Taxiiiiiii!
A night of conversation from the back of a cab
Brian Bradley
Issue date: 3/9/04 Section: Features
If you go to Brock University, or have ever been to St. Catharines, chances are you have met Henry.
He isn't known for his punctuality or professional demeanor from his seat in front of the cab he drives. It's the conversation that gives him his legacy.
Henry is known for his effervescent stories about his ex-wife who left him for a woman, and his subsequent escapades drinking and picking up hookers with his buddies. And he'll tell you about them whether you want him to or not.
"Going to Club Estano, please," I said, on my first encounter with him last fall.
He replied: "Club Estano? Look for my ex-wife there. She is a dirty dyke carpet muncher."
Every conversation with Henry on cab rides to and from downtown, or to and from the Pen Centre have began and ended as such. He always has something to say, particularly if he got back from a weekend in Montral.
"I went out drinking with my buddy and we went to all the strip bars," he told me. "Some prostitute tried to get us to pick her up, but I told her, 'Lady, you can try all you want, but we ain't going to be able to get it up'."
Some statistics have shown that 30 per cent of students use cabs for transportation in new and unknown cities where they go to school. This statistic is evident at Brock as main service providers Central Taxi and 5-0 Taxi are seen throughout campus shuffling students to and from destinations off the escarpment.
The late-night drunk bus has not been around forever, and parts of the Niagara region are not served by transit systems seven days a week. The grocery store is at the bottom of the hill and the bars are even farther away.
Thus, some Brock students agree that if you are going to school here, taking cabs is a "necessary evil."
Henry isn't the only colourful and conversational cab driver. There are many, with both driver and passenger walking away with many stories to be told.
Jimmy St. Louis is a cab driver in Hamilton. He was laid off from Stelco and took a job as a driver to make cash and support his family before he gets back to work. The shifts are long - carting students sober, drunk and in-between across the city, with not much else to do but make conversation.
He isn't known for his punctuality or professional demeanor from his seat in front of the cab he drives. It's the conversation that gives him his legacy.
Henry is known for his effervescent stories about his ex-wife who left him for a woman, and his subsequent escapades drinking and picking up hookers with his buddies. And he'll tell you about them whether you want him to or not.
"Going to Club Estano, please," I said, on my first encounter with him last fall.
He replied: "Club Estano? Look for my ex-wife there. She is a dirty dyke carpet muncher."
Every conversation with Henry on cab rides to and from downtown, or to and from the Pen Centre have began and ended as such. He always has something to say, particularly if he got back from a weekend in Montral.
"I went out drinking with my buddy and we went to all the strip bars," he told me. "Some prostitute tried to get us to pick her up, but I told her, 'Lady, you can try all you want, but we ain't going to be able to get it up'."
Some statistics have shown that 30 per cent of students use cabs for transportation in new and unknown cities where they go to school. This statistic is evident at Brock as main service providers Central Taxi and 5-0 Taxi are seen throughout campus shuffling students to and from destinations off the escarpment.
The late-night drunk bus has not been around forever, and parts of the Niagara region are not served by transit systems seven days a week. The grocery store is at the bottom of the hill and the bars are even farther away.
Thus, some Brock students agree that if you are going to school here, taking cabs is a "necessary evil."
Henry isn't the only colourful and conversational cab driver. There are many, with both driver and passenger walking away with many stories to be told.
Jimmy St. Louis is a cab driver in Hamilton. He was laid off from Stelco and took a job as a driver to make cash and support his family before he gets back to work. The shifts are long - carting students sober, drunk and in-between across the city, with not much else to do but make conversation.
