Photo is from The New York Times
Therefore, I decided to drive my taxi on this New Year's as well. I drove it for 73 hours from 4:00 AM on December 29, 2000 until 5:00 AM on January 1, 2001.
|
Photo is from The New York Times |
This year, I started with three dollars in my pocket. During and after driving, I made three deposits in the ATM machines. They were for $200, $300 and $263. I kept $23 for myself. Also, I just found $56 in a pocket I had forgotten about. Therefore, I made a total of $839 after expenses during the 73 hours of driving, which was much needed because I had spent all my money from my trip to the Republic of Georgia.
Last year, I made $800 exactly for 77 hours of driving. Therefore, I did better this year. However, the reason is obvious. Last year, I drove from Noon on December 31 until 5:00 PM on January 3, 2000. However, January 2 and 3 were relatively quiet days.
Now, while the thoughts are fresh in my mind, I am going to write about the most interesting points of the 73 hour trip which just finished this morning. It is too much to write in one stretch and I desperately need to get some sleep right now, so I will just write it and post it piece by piece. I think it will take me several days to put it all together.
This year was not as exciting or as interesting as the last. Nobody had sex in the back seat of my taxi and only one couple even tried. There were no Y2K threats this year, no possible terrorist attacks by Khaddafy or Saddam Hussain and no airplanes supposedly about to fall out of the sky. Other than the blizzard, the streets were relatively normal this year.
People often ask me about my web site entitled Famous People who have Ridden in My Taxi: http://www.samsloan.com/famous.htm.
I have a few possible additional names to put on my list. I have a French Movie Producer named Marc Baschet who I have already looked up, a Japanese music producer named Moto Uehara and a girl named Danielle Zilke who said that she had come from Ann Arbor Michigan to audition for a movie. I promised her that if she gets the movie part I will put her on my web site, but otherwise not.
Strangely, I did not turn around to see what she looked like. I took her to 110 New York Avenue in Brooklyn where she is staying.
Then, there was the usual drunk girls problem. This time, there was a girl who was so drunk that she could not get the key into the lock to her house. Sad to relate, Sir Galahad Sam was not in a position to help her get her key into her door and to help her up and into her bed, because her boyfriend was in the cab and he got out and helped her get her key into her door.
However, the girl who will be best remembered was the one we found standing on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 29th Street. She was beautiful. Tall, blond hair, good figure, nice personality. She said she was 22, but she looked to me like she could be not much more than 18. Where I took her in my taxi and what happened next I will leave for the next installment.
Sam Sloan
I paid the taxi garage $145 per day for the three days I drove their taxi, for a total of $435.
I filled up with gas four times I think. I paid $21.50, $27, $26 and $20, for a total of $94.50
I did not drink as much coffee as I usually drink, which has the advantage that I do not have to stop as often to use the toilet. I spent less than $10 on food and drink during the entire 73 hours.
Thus, my total income from passengers in my taxi must have been $839 plus $435 plus $94.50 plus $10 for a total of $1,378.50.
One of my passengers was in the marketing department of Jane magazine, so I bought that magazine while taking the subway home after driving my taxi. (I hope you don't think I would take a taxi home from work).
The Jane magazine cost $2.95 and proved to be a waste because the articles advertised on the cover of the magazine did not exist inside the magazine.
Sam Sloan