Totally off topic but hilarious ebay listing

Yup, a good read!

Good lunch-time reading this one.

-- Larry C in Auburn WA "Slowhand"

And thats why "There will always be an England!" Good show.

Yep, hilarious read. Not exactly sure he is the kind of guy I'd like doing business with though. :-)

It really was.

Barry

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:38:10 -0800, "Slowhand"

I don't live in london... it went completely over my head. Google didn't help either.

clue us in? Bridger

Slowhand wandered in from the void and babbled something like:

I have tears in my eyes...

Knowledge Boys are what we here on this side of the pond would call "cabbies." But whereas we here in America seem to think that the dexterity sufficient to wrap a turban is qualification enough for ferrying live humans through the mayhem of city streets, the English have a rather different view:

Michael

Slowhand wandered in from the void and babbled something like:

Greg G.

...and Knowledge Boys are cabbies in training, they can be seen buzzing around the streets of London on scooters with maps and instructions mounted on the handlebars. This would, of course, require a pretty solid scooter, which the one in the auction certainly wasn't, which was one more reason why the seller was so dismayed.

Mike

The link that Michael provided has a pretty good answer. The Cliff Notes version however is that in order to get a license for a cab in London you have to pass a test.

The test basically consists of being asked how to get from point A to point B in London. It's asked a lot of times. Since London is an ancient city with lots of twists and turns, and some streets not even a block long, and streets that change their names 4, 5, maybe even 6 times in their length, that rarely go in a straight line, and there are thousands of them, giving an answer to one of those questions can be tough. The test itself is called The Knowledge.

It takes a couple of years or more of study, and as the seller of the motorbike suggests, a lot of riding around to acquire The Knowledge. Study groups are frequently formed of aspiring cabbies. I think I first heard about The Knowledge years ago seeing a British drama on TV about such a group.

The article Michael posted says The Knowledge includes places, however that was never my understanding; I thought it was just the streets. For example, I once asked a London cabby to take us to the Royal Physic Garden, expecting him to be able to drive us right there (we're not from there), but he didn't know the place. When I told him it was in Chelsea near such and such an intersection, he was able to drive us right to it.

The result of The Knowledge is that London cabbies are not what you would expect after cab riding experiences in large U.S. cities. They even have a cab concours competition where cabbies spiff up their vehicles for display and judging. Here in the U.S. they'd have to clean out the cigarette butts, condoms, and hang those pine tree deoderizers in the front seat for about a year before they could even enter such a contest.

Very impressive institution.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

Between the cabbies having degrees, the cabs being clean and well maintained and gas costing $5 a gallon, the rides can't be within the price range of the normal joe I wouldn't think.

Dave Hall

I don't remember. It's been more than ten years since I was last there. It struck me at the time as reasonable, however.

Of course, as we've seen from the "FS: DJ20" thread, reasonable can have many flavors...

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

Haven't been to London in a couple of years, but then the rides were about as expensive as those in New York City, or a bit more. With the dollar weakening these days, they'll be somewhat pricier in dollar terms.

John Wadsworth