London Cabs

I was just watching a Miss Marple show and she was riding in a cab, and I remembered riding in London cabs.

Theresa and I took cabs all over London. We would take the train from Maidenhead where she lived, and spend a day in London. Their is something special about a London cab. The drivers are a much higher class than the cabbies here. They are polite and helpful. The cabs are very clean inside and out. Inside, small benches face each other with lots of space in between. The windows are nice and big for sight-seeing. The cabs are always black, and seem like mini-limos.

I would look out at the starkly white buildings, with their black wrought iron balconies, at Buckingham Palace, with its gold adornments, and St. James Park all along on the opposite side, a beautiful long stretch of green-scape. I remember shooting down Oxford Street past the best designer shops in the world, Harrod's Dept store and tiny ethnic cafes.

One day Theresa, Susan and I went to a top London hairdresser. The streets got narrower and narrower as we searched for the place. It was in a very high-density, well-used part of the city, the buildings thick with layers of paint that you could tell covered a multitude of sins. We thought we were in the wrong place. We went up a narrow dark stairway, and found a huge loft space and the salon. The hairdressers were so haughty, and the cuts we got were nothing special. So much for top London hairdressers! They cost a bundle too.