"you made a mistake"

As usual, I was running a bit late this morning.  So instead of walking to my new office location (yes!... another office... this time at City Hall... the third one so far in the time I have been here), I walked out in front of the apartment to hail a cab.  The ride to this new office costs about 75 cents anyway, which makes it hard for other options to compete.  Not that there even are other transportation options.

So I am standing there in the bright morning sunshine, and a yellow car with a triangular light thing on the roof is coming down the hill towards me, so I hail it.  And the driver stops.  He is about 50 years old, grizzled, overweight, a smoker.  In short a typical cabbie.  "Where to" he calls out the window (in arabic).  I name the destination:  City Hall.   He says "get in."  I do.

The typical conversation ensues:  "Where you from?"  "Canada".  "Canada Very Nice.  You work at the embassy?" he asks.  "No, at City Hall."  Our topics are exhausted and we lapse into silence.

About 3 minutes later, half way to the destination, he tells me:  "You made a mistake."

Me:  "What mistake?"

Him:  "I am not a cab driver.  I am a driving instructor.  This is a learn-to-drive car.  Not a taxi. Different colour yellow."

Sure enough, I check the dashboard and there's no meter there.  And this is not a cab. And this nice man, seeing my waving on the side of the road, just decided to drive me to my destination because I am a hopeless foreigner in need of assistance.

So I am profusely apologetic and very grateful for the fact that he is going out of his way and thank him very, very much for his trouble.

And in his grizzled, smoking, driver guy way, he shrugs it off without anything approximating a smile and just says, "No problem....  Go in peace."

Something like this happens to me approximately 3 times a week.  Like Blanche Dubois in a Streetcar Named Desire it appears that I do, indeed, depend on the kindness of strangers.