I drove
Lima-Lima for a relatively short time before I got promoted again. The company
was growing really fast by now and we were in for a treat. We would be getting
brand new cars (well, not completely brand new but another company had bought
more than they needed and they needed to get rid of the extra ones). They were
fourteen of them and I got one “piece”. Mine was a lovely metallic green in colour
and I fell instantly in love with it. Our company had acquired so many other
cars recently prior to that and seemed to have run out of names to give the new
cars. They were given numbers instead and mine was “083”.
Around the same time, the London-look taxis which had taken the city of Nairobi by storm a few years earlier had started to show signs of age. They had not been new when they arrived. In fact they had been very old and it is only because of the good old British meticulous tradition of maintenance and restoration that they had arrived in relatively good shape. Most of them later developed problems with the engines which were of an old diesel powered design. The engines performed relatively well – it was starting them that was a challenge, especially on cold mornings.
A short distance away from Bosnia (Base 2), there was a shopping mall. It was one of the first ones to be built in Nairobi and it was (and still is) known as the Yaya Centre. The Yaya Centre had a taxi rank (which is a special parking for taxis) to serve the clients of the centre. This rank had five slots which were shared by nine London taxis. Of all the nine, only three could be started with a key in the morning. The rest would have to be towed by the three – usually into the basement parking of the mall – in order to be coerced to start. The result was a smoky basement with zero visibility every morning in addition to dirty oil drips all over the place. In order to avert a looming fire risk in the centre, the Yaya management conducted an inspection of all nine London taxis. I can guess the first test was starting the engine with a key without any assistance – in the morning. Only three passed and the rest were kicked out of the centre.
Our company management was approached with a proposal. They would get two parking slots on condition that there would always be a presentable car at any one time. “083” and the sisters had just gotten their future cut out for them. That way, Bosnia eventually shifted entirely to the Yaya centre. It was a good move because there was more business there since this was a very busy shopping mall. There were lots of people walking in and out and asking for cabs. We were further favoured by our “new” cars which most clients preferred to the old London taxis. We were on a roll.
It was my opportunity to study the famed London-look cabs at close range. They were big cars which were either grey or black in colour. Some owners had changed to other colours and one of the three we had at Yaya was actually white. The cars had impeccable interiors with lots of space for sitting and for placing luggage. The main rear passenger seat was really comfortable but the rest of the seats were of the hard fold-down types. The driver’s cabin was rather cramped – possibly to create more room for the “fare-paying” passengers.
During that name giving “drought”, a newly hired control guy named the new base “Babylon”. I may never know what his motivation was in coming up with such a name but that was the name which stuck. This was in funny contrast to the slang name given to London look taxis in Nairobi then. They used to be referred to as “mũnyua maaĩ” which is Kikuyu for a serious drinker of water. I suspect this was because of the way these big cars consumed a lot of water when they overheated, and that was often. I hear they could “drink” up to 20 litres in a single session.
Around the same time, the London-look taxis which had taken the city of Nairobi by storm a few years earlier had started to show signs of age. They had not been new when they arrived. In fact they had been very old and it is only because of the good old British meticulous tradition of maintenance and restoration that they had arrived in relatively good shape. Most of them later developed problems with the engines which were of an old diesel powered design. The engines performed relatively well – it was starting them that was a challenge, especially on cold mornings.
A short distance away from Bosnia (Base 2), there was a shopping mall. It was one of the first ones to be built in Nairobi and it was (and still is) known as the Yaya Centre. The Yaya Centre had a taxi rank (which is a special parking for taxis) to serve the clients of the centre. This rank had five slots which were shared by nine London taxis. Of all the nine, only three could be started with a key in the morning. The rest would have to be towed by the three – usually into the basement parking of the mall – in order to be coerced to start. The result was a smoky basement with zero visibility every morning in addition to dirty oil drips all over the place. In order to avert a looming fire risk in the centre, the Yaya management conducted an inspection of all nine London taxis. I can guess the first test was starting the engine with a key without any assistance – in the morning. Only three passed and the rest were kicked out of the centre.
Our company management was approached with a proposal. They would get two parking slots on condition that there would always be a presentable car at any one time. “083” and the sisters had just gotten their future cut out for them. That way, Bosnia eventually shifted entirely to the Yaya centre. It was a good move because there was more business there since this was a very busy shopping mall. There were lots of people walking in and out and asking for cabs. We were further favoured by our “new” cars which most clients preferred to the old London taxis. We were on a roll.
It was my opportunity to study the famed London-look cabs at close range. They were big cars which were either grey or black in colour. Some owners had changed to other colours and one of the three we had at Yaya was actually white. The cars had impeccable interiors with lots of space for sitting and for placing luggage. The main rear passenger seat was really comfortable but the rest of the seats were of the hard fold-down types. The driver’s cabin was rather cramped – possibly to create more room for the “fare-paying” passengers.
During that name giving “drought”, a newly hired control guy named the new base “Babylon”. I may never know what his motivation was in coming up with such a name but that was the name which stuck. This was in funny contrast to the slang name given to London look taxis in Nairobi then. They used to be referred to as “mũnyua maaĩ” which is Kikuyu for a serious drinker of water. I suspect this was because of the way these big cars consumed a lot of water when they overheated, and that was often. I hear they could “drink” up to 20 litres in a single session.
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