Cab #3256

Date: March 16, 2006
From: Wicker Park
To: Roscoe Village

The Cab: Intimidating full shield of bulletproof glass created vaguely aquarium-esque feel. Very clean, but with a slightly suspicious fabric-softener-on-crack smell.

The Driver: A cipher due in large part to the aforementioned protective screen. All we know for now is that he listens to sports radio at an inoffensive volume and takes an extremely conservative approach toward opening his safety panel to accept payment.

The Driving: Efficient if overly aggressive for the time of night and traffic conditions. Another clue to our driver's internal life is that he never met a pedal that he did not wish to put to the metal. In fact, your reviewer was hard-pressed to take legible notes due to the sometimes violent acceleration, deceleration and centrifugal forces invoked by rapid lane changes. Perhaps this man is a retired rally driver, dreaming of one final glorious dash from Paris to Dakar in a modified Land Rover. And while I don't dispute the romance of this dream, I can't help but note with some concern the swathe of death and destruction that event annually carves across northern Africa.

Overall rating: 2.5 extended arms

- Natasha Julius