locked 'n loaded

letter in the namibian. i have been in taxi rides where shoes were brandished as weapons but ...

On July 9 2006 at about 22h45 I went home in a blue Toyota Corolla taxi (the model just before the new one, I think it came out in 1996). Unfortunately I did not get a chance to see the number plate. We were going along Claudius Kanduvasu Street. At Abraham Mashego Street we turned left heading towards Khomasdal. There the driver accelerated to the point that he overtook two taxis on the speed bump and on the right bend the taxi went over the kerb.

At this point the car was actually sliding between the last taxi he overtook and a third one.I was sitting on the right rear seat and when this happened my head was centimetres away from the rear left door. I asked him to slow down and he said that was the way he drove. Then I asked him to stop the taxi since I felt my life was in danger. He refused. I then took out my 9 mm pistol, loaded it so that he heard that I was armed. He then had a lot to say, but I noticed that he slowed down to 60 km/h. Later he apologised. The question is, did he apologise because he put my life in danger, or because I was armed at the time?

Concerned,Windhoek

--from jeremy's excellent namblog at polio.blogspot.com