Random Thoughts...: Toronto Diaries

As I have mentioned earlier, the apartment where my friend and I stay in and the office where we work are some distance apart. Luckily the company has provided with taxi’s for traveling. The usual process is to call the cab company and tell them to send a vehicle. One of the drivers got friendly with us so now we call him all the time. Profitable for him, and easier for us, a win win situation for both parties I’d say.

The guy is a Pakistani who has been in Canada since the nineties. He is a pharmacist / medical salesman by trade, but had been laid off recently, due to the recession. So now he’s taken to driving a cab till he finds another job. One has to take measures to come up with a daily bread I guess. He’s also into photography and takes on weddings and events when he can. Quite a nice guy actually. He has been to Sri Lanka couple times while he was still in Pakistan, and is a fan of Jayasuriya. Driving a cab is not an easy job in itself. This guy works from about 5.30 in the morning and till about 7 in the evening. Friday nights are the most lucrative for cabbies, since all the party people are out there with no way to get home, unless you are sober of course. So he said he likes to work the night shift during Friday and Saturday. Actually he used to do the night shift till recently, but changed it since he wanted to spend time with his family.

Met some Sri Lankans families as well who have been here for about 20 years. All of them are related to one another, either as siblings or through marriage, and they live close by too. Nice guys. Met them for a BBQ at their place on Saturday night. Three of the brothers are all driving cabs and making a nice living out of it. One guy is a good mechanic and maintains all the cars in tip top shape. The thing is repairing things, such as cars, heaters, A/C etc are expensive, so if you get into one of those fields, you can make a good living. And unlike some people in SL, people don’t look down on those jobs either.

The weather of course still can’t seem to make up its mind though. One day it is warm, then the other, its cold again. Oh well… Flowers are beginning to bloom and the trees are getting pretty :)