It's around 35ยบ tonight in Nashua. Before the sun comes up, the temperature could dip down to 20. There isn't much going on downtown, which is normal for a Tuesday night. We're just milling about the cab stand, waiting for the phone to ring. I know I have two personal calls coming up later on; beyond them, I can't say what I'll be getting, if anything at all. One thing is certain: I won't be getting rich tonight. Such is the nature of this business.
On nights like this, keeping ennui at bay and your mind from wandering can be tricky. There are a couple of TVs, one in the dispatcher's office, one in the lobby; I've probably watched more bad programs in the past year than I did in the previous twenty years combined. There are also a couple of those game consoles you find in bars. Before I got this Smart Phone, I dropped maybe a half-ton of quarters into them. I've done a lot of book reading while sitting in the cab. And during the 2013 season, I caught most of the Red Sox games on the radio. It was one hell of a year for them, wasn't it?
But sometimes, you can't help it -- you drift off, either into a cat nap or your thoughts. There isn't a day that goes by, for example, that I don't think of getting back to Virginia. Whether that's in the cards, though, I can't say. I'm not big on making plans anymore. Life has a way of messing my plans up (when I'm not sabotaging them all by myself). I usually just take things one day at a time, like they tell you in those AA meetings. That works rather well.
One plan I do have is to work as a cab driver through this coming winter. My chauffeur's license is good through April. After that, who knows? I may start over and do something else. Wouldn't be the first time...