Thursday, March 23, 2006

dependence

On Monday my car finally went into the panelbeaters after a taxi nailed me almost two months ago.
I was a dumbass, and didn't get the R20-extra courtesy car option with my insurance, so am stuck without transport until Friday afternoon.

You cannot live without a car in Johannesburg. It simply is not an option to have no vehicle.

So I am henceforth relying on my colleague to take me home after work, and Small Bum to take me to work in the mornings. I hate feeling so needy, it frightens me.
See, I could take a taxi from Rosebank and get off in Norwood, I suppose, but seriously this is just not feasible. I used to take taxis regularly in Cape Town as a student, but they are safer and more reliable there.

Also, taking a taxi would just make me angrier, since it was one of these little fuckers that crashed into me and put me in this position in the first place. I therefore do not wish to support the taxi service at all, especially since the aforementioned taxi driver has no insurance, meaning I have to shell out R2 000 in excess for my broken bumper.

In addition to my broken bumper, there is something clanging in my engine. My insurance and the panelbeaters are giving me a hard time saying that this is not their problem. Who's problem is it then, faeces face?? They are currently pretending that they didn't pick up this [fucking loud] clanging at the assessment to start with.
I am so sick of fighting for stuff. Fighting for my car to come back before the weekend, fighting for everything to be fixed properly, constantly being on guard because you just KNOW someone is always trying to rip you off.

In the meantime, I am without a car at all, and feeling needy is not something I handle very well.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

It’s fantastic that you’re a nice person and all but I think you’re letting the taxi guy off a little easy. I’d take that shit to court faster than a kid after a nap-over in Neverland! Sure he doesn’t have insurance but he’s still, no doubt, legally liable right?

You're right about using taxis. Used them for about a year when I got to joburg and I now look twice my age as a result!

Peas on Toast said...

Sheldon, I'm not a nice person, promise. All I know about this guy is that he lives in the deepest bowles of Alexandra, and the insurance company he gave to me was phony. At this point, MY insurance company is supposedly trying to claim back my excess from a 'phony' company.
As much as I'd like to reclaim for the damages - it would make my year - it doesn't look too promising. But you never know, perhaps by some miracle, I'll walk past him in the street and knock his block off.

Tis true about taking them up in Jozi. In Cape Town they seem more...serene. If you can even imagine that. I don't want to die just yet, so it looks like my personal lift club will have to suffice for now.

Anonymous said...

Slaapstad taxis are 'serene' in comparison? That's truly terrifying. I gave up on taxis after the driver I was wedged in with upfront decided that the best way to attract the attention of the taxi ahead of him - in the absence of a working hooter, naturally - was to ram straight into the back of it. And at quite a clip, nogal.

Peas on Toast said...

barbedwire - fair enough. But it still makes me wonder what a Joburg taxi driver would do. Try and fly over the other taxi? Shoot at the other taxi?
Or perhaps I was still a lax, easy-going student when I took Capetonian taxis, and I didn't really notice. Who knows? ;)

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note to say that your links are not working.

Oh and a belated congratulations on your award!

Peas on Toast said...

Thanks Dave!
Will check up on those links, am not good with the techy stuff in general, but will give it my best shot.

zuzula said...

god, that's so annoying. my mum's in the same situation - she's had to spend about £800 after a car pulled out of a turning straight into her - and the driver gave her false insurance details.

Roll on Friday! x

Billy said...

Hi Peas,
Taxis must die, never used them and would rather walk than support the fuckers. That aside its only a few days inconvenience and you will be back in your beautiful car. I have a deal with a car hire company that makes it very cheap to rent if you get really sick of it. I smashed a golf a few years back and it took the cousin fuckers 3 months to fix it, it then went back 36 times before i flogged it as part of a improve my life exercise.

Peas on Toast said...

Z - £800?? Good. Grief. My piddly R2 000 (£167) is almost laughable!
Even so, FRiday cannot come fast enough. They told me they'd valet and wash my car as well, which is fucking fantastic. He was looking a little shabs of late. x

Peas on Toast said...

Billy - OY VEY. Three months?? Good God. If Friday comes and goes without me laying eyes onto my vehicle, I may take up your offer on you 'striking me a good deal' with that car hire company.
Even if I hire a motorised pogo stick that can take me from A to B, I'd be ecstatic. :)

Anonymous said...

Peas, s'true - I've heard that the Jozie drivers are more likely to settle disputes with a bullet, and I'll take a little whiplash and terror over that anyday. :)

Aren't the taxi names cool, though? I see 'My Lonely Sorrow' and 'Wild Stallion' often, plus the guy with the huge 'never trust your friends' sign on the back. You have to wonder what prompts such a dismal sentiment.

Anonymous said...

At least your poor car is getting a good clean and all.
For once, I am praising the rain, as my car has had a healthy rinse and is white again.

And as for climbing in taxis - I wouldn't want to...I like the idea of getting somewhere in ONE PIECE!

Peas on Toast said...

Barbedwire - The names do make me laugh, definitely. I see a similar "Trust No one" on my route to work. Similarly, "God was a Black Man," "Jou Ma" (Mowbray :), and "It's Not a Song" has also made an appearance.

Jam - My car was white too. Now it's sort of splattered brown. Can't wait to see him all shiny and smiling again :)
And you're right, there is no way on this fine green Earth I am taking a taxi. I'll have an aboplexy in the traffic.

zuzula said...

yeah - having a car in the UK is stupidly expensive. mum could get a lot of taxis for £800! our cabs aren't quite as terrifying as yours - but they're never in much of a hurry to get you to your destination!

Peas on Toast said...

Z - if I lived in the UK, I probably wouldn't have a car at the risk of those expenses!
I'm in a bit of a wild panic at this moment as well: the colleague who is meant to take me home is MIA. Kind of went off to see a client and never returned. And a mate of mine who could ordinarily swing past my office after work has to work late. Meaning I may need to brave a taxi. I don't know how to even do this. That's what frightend me the most. The main road near my office is fraught with millions of these potential life-threatening things, and going in all sorts of directions. Knowing my luck, I'll get into one headed to Soweto.
Shit.

zuzula said...

hmmm. could you book one over the phone to come and pick you up from your office?

Peas on Toast said...

If only. Unfortunately they only travel the main routes and don't have any listings. I'm thinking I might actually prefer to walk the 8 kilometres home.
It'll take me three hours, but I might actually return alive, and can be sure that I arrive at my door, and not in the centre of town THINKING I was on the way to my door.

Either way if I don't blog from here on out, you'll know why.

zuzula said...

OMG. good luck!

Peas on Toast said...

Hey Z - well was pretty much ready to start legging it home, when Third World Ant called to say she could pick me up in a suburb nearby at 5:30pm. So luckily I just had to walk there. *phew!*