Meh...

Today was slow.  Not a slow as my first day driving, but it was slow.  I got to the garage a little later than I would have liked this morning, so that cut into my driving time a little.  Also, getting there that little bit later meant there were less cabs left and I got stuck with a clunker.  I mean, it WORKED, but the air conditioning only came out of the floor vents(my toes were frost bitten!) and it veered to the right so in order to keep it straight i had to work extra hard to steer it, so my arms got tired.  And thanks to a subway snafu last night, I didn't get very much sleep, so I was exhausted before the day even got going.

I got over the bridge and as has been the usual for me, picked up my first fare in Chinatown.  I seemed to be going pretty good with back to back fares for the whole first hour.  I was psyched, because if things kept like that, I was going to have a very good day.  This excitement was short lived.  After that first hour, things just stopped.  I blame the amazing weather.  It was warm but not hot, and absolutely gorgeous.  And when it's nice like that, people want to walk.  So I drove around for a solid hour before picking anyone else up.

I didn't have anyone particularly interesting the whole day.  I DID, however, go through Times Square and for the first time in my life, which has been in NYC for almost all of it, I saw Naked Cowboy!  Seriously.  I have been to Times Square countless times, I have seen him in everybody's tourist photos, and seen him on TV a bunch of times.  Never have I seen him in person.  I know it's not a big deal, really, but i was excited by it.

I had almost given up on the day when I was passing near my other job, when a doorman to one of the adjoining buildings hailed me.  I pulled into the driveway of the building where I picked up a guy who I took from the Upper West Side all the way to Park Slope in Brooklyn.  This was AWESOME.  I was worried that I wouldn't even make enough to cover my daily lease and gas, but this guaranteed I would.  And normally I don't enjoy traffic, but this time it worked in my favor making the fare a little higher.  And the passenger didn't seem to mind too much.  He took a nap most the way.

Once in Brooklyn, I realized it was getting close to the end of my day.  I didn't want to sit in traffic and go back into Manhattan, so I tried picking up some local fares in Park Slope.  I got one right off the bat, but the second one which I decided would be my last of the day ended up taking me back into Manhattan and uptown a bit.  I was happy for the second substantial fare, but i was stressing trying to get back to the garage on time.  I did make it back eventually and because of the last few fares, I managed to make a super slow and crappy day into a not so bad day.

And just 'cuz, here is my TAXI SNAPSHOT OF THE DAY!!!