True-life taxi driver stories in new book
Levin retiree gets a laugh as he looks in the rear-view mirror
The funniest and more bizarre aspects of being a taxi driver in Levin are laid bare in a new book of short stories called Taxi Tales. Retired taxi driver Ross Follett has put together a book of yarns that come from almost 30 years of ferrying passengers around, finally putting down on paper a collection of tales he has often told in passing.
“People were always asking ‘what happened in town today’ and you told a few stories and got a few laughs,” he said.
He decided to write a story down one day, then another came, and then another . . . when three years later there were 75 pages of handwritten notes, enough to necessitate a book. “They just kept coming,” he said. “Some of the stories have been embellished a wee bit, but it’s written in good faith.”
Follett replaced the real names of passengers with fictional ones to avoid any potential embarrassment, and to maintain driver-passenger confidentiality.
He was a screen printer by trade and took up taxi driving in 1978.
He drove a 1971 HG Holden with the registration plate FR6 for seven years, before trying his hand as a Frosty Boy mobile icecream vendor.
A few years later he was back in the taxi game, converted his Holden to LPG.
Follett continued to drive until hanging up his keys in 2013 because of a dodgy hip.
He said writing a book meant he could at least be “seen to be doing something” in his retirement.
Follett says in his prologue there is humour everywhere, if you can learn to see and appreciate it.
“It is certainly a different sort of life. You need to be a people person and not be afraid of long hours. All in all, a lot of rather interesting times,” he said.
“You always encountered people with a sense of humour and it makes life interesting. A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
Locals will easily identify with landmarks and events that appear among the 70-plus stories, like one that touches on the burning of the Grand Hotel.
Others have titles like Snobby Woman to Cafe Nua, Tom the Irishman,
The
Taihape — Lots of Snoring Dragon.
“It’s a good old town, and of course back in the old days you had the racetrack and the horse racing,” he said.
Taxi Tales had a first printing of limited copies, printed locally in Levin by Graphic Press.
Follett had a book launch planned at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po¯ on November 5. and
You always encountered people with a sense of humour and it makes life interesting. A day without laughter is a day wasted.
Ross Follett