Huzzah for Edinburgh

[bigozzy]

Here we are in the middle of the FESTIVAL and you would expect taxi drivers to be cranky with road closures and other issues.

Monday I had to get an early taxi to work. Taxi driver chatted all the way (I was willing) but when we got there found he had come out without his cash bag.

He was mortified and wanted to come back with like £2 change owed and I said just keep it, it's barely a coffee.

Today, walking to work, the same driver recognises me and pulls over insisting that I take the money owed! I made him keep it but I got a nice warm feeling now!

[artk2002]

Yay!  That's great on both sides.  You were generous when he was stuck and he was honorable and followed through.

*sigh* I miss the Festival (the Fringe, more than the main festival.)  Haven't been since 1987.   

[bigozzy]

Yay!  That's great on both sides.  You were generous when he was stuck and he was honorable and followed through.

*sigh* I miss the Festival (the Fringe, more than the main festival.)  Haven't been since 1987.   

Still going strong! Come for a visit and I can introduce you to some great real ale pubs, or coffeeshops!

[auntiem]

I've only ever been to Edinburgh during the festival - but everytime the taxi drivers have been amazing! The two that stand out to me the most are:
One time I had vague instructions (above a Chinese medicine shop) on how to find the flat the theatre company had rented and the exact address. We couldn't for the life of us find it even after the driver called dispatch. The cab driver lent me his phone to call the flat and ask that someone come down and wave us in and we finally found it (we had passed it several times actually). The cab driver didn't want to take the full fare because he felt he should have been able to find it faster. (I paid full fare).

On another visit I got turned around one night trying to find a certain pub that I had been to many times before and ended up figuring out that if I cut thru the park (the one by the University) I would get my bearings. A taxi stopped and was very concerned that I was walking alone at night thru a "bad" part of the park and insisted that I let him give me a ride to the pub I was looking for which was very close. He didn't want to charge me either because he said "he couldn't have it on his conscience if something had happened to me". My friends actually paid the fare when I got there because they were outside and worried because I was so late. 

Bigozzy - I've always wondered - do the residents sigh a huge sigh of relief when the festival is over and everything goes back to normal? I think if I was ever there any other time of year I would still expect to turn a corner and run into some randomness like 4 people dressed in Kabuki on stilts.

[bigozzy]

Bigozzy - I've always wondered - do the residents sigh a huge sigh of relief when the festival is over and everything goes back to normal? I think if I was ever there any other time of year I would still expect to turn a corner and run into some randomness like 4 people dressed in Kabuki on stilts.

It gets quieter until christmas and hogmamay celebrations. Most people get on with it and enjoy the spectatcle for free.
Last weekend at a bus stop there were 3 guys painted green and a zombie plus a couple of old ladies paying absolutely no attention to them.

I have never seen anyone being grumpy apart from when stuck in traffic or the odd bus driver but most I have seen happily give directions to lost souls and so on.

i wonder if the pub you went to was the Cloisters? I go there sometimes.

[auntiem]

It wasn't the Cloisters - though one year we went there often because it was near the venue that we were in that year.

I want to say the pub had Lion in the name (maybe) - it was the pub that the Fringe photographer Andrew Brown used for a few years. He would pin up the pictures he took that day and you would go in and if you found a picture of you that you liked you could leave some money in a pitcher at the bar and take the photo. I was crew (tour manager) so I rarely found pictures of me - in fact that night the reason my friends wanted me to come is that they knew Andrew had taken a good photo of me and some of the cast and it was up on the wall.

[bigozzy]

It wasn't the Cloisters - though one year we went there often because it was near the venue that we were in that year.

I want to say the pub had Lion in the name (maybe) - it was the pub that the Fringe photographer Andrew Brown used for a few years. He would pin up the pictures he took that day and you would go in and if you found a picture of you that you liked you could leave some money in a pitcher at the bar and take the photo. I was crew (tour manager) so I rarely found pictures of me - in fact that night the reason my friends wanted me to come is that they knew Andrew had taken a good photo of me and some of the cast and it was up on the wall.

Hmmm pub's with 'Lion' in the name in Britain, that narrows it down!

[StoutGirl]

When I was in Scotland last fall, I was very impressed with how friendly the Scots (including the taxi drivers) were.  Oh Scotland, how I miss thee!