Michelle and I completed 90% of our Christmas shopping today, a wonderful achievement in the long run, but one that left me laden with heavy and awkward bag fulls of gifts to manoeuvre round the gradually increasing Christmas crowds One trip to Sainsbury's and four more bags later I was ready for home. Michelle's suggestion of the bus was quickly vetoed (she had forgotten that, although I am a big man, I have the soft and dainty hands of a princess.) and so we soon on the way home in a hackney.A hackney or a people carrier is, as all non driving parents of babies and toddlers know, the only range of taxi available to take a pram, and so, over time, the drivers become familier. I like the driver we had today, an older man with a dry wit, a real character who is polite without putting on airs, and who takes a few seconds out to talk to Nathan and make him laugh.
When we arrived home our driver dutifully jumped out of his seat and made his way round to open my door. As I bent down in my seat to pick up the many bags we had accumulated I realised that my door had not opened. I looked up and saw that the driver was no longer at my door and instinctively turned too see if he was at Michelle's side. He wasn't their either and I quickly realised why: we were slowly rolling down the hill! I heard him then, the driver, trying with all his might to stop his behemoth means of income from gaining momentum; a mammoth task at the best of times, never mind with a baby, his mother, his overweight father and piles of thier shopping inside.
I quickly opened my door to jump out and help the poor man, before even more quickly slamming it shut again as I reallised it was about to smash into a parked car. The other door was blocked by Nathan's pram and so I had no choice to watch the driver struggle from the back window. The hack kept moving and, although I was aware we were gradually going faster down the hill, the time it took to pass the car which blocked my door seemed to pass unbearably slowly. At last I was able to spring out from my seat and join our exhausted driver to stop us moving. The driver asked me if I could hold the cab steady while he fixed the hand break and, of course, I said 'yes'.
I expected a struggle to hold the car still but instead found that there was really nothing to it. I was a little confused by this; although I am bigger and probably stronger than the driver, he did not seem as if he would be significantly weaker than me. I realised then that the universe had a plan and that I was destined to stop that hackney rolling. If this unfortunate incident had happened a day earlier, or even that morning, I too would have been unable to hold the vehicle steady. Four hours of shopping and holding an inhuman amount of bags later however, and I had strength beyond that of the average man! The taxi was weightless compared to the flesh slicing plastic bags and the awkwardly contained goods within!
With the handbrake applied the grey and shaken driver put on his shoe, which had come loose in his efforts, and opened Michelle's door to let her out. While I grabbed the bags he helped Michelle with the pram, and once we were sure he was okay, we paid our fare and bid him farewell. I hope he wasn't expecting a tip though, the old fool could have bloody killed us!