Greek Taxi stories #1

September 2 2011, 12:29 AM  by Mark Stringer
Poor reception. I arrive in Greece with my wife to be - we're going to get married in Athens. I'm a little nervous, a little worried about all the arrangements. The first thing I'm worried about is whether the taxi driver would be able to find the hotel from the airport. Even with sat nav, from my previous experience, this doesn't seem to be a foregone conclusion. It turns out that I needn't have worried. The guy has a sat nav bolted on the dashboard and he seems to know how to use it. What I should have worried about, if I could have possibly imagined such a thing, is the 10 inch flat-screen TV which is also bolted to the dashboard. As we hurtle into central Athens down the new motorway from the airport the TV is on and driver is watching a soap opera. Occasionally he turns round to us and says "I always get really poor reception on this bit of this bend, I wonder why?"

I managed to restrain myself from shouting at the top of my voice "WHY ARE YOU WATCHING TELEVISION WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING? TURN THE FUCKING THING OFF AND KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!!! YOU FUCKING IDIOT, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!" We don't die. We find the hotel, get married and live to take another taxi.
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34 views and 1 response

  • Sep 5 2011, 1:19 AM
    red56 responded:
    Greek taxis - I have a few recollections (from the 80s) of the perils of Greek (more specifically Athenian) taxis.

    Firstly attracting a taxi to stop (if not at some blessed location like the airport where they might be such a thing as a taxi rank) which involves shouting your destination (Kifissia! Omonia! Panepistimiou!) at the driver as he slows down (marginally). If he's not interested, or maybe thinks you don't know how to direct him there, he just speeds up.

    Secondly of course, if you were outside the central area, then you have to know if it's an 'odds' or 'evens' day, and work out from the number plate if they are entitled to go in the central zone (a smog reduction program that encouraged drivers to keep an older, more polluting car on the road, when they buy a new one).

    Lastly, the fun of squeezing in with other passengers, because the taxi driver is fitting in several fares at once (hence the shouting of your destination, for his optimizing) and then the negotiation about what you should pay (given that he's by no means going the shortest route, and may well not have switch his meter on anyway).

    Are these all relics of Athens' archaic past - or have persisted over the last twenty odd years?