It’s rare to get a bad taxi in London.  Kate once had one take her and her friends on a bit of a ride to get somewhere close, but by and large London cabbies are great.  They’re cheerful, helpful and competent.

Ken, our cabbie today was no exception.  After allowing 8 of us (four adults, four kids) in his cab, he whisked us off to Harrods to see Father Christmas.  In the rush of getting out of the taxi/clown car I left my rucksack and, in it, my computer and iPad.  I discovered it no more than a couple of minutes after walking down the pavement, but he was gone.

I flagged another cab down and asked if he could radio the other cabs.  He couldn’t, but he gave me a main number for lost items and said that centrally they would send out a message to most of the rest of the cabs.  I called and left my details and went in to Harrods.

Not more than five minutes later, my university called to inform me that a cabby had called them about a bag left in his taxi.  Ken had found my student id and called the university.  He returned to Harrods to deliver my bag and Christmas came a little early for me.

It’s great a great feeling to see total strangers act this way toward each other in a city of ten million people.