Seen on the streets - Taxi!

On Tuesday, I had just collected my new drivers licence card from the vehicle testing grounds in Mariannhill and was driving along behind a slow delivery van on my way back to town. As the truck and I were preparing to proceed through a set of traffic lights, a pedestrian who had been standing on the side of the road suddenly lunged forward with his arm and his finger stuck straight up in the air, as if he was hailing a taxi! He was almost insisting that I stopped. It gave me a bit of a start, him appearing so suddenly as he had been obscured from view by the delivery van right in front of me. I veered toward the centre line of the road and avoided him. But I thought - how strange! Talk about proactive liftseeking. Usually people just stick up their thumb to indicate that they want a lift.

Driving down my own road this morning, one of the crowd that searches for valuables in the rubbish bags on collection day, waved wildly in greeting at me, with a big grin on his face, as I passed on my way to drop Bradley at school. Bradley and I looked at each other in surprise. Do we know him? Don't think so. Maybe he was just thanking me for putting out my rubbish. Good luck buddy. Nothing of value in there! We joked with each other. Maybe he's just thanking us for leaving the house so he can go break in! Joke - no joke. I do feel somewhat uneasy leaving my house in full view of people who don't really belong in our area. Its a good excuse for anyone up to no good. And that's the time we have had at least two attempted break-ins. In the early morning when we have just left for the day. The criminals know that if you've just left you are not likely to return immediately. Anyway I had to return to fetch my petrol tank key so I could fill up and the house was fine just filled with sleepy cats who had already settled down for their morning nap!