Sunday Summary from Tom the Taxi Driver

Hey , welcome back to my Sunday Summary, a collection of insights and my behind the scenes from the past week.

🇬🇧 London experience of the week:Haberdashers Hall - West SmithfieldI attended the Installation dinner of the new master of the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers this week. As we are a modern livery company without a hall, we get the great benefit of using other livery halls, and wow, what a venue at the Haberdashers!It’s a modern livery hall, post blitz, so doesn’t have some of the aged charm of some of the city halls.  But wow the layout and the area it occupies is staggering.  It really just shows that no matter how well we all cover London or have an understanding of the geography, there’s just so much to take you by surprise.

If you are a cabbie and interested in the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers, check out the link here.  Usually the best way to get an insight to the company is via the Cab guiding course which I highly recommend!👋 A not so nice experience:In Mayfair on Tuesday night, a passenger decided it would be a good idea to punch a hole through the window of my taxi (full story and YouTube video to come).  Long story short, he hit small window at the back corner, specialist glass that takes approximately 3-5 working days to arrive before fitting.  I’m effectively out of work for a week.  Very frustrating because the excess or the cost of the glass is a small hinderance, but the lack of work for the week is far greater.  As I’m sure you’ve seen from my self employed costs video, not only am I losing my regular income, I’m still having to pay for a cab that’s sat still.   It’s Sunday and I’m still without a working cab.📚 What I'm reading:A Book of Secrets: Finding Solace in a Stubborn World - Derren BrownI consider myself a superfan of Derren Brown, (1000 true fans by Kevin Kelly is definitely worth a read, this sums up how I approach anything made/shared by Derren).It's a bit of a deep dive and Derren does write in a very enigmatic way, often because he is describing the nuances of a situation or mental processing involved.  But in short, it's about the human condition.  How struggling, stress and overcoming obstacles (whether they are self inflicted or thrown upon us) grow us as a person and is arguably the entire reason for living.He's a real deep thinker and whilst it can be hard for me to grasp the ideas in some of his books, it often pushes my thinking into other areas and books I never considered (such as the stoics from his book; Happy)🎵 What I'm listening to:Loco - Fun Lovin' CriminalsAs an avid listener of Radio X and Absolute Radio 90’s in the cab, I’m more than familiar with their track “ Scooby snacks”. Loco however just has those 2000’s summertime relaxed vibes.  I don’t know what it is by I’m just grooving to this on repeat.EDIT: Wow I've just watched the video, okay WOW, super cheesy yacht vibes!

🎵 A nice feature:Student journalist Callum Scott reached out to do a short interview about my life as a London cabbie.  You can see his article and the interview below.

https://callumpaulscott.wordpress.com/2021/09/07/life-as-a-london-cabbie-tom-the-taxi-driver/

https://youtu.be/BQUI0aan0yMThank you for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to reach out to me with your; comments, concerns or just general conversation.  I'd love to know what you're up to or what you might be working on! 📝😁Have a great week everyone!Tom