Monday, December 2, 2013

Hannibal, Sydney airport to Manly, 110 dollar

Hannibal and I have been talking for a while in the taxi and he tells me about his karate and thai boxing career.

"You know Dolph Lundgren?"
"Yes, of course"
" Well, we were in the same tournament here in Australia many years ago. He was supposed to fight me but he lost his competition and went home. I won that tournament. "
"Haha, so you are better than Dolph Lundgren!"
" You know, karate is a full contact sport and you can get many bad injuries during a tournament but you have to keep fighting. But you can get too many and that is what happened to Dolph. I did talk to him several times during the years. He is a nice bloke."
"That is pretty cool. You can put that on you CV. 'I almost fought Dolph Lundgren'".
"Haha, almost yes."
"And when did you quit practising?"
" I did not quit. I still practice every morning one hour. I also train people I have my own studio and my own variant of Karate. I do that twice a week. That is my third job..."
"And what do you do when you do not drive the taxi?"
" I build cabinets. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I have my workshop, I like working for myself. I do not like anyone to tell me what to do. The taxi driving I only do during the weekends but I like it and it enables me to take it easy during the week. I like to have a comfortable life and not too stressful. I like to travel. I travel every third or fourth month for 3-6 weeks."
"That sounds clever. And do you have a family?"
"Yes. I have a wife. But she is in Thailand now. She has her own business their in landscaping. And we have an apartment there so she takes care of the business."
"Kids?"
"Yes, I have four boys. One with my wife and three with my ex wife. My ex wife is Italian. She was too loud. My Thai wife is much better"
"Four boys, three jobs, two wives. You have a busy life!"
"Haha, yes, a busy life. But I love it. I love my life"
"And do you take your wife travelling when you go?"
"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. When I go to Poland she does not go with my. I have a property there that I renovate and then I normally go by myself".


We stop and the bill is a staggering 110 dollars.

"Hmm, I have never seen it above 100 dollars before".
"Well you see it is the weekend, the airport tax etc etc that is why"
"Ok, thank you and have a good night!"
"All the best, bye"