Cab #3693

Date: March 26, 2006
From: Wicker Park
To: Navy Pier

The Cab: Relatively clean, but with the sound-and-feel of a workhorse, with its bumpy suspension and telltale squeaks and harrumphs. A real respectable piece of work, though, like a hard-working family cab just trying to do its best for its cab family.

The Driver:"Navy Pier!" were the only words he uttered. It was hard to tell what he meant by that. He was driving silent when he picked me up, but, perhaps upon spotting my armful of newspapers, he quickly switched on the radio - to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!

He also wore a satisfying fishing hat that was not quite the measure of Lt. Col. Henry Blake's, but slightly better than this one.

The Driving: Full of the quick stop-and-gos that tend to make me nauseas. Poor timing of (Dunkin' Donuts) coffee-drinking imperiled safety. Fumbling for CDs almost put us into the back of a stopped school bus. Music was hard to place: Dido meets Shakira. Latin but not revolutionary.

Overall rating: 2 extended arms

- Steve Rhodes