I arrived back at Heathrow to find what I always find – a huge queue for immigration snaking its way around the entire arrival hall. The plane before mine had just arrived from Romania and the immigration officials were paying particular attention to the addresses that the new arrivals had put on their forms. By the time I finally got through my fellow passengers were long gone and my bag was sitting on the baggage carousel alone making a solitary journey around and around and around.

I was disappointed to discover that the TSA had left my bag unmolested this time. Obviously they’re not as thorough with flights leaving the country. Nor were there any agents in black suits and men-in-black sunglasses waiting for me to arrive so they could discuss my grievances with them. Before I knew it I was on the Piccadilly Line heading for North London.

I passed the time toting up the results of my inaugural US Taxi Driver Census. I was delighted to see that it was a four-way tie between the US, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Eritrea. If Ethiopia hadn’t fragmented into two countries it would have been a clear winner. But I suspect it was that conflict that saw so many Ethiopians and Eritreans in the States driving cabs.

Not a single driver from Chad (Paul’s tip). Nor from South America. (Nick’s bet.) Or even from the broader category of Eastern Europe (Judy).

I hope there wasn’t any money riding on the result.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 7:53 pm and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.