... Until your car stays at the dealership workshop for 4 days for repairs and maintenance (And yes I see the trend, thank you).
I got a call from the guys at the garage asking me to come and pick up my pride and joy, ready after a long absence.
The trip from AUH to the Sin el Fil workshop was uneventful. But it was the return trip that was all worth while! I picked up my car and parked it in the Galaxy mall parking lot (Coming back to Hamra or Bliss and searching for a safe parking spot is a no-no after 10:00 AM), and took a serial 2 cabs back to AUH. My car parked in a safe underground parking away from direct sunlight, I was happy, smiling, and satisfied with the workshop's job well done.
(1) - Galaxy - Tayyouneh
I hailed the first cab and in the ceremonial "la wein?" (where to?) conversation, I said "Tayyouneh". The cab driver laughed and appeared annoyed, and whined "ma ele jlede ya zalame halla2 kenet bel tayyouneh!" ("Oh come on man! I can't be bothered, I was just there for cryin out loud!") Surprised, I smiled and said "OK... it's your call, I'm not making you do it!", thinking to myself: "is this for real??". The guy finally told me he'd drive me to the end of the street for free and go home for lunch. On the way he found 2 more clients going to tayyouneh, so he looked at me and happily congratulated me saying "wejjak kheir ya habibe!" (something like good karma). I ended up reaching my waypoint and the driver ended up making an extra LBP 6,000 before lunch.
(2) - Tayyouneh - Hamra
The second cab driver was less of a pleasant ride. As I leaned toward the pasenger side window and said "Hamra", I noticed that he was staring at my lips. It turned out he was deaf, and had impaired speech, probably as a result of his deafness. I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between him and the passenger who sat in the front next to him. The story had it that he had lost his hearing in an explosion sometime during his childhood. He had burn scars on what was the better part of his body to show for it. And then, in an all-but-subtle segue, he went on to talk about how he had just lost his 20 year-old brother to a Heroin overdose. And before I could wrap my head around that, he looks at me in his rear view mirror and mumbled words I couldn't make out, but he made it clear by acting out a drug user's needle prick. The passenger then told me the whole story he had heard. The driver was trying to figure out how to get his two other brothers off the drugs before it was too late. What a shame.
After this humbling reminder of my pre- driver's license days, I got to AUH on time, with lots to think about.
Good karma? Bad karma? I couldn't tell anymore.
