It seemed that we had only just got out of bed today when it was time to go to work.
It has been a dark sort of day, which never seemed to get brighter than a grey winter twilight.
We did not mind this because we were not really trying to achieve very much. Last night was busy, and finished late, and once we got to bed we slept and slept.
We did not even hear the Number Two Daughters creeping past the bedroom on their way out to play rugby. We discovered that they had gone when we noticed that their boots were missing, but they had tiptoed past without even disturbing the dogs, what a good job they were not burglars.
I had not been sorry to get home and go to bed. I had been a bit shaken by one set of customers last night, and had ben relieved to get back to my own safe space.
It was a couple who were having a noisy and unkind row.
I do not like these. It is awful to hear people saying cruel things to one another.
These two had obviously not been together very long. They were ear-splittingly loud and bitterly angry.
She had been flirting with some men in the pub and he had been telephoning his ex girlfriend.
She denied the flirting and called him some horrible names.
He said that his ex girlfriend and he had a baby together and that he was not going to stop calling her because there were things about their child that they had to talk about..
She did not believe him. They shouted and snarled at one another.
They wanted me to take them back to their hotel. When we got there he told me that he was just going to drop his girlfriend off and then he wanted to come back down the hill and go back to the pub.
She said that he was not.
He told me to wait.
She told me to go. Then she begged and pleaded with me to go. She said that she wanted him to stay with her and not go off again and leave her alone.
He gave me a tenner and told me to hang on.
I hung on.
It is not up to me to make that call. Somebody has asked me to wait and take them somewhere. It is not up to me to decide if that is a good and kind idea or a bad and cruel one.
I am a taxi driver and the meter was running. I decided that I would hang on until his tenner ran out.
After a few minutes he came back and jumped in the front.
We were about to set off when the back door was wrenched open and she jumped in the back.
She did not close the door. She said that he must not go.
He said that his head was bursting with the argument, and he just needed some time and space away from her.
She called him some shockingly unkind names.
I could not drive off because the door was open.
He told her to get out.
She refused.
They shouted at one another over the seat. He wanted her to get out so that he could get away.
She would not. She said that there was nothing he could do to make her.
It turned out that there was.
He reached behind the seat.
I do not know what he did to her. It was behind me, and I did not look.
It was violent.
I heard her start to cry.
She got out.
She closed the door and we drove away.
He started to cry.
He said that he had never done anything like that before, but he just could not bear it for another minute.
I was not sure that I believed him about never doing it before. Maybe I did. He was very upset indeed.
I said that he ought to find somewhere else to stay. I knew that she wanted him to go back and be with her, but it did not seem to me like the sort of altercation that might end well. I doubted very much that he would come back later, having had a lot to drink, and they would feel sorry and gentle towards one another.
He said that he had already been in trouble with the police once and he did not want to be again.
I said that in that case he ought not to put himself in a position where he might do something he would regret.
He promised that he would not and got out.
I will never know what happened.
It was beyond horrible. She wanted to be with him and desperately did not want to be on her own, but she could not seem to stop needling him. She would not stop saying the most cruel, hurtful things, and she would not let him run away.
The dreadful thing is that I do not know what else he could have done. He did something violent and I did not stop him. I did not even try. He had got to fight his way out, and he did.
I do not know if I was a part of a crime or not. I could not have stopped him if I had tried, but I did not try. I do not know if I should have tried. He could not have stayed at the hotel with her. He would have done something terrible.
I was not at all sorry to have my own safe home space to go back to.
How dreadful to be a part of a bitter quarrel like that.
Have a picture of Roger Poopy’s father having a walk.
