Twain Street, Footscray – Monday 3 November - Small coincidences

The festive season is almost upon us once again. For me, after a Melbourne winter of hunkering down and keeping warm, I quite enjoy this time – emerging from ‘hibernation’, as it were.

Last Friday night I went to my first Christmas party for 2014. It wasn’t a late night and I found myself hailing a cab just before midnight. One stopped fairly quickly and I hopped in, asking to be taken to Twain Street, Footscray.

The driver was a young man, I guessed of Indian or Pakistani descent. He asked me which way I preferred to go and I told him Dynon Road.

“Have you been busy tonight?”, I asked him.

“No, not really, it’s been pretty quiet”, he replied.

We chatted some more and then he told me, “I have another job that I work in during the week, so I only drive taxi’s Friday and Saturday nights”.

He also told me he was studying his masters.

“Wow, that’s so full on”, I told him, “Where do you find the energy to do all that?”

“Oh, I’ve been doing it for a while now. All my friends from Pakistan who live over here do pretty much the same.”

He turned into Twain Street and asked where I wanted to be dropped. I asked him to continue down to the end of the street.

As we were going past number 35 he said, “I actually live in this street as well, in this blue house”.

I was surprised, “I’ve never seen you around? But I guess given what you’ve told me about life, it’s not surprising”. We both laughed.

He pulled up to my house. “It was lovely to meet you”, I said. “What’s your name? “My name’s Abdal”, he told me. “I’m Caroline”. 

Before I jumped out I told him about the Community Day. He said he would try his hardest to be there.