see: crane operators. Would you want to go up and down those steps 5+ times a day?) But cab drivers? I guess I assumed they'd just go to a pub or something. But I was wrong.

Luckily I recovered pretty quickly because when this went down I was about to sit down and eat Golden Grahams! I just bought them yesterday at Waitrose. I don't think I have ever seen them in London, but maybe I just missed them in the not-very-big cereal aisle. I mean it's possible I overlooked them in between Weetabix, porridge and muesli. Silly me! But now I have them and they are just as I remembered - sweet, sort of cardboard-like, they get mushy but yet still manage to retain their structure. Basically, my perfect cereal. But hopefully I won't have to watch a cab driver pee while I enjoy my Golden Grahams in the future.

By the way, I do not have pictures to accompany this post. I don't know what I was thinking, my camera was right on the kitchen counter. But I was too intrigued to take pictures. I have the image seared in my mind, so it's unfortunate I cannot share it with everyone!