I was driven this morning by a shifu with the driver registration number 0822**. Now, according to my theory of the significance of these numbers, that should have meant that he'd been on the roads as a cabbie since, ooh, at least the mid-to-late '80s, I should think. But this chap was so fresh-faced, I doubt he could have been more a few years old back then.
It was his picture on the registration card, so he wasn't just filling in for a friend (that does still happen, but much less, I think, than it used to a few years ago). I wonder if the Taxi Supervision Bureau is trying to stave off the need to introduce 7-digit registrations by re-issuing 'retired' numbers?
Or had my driver somehow happened upon an elixir of eternal youth?? Maybe raw garlic is the answer??
7 comments:
If garlic disappeared off the face of the earth, I wouldn't at all mind.
I never minded garlic before. in fact, i'd cook with it regularly. it's staple for mediterranean, middleastern, and many asian dishes.
but now, I Hate It.
Yep - couldn't agree more! I was only dealing with a Chinese student yesterday who reminded me why I loathe having to work with Koreans and Chinese in close proximity. I must have got through three packets of 'Extra Mints' in the space of half an hour in a desperate attempt to stop myself throwing up... DON'T THEY NOTICE????
It's garlic + something else, I think. Or something about the garlic they grow here.
A Frenchman, an Italian, or a Spaniard can get pretty whiffy - but I don't find it so oppressive as the common Chinese odour.
I think I've mentioned before that the local garlic just doesn't taste good - it's just hot rather than garlicky.
And I confess to a weakness for pickled garlic shoots - but they're not really stinky.
Do they have Kim-Chi (or its equivalent) in China? You know - that sauerkraut lookalike that all Koreans eat that makes their breath often smell like a Turkish wrestler's jockstrap...
I love kimchi. And yes, you can get the Korean stuff here, and local approximations of it.
I hadn't noticed that it had such bad effects on the breath - or indeed that this was a particular problem with the Koreans. All the ones I've met seem to have pretty good oral hygiene. Maybe you've just has a few especially unfortunate encounters, Mothman.
Maybe....I guess that 20 or so out of the total population of Korea is not statistically significant. But - man - they ALL had stinky breath at one time or another! Even the girls...
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