I'm a private taxi driver, which means I am only supposed to do pre-booked fares, but about half of the fares I do are people just hailing me in the street, and pickups from stations and supermarkets. Nobody at the rank minds what we do so long as we have the time to do it, and we prioritize private bookings. Plus we get to keep all of the fare.

Today was a nice sunny day, but it was slow so I was driving toward the train station to see I could find a fare. Alone in the taxi area there was a mother and daughter with no luggage. The mother was smoking and talking on her phone, and her daughter, who couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old, with black bobbed hair in a pale pink dress with red grasshopper sunglasses and those shiny patent-leather shoes with the big buckle, was holding a big brown teddy bear. She looked immaculate.

The mother stepped towards my window and handed me a piece of paper with an address written on it and walked back to the girl, kissed her on her forehead and then made off toward the train station, talking on her phone the whole time. At this point the girl walked around my car, and got into the seat next to me. I am used to people sitting in the back, especially children. As if pre-empting my question she said "Mummy's not coming, Mummy's got a meeting", I looked outside and the mother had disappeared into the station.