It's Jihad on the roads today!

I work in an area which sees me in a remote corner of suburbia after midnight, so taxis at odd times of the morning are a daily reality for me. Anyway, I had two freaky taxidrivers in a row getting home this week. (For those that don't know, I get home at midnight every night, so my work pays for a taxi).

Last night's one was a rather large 45-50yo man who has a Theology degree and wants to write a history of the Anglican church. I could swear he was giving me the eye the whole time I was in his cab. It's curious actually how when I phone that cab company on certain nights I always get the same driver, sometimes with a long delay attached.

The one tonight was a nice enough bloke, an Arabic guy called Abdullah in his mid-20s. As soon as he ascertained I was liberal minded on international affairs, he was trying to convert me to Islam. I think his driving was rather too close to God than I'd have liked - he was swerving all over the highway. During the trip, he told me in a soft voice that Osama bin Laden was not really a bad man and he's been "made bad speak - bad, BAD speak" by the West, who framed him for Sep 11. Apparently he was a good man who could get Muslims their rights and the Americans saw this and freaked out, so had to frame him so they could kill him. He, however, wished it had been God and not CIA agents who "punished" America for being "a bad land with lots of evil sin". He spent the last 2 minutes jubilantly telling me how he can now get Al Jazeera via a satellite TV card he got installed in his computer, and even offering me the name and mobile number of a guy who works in an electronics store and could even get me Jihad TV if I wanted it as well.

I should write more about the taxidrivers I get. Some are pretty boring, but I get a high quotient of freaks, as well as some reasonably nice people.