Taxis!!!!!

I am not sure whether it still exists but there used to be a feature in one of our dailies with someone narrating their experiences of our public transport system. These taxi journals seemed very cheerful compared to the experience I have but perhaps, the writer is just a cheerful soul and I’m not.

I don’t know if it’s just me but I seem to have the most horrible experiences, from near death to smelly armpits and crazy neighbours. At this point, I would like to issue a disclaimer, I am not a snob, I have used taxis for years but some things are too annoying and depressing.

On Monday evening, I left the office with a colleague. In an attempt to get home early, I decided not to wait for a ride from a certain good samaritan who usually saves me from sitting in a taxi. So we take a taxi into town. This particular taxi was to take us to the old taxi park where we were to board taxis to our respective areas of abode. As they are wont to do, the taxi driver decided to head on through Kampala road as there was traffic jam at down the road from steers and also down the road from radio one.

Passengers were requested to disembark and walk mpola mpola to the taxi park. I decided to walk to a nearby stage and wait for taxis to my home rather than push and shove in the park. After about 30 minutes, one did finally appear and to my delight, there was a free seat in the front. In I hopped, my heart filled with relief.

This however was very short-lived. No sooner had I settled into my seat than I started getting weird glances from my neighbour. I chose to ignore the strange man staring at me from head to toe, to my own detriment. This should have been my cue to jump right out but I am a patient person, right? I choose to believe that people are inherently good and mostly sane.

I was very, very, oh so very wrong. As we went on our journey from kampala road heading towards Ntinda, I experienced what I can only describe as torture for lack of a better word. This guy sitting next to me started off by rubbing his leg against mine. I don’t mean once in a while, I mean all through. I tried to ignore him and keep praying that my stop would come fast enough or that his would.

I almost jumped out of the window most of the time and I hated every single stop we made. I wanted to switch seats so badly but there was no free seat at any one point to switch to. I wanted to scream, in fact, I was screaming so loudly in my head; I was surprised that no one could hear.

I had had enough when his hand started roving, caressing my thigh…..thank God, I was wearing pants. I yelled maso awo so fast and loud and jumped out so fast that everyone thought I had ants in pants. I got out of the taxi at the Kisementi stage next to Zinellos, I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought of waiting amongst the crowd for another taxi and the preceding scenario played back in my mind. This is when I decided to walk home. I was wearing really high heels, over 4 inches but I didn’t mind. I just started walking. I walked till I got home and I didn’t feel the pain or I did and it was nothing compared to the horror of being felt up by a strange looking, smelly stranger. So, I walked home from Kisementi to Bukoto.

I had had it and I felt like I only had myself to blame, see, I hate taxi, I detest them. In fact, if I don’t have a car, my mode of transportation is boda bodas. All the boda boda riders around my home know me so well that they even transport me for credit. And they’ve taken me everywhere, bunga, mukono, lubowa, you name it, I’ve been there on a boda boda. For the record, I’ve had so many small accidents on them, 3 nearly serious and one major one where I ended up with a broken wrist, broken ankle and a cut on my forehead.

The difference with boda bodas is that you only have one person to deal with, no noise, sweaty smelly people, long stops, weird conductors, etc and they are really fast. Me likes speed, I am grossly impatient. Of course, they are more expensive but I would gladly pay whatever they charge to avoid taxis.
So, I avoid taxis as much as I possibly can and thus yesterday, I ended up staying in the office till 9pm, all in the name of waiting for a lift. I have resolved that until I have a car fulltime, boda boda it is. Which reminds me, I need to call up Bright, my almost everyday boda guy and discuss a retainer………….