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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Better Know How to Box

I hate evenings when there is too much traffic around town. It makes for an exhausting trip home. Last night was another particularly bad night for traffic.
Leaving the slum wasn't too bad. I was easily able to get a taxi and traffic crawled along at a slow but steady pace. However, luck changed when I reached the taxi park to change taxis to the taxi that takes me from downtown to home. There were only a handful of taxis in the park and absolutely none of them were going where I was heading.
This meant standing and waiting among a crowd that was steadily increasing. There were far more people in the park than vehicles. This meant that as taxis arrived heading the direction I was going it was a mini war to get in one. The first few I just stepped aside and waited. My thought was that the crowd would thin out and I would get one of the next few. But, for every person that got in a taxi, it seemed three more appeared.
Finally, I decided I was going to have to assert myself and get in a taxi. The next one that pulled up I was ready. I pushed my way through the crowd. I remember when I was playing basketball that the coach always told us to keep our elbows up to keep opponents out of our space. I kept my elbows out which helped me to jostle my way into the seat and to actually get a decent seat.
Once I was able to sit and catch my breath, I realized it is sort of like boxing when boarding a taxi from an overcrowded park. I had to throw my elbows around but also had to take a few hits. Luckily, the damage was minimal. Just a few very minor bruises.

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