Page 66 - Charlie MacDonald: Cab Driver Tales, More Stories from 58 Years Behind the Wheel

ISSUE : Issue 53

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1990/1/1

ing down--say you go through the lights there at George and Townsend--at the bank. And 4 or 5 cars there. You were waiting for the light; they weren't moving. And you'd go. First thing you know, one of them'd lift out from the corner, from the sidewalk, and try to get ahead of you. Well, with me, T wouldn't see it till he was on top of me. Well, that's where I had a lot of close calls, that way--I couldn't see what was coming up on the right. (Did you take care of your own cab? Was it important to you to keep it"clean and keep it polished?) Oh, I did, yeah. Right from the time I started, right through, boy. Home For The Hiidays y • Drinking and Driving nOVa SCOtis pOWer don't mix. (How often would you wash it?) Oh, the first 20 years, at the hotel I used to have a mop and a bucket. You see, it was all rubber flooring. And you'd--every day or every second day--there was a tap outside the hotel. I left the bucket and the mop there, warm weather. Cold weather you couldn't. And I'd wash it on the floor. And then, a clean bucket of water, a scrubbing cloth, we used to call it, and go over your leather seats. Clean--always clean. (And did you wax the car?) No wax then. Very seldom. (The important thing was to clean it.) To clean it. And the paint--you didn't have to (wax)--when you washed it, it gave a little shine. Until they changed the painting somewhere. And that was about--after the war. But the paint they put on them, from the factory or the gar? age- -if you had a new fender put on or something--that never faded or nothing. But you kept the inside because--no pave? ment- -it was all mud. You had to keep that clean. And there were holes in there, when you put the water, everything'd go through. (Where were the holes?) In the floor. Inch holes. You could take a bucket and throw it, and it would all drain out. (Did you name your cars?) Isle Royale Taxi. (You didn't call your car Mary or Sally?) No, no, no. I was nicknamed "Isle Royale Charlie"! (If you had your choice to do it a- gain....) I was offered 5 different good jobs, in the '30s. Even one after the war Since 1914 H. H. Marshall Limited Corporate Head Office Halifax, N.S. 3731 Macintosh Street B3K5N5 • WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS OF PERIODICALS & BOOKS" BRANCH OFFICES CHARLOTTETOWN ST. JOHN'S SYDNEY H. H. Marshall LIMITED, 103 York St.. Sydney (539-3220) DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOMED "H. H. MARSHALL LIMITED TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN OUR COMMUNITY AND THE MANY PEOPLE WE SERVE. IT HAS GIVEN US OUR VALUED HERITAGE AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO AN EXCITING FUTURE.'

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