Taxi tales

photo credits

"A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles." 

-Washington Irving 

I'm currently in Penang, slouching on a bean bag (which I dearly want) and listening to Great British Bake Off in the background. Relaxed, yes. I just got back from a short walk outside the hotel, originally to find an icecream place but there weren't any so we went back to the hotel instead. Then, had pizza and the amazing combination of fries and icecream. 

Anyway, yesterday we had to go to a family dinner at about an hour and a half away from the hotel we're staying at. The roads were jammed and there was barely any parking spots in the hotel's area, so we decided to get a taxi instead. Might I say, I've never enjoyed a taxi ride as much as I did yesterday's. 

The taxi driver talked all the way through the ride. To some people, it might be quite annoying because sometimes all you want is peace and quiet on your journey. I wasn't annoyed one bit, nor do I think my family was. 

He told us about Penang and the stories of the island, how he worked at the hotel before it turned into Hard Rock, how he's been working as a taxi driver after that for about 20 years and I enjoyed listening to all of it. He said that he used to play for two state football teams and that he still plays now on the veteran team. He spoke about his son who doesn't play even though his father and grandfather played too but instead took on playing bowling and badminton. He added that he loved buying and collecting a football magazine called Shoot, that only costed 60 cents (which btw, I wish magazines still costed that much) but his wife had thrown them away. 

What I got from the rides to and back yesterday was that if you're emitting kindness truly from your heart, you'll affect the people around you positively and that's what the quote means. 

May he have blessed days in and out of work. x