liberating or free

When I reported on taking my first taxi, I said it was the most liberating thing to do... and my sentiments have not changed but there is a distinction between freedom from and freedom to, as any good philosophy student should know.

If we call "freedom from" liberating, then taking a taxi for the first time broke personal barriers for me and I was free from the feeling of being an outsider in my own city. I can't tell you how many people have assumed I'm from Germany or Sweden, just because I'm uMlungu not afraid to take a taxi! Everyone from the local Indian guys selling me fruit on West street across from where I work, to even the black foreigners who want a passport to another country (green is all I got buddie).

La Lucia Taxi Rank

And if we just say that being free is to be "free to..." then I must say I didn't feel very free to get anywhere on time today standing in the long queues during rush hour. At 8am this morning, a lady told me to "zip it" - seriously! 3 of us standing the same queue had been sent back when the taxi was full to rightfully stand in the front of the queue but she would have none of it. The other 2 protested but she wouldn't hear any of it; we had to go to the back of the queue.

And this afternoon at La Lucia Taxi rank, I had over twenty pairs of eyes from vacuum packed cars staring at me - "she must be white trash", their calculated stares concluded. I'm going to make sure that public transport has a brand makeover!