frumiousb

Outside our window, we could see boats getting ready

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Today I had a doctor's appointment in the East of Amsterdam. Through an annoying combination of circumstances, I found myself at Central Station with no way to possibly get there on time without a taxi. I approached the taxi line with trepidation-- for many years now it has been my policy to avoid taking a taxi whenever humanly possible because Amsterdam taxi drivers are so often thieves. Particularly when they hear my foreign accent, they try to rip me off.

However, I've heard that it has gotten better at Central Station. I heard that they have supervision. And I actually didn't have a choice. So I walked to the head of the line.

First thing that I noticed. No supervision. No idea if he/she was getting coffee or just gone for the day. Uh-oh.

I went to the first driver in the row. He informed me that this would be 15 euros. I said that I wanted to go with the meter. He said that he only worked with a zone system, so it was 15 euros everything between 1-5 kilometers. (I know from experience that a taxi ride to where I needed to go was generally maximum 12 euros) I told him that I knew this wasn’t true and I had the right to go with the meter. He told me to “go find a TCA driver since they charge less.” He insisted that they were allowed to charge more for central station. (For non-Dutch people, TCA was the former big bad monopoly that got broken up in Amsterdam to protect the consumer. Ha.)

I looked around again to see if I could find their minder, but there was nobody visible. I went to the second taxi in the row. That person also refused to drive with the meter to Oost, and told me that I had to go with the first taxi. "Nobody here will use the meter," he told me snottily.

The third taxi was from TCA. He told me that I had to go to the first taxi. He got abusive when I said that the first driver refused to go with the meter. He said “I won’t drive with the meter either.” By this point, one of the other drivers in the line had shouted at me to “fuck off”.

Another TCA taxi driver (farther back in the line) said that he didn’t dare to do otherwise besides do what the rest in the line did.

I saw a police officer close by, and I flagged him down to ask if this was allowed. He said that it happened all the time as soon as the person from the city was not there to watch what they were doing. Apparently the second the minder disappeared, they went back to their own rules that they had decided among themselves. One of these rules is, apparently, refuse anything below 15 euros.

He said that he couldn’t do anything about it, since it would be my word against word the taxi drivers and it was the responsibility of the city to get involved. He told me that I should go get the license numbers of the taxi drivers to whom I spoke. By this time, they had seen me talking to the police officer and had gotten out of their cars and they didn’t look very happy. To be honest, I didn’t really want to walk back and write down their license plate numbers-- a lone middle-aged woman in a big group of angry drivers. Perhaps I should have gotten their numbers, but the point isn’t about the individual drivers, it was about the entire group simply refusing the follow the rules, and they clearly had no concern about any complaints that I might make.

And you know what? They don't need to have any concern. I called four different government departments to complain directly after this happened, and it appears that they can't lose their license to drive a cab for refusing a short ride. They can, however, get a 45 euro fine. Woo hoo. Theoretically, they also can lose their rights to stand at Central Station and their "quality mark" (special license to stand there), but in practice there was nobody from the Gemeente with whom I could complain by telephone. I was given a name and address after several phone calls, but was told that she only takes written complaints. Helpful.

After approximately an hour and a half of phone calling, I was told by every party that they weren't able to take complaints about the general situation there, but could only process complaints against a specific driver-- and that with their permit number at hand. I'll still write a letter to the mysterious woman at the city who lacks phone or email, but I truly don't expect much joy from her either.

Suggestions to the city of Amsterdam:

Place clear and large signs up at every taxi stop which explain the rights of passengers and what the law regarding tariffs actually says. Sign defaced? Don't allow anyone to stop there. Repeat as needed. Also print brochures with that information. A lot of this continues simply because they lie to tourists. It's pretty easy to get them the right information so that they can refuse to be extorted. Why not do it?

Make refusing short rides or lying about prices an offense for which a driver can immediately lose their license. No appeal, and no ability to reapply until after 6 months have passed. Judicious use of mystery riders and immediate application of the law would put fear of God into the drivers and break up the wall of fraud.

Force every car to be identified with a clear and large number painted on both doors. Then make it the responsibility of the taxi company to know the permit number associated with that car at any given time of the day. Free riders simply have one pnumber associated with one car.

Suggestions to tourists in Amsterdam

Don't take taxis.

If you must take a taxi, do not go to any of the places where taxis stand in a group. Call a taxi driver you know, or call TCA directly-- 020 7777777.

Don't get into a taxi without the meter running. Never pay more than it says on the meter. I've heard that some hotels are in on the scam and will tell you that things like a baggage charge are normal. Not normal. In fact, illegal.


(In the end, I wasn't late for my appointment since when I finally did arrive I discovered that my doctor had been called away on an emergency and they had forgotten to call me. So all's well that ends well. Sort of.)

These taken at the last inspection visit. Tomorrow we get the keys! You know, we've been waiting three years for this now...




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From a sunny Sunday last month.



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(That is a full moon above the skaters.)

I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas. Our guests have all left, and they (we) had a lovely time.

But the experience has burned one thing in my head-- try to arrange things for all future guests so that they have no need at all for the Amsterdam taxi drivers.

On 27 December, we drove up from Brussels while they took the train. Upon arrival at central station, they went to get a taxi to the hotel. It wasn't very far, but they all had big bags (too big to fit in our car) and two of the people were quite elderly. When they arrived at their location, the son of a bitch told them that he was charging them 20 euros for the ride no matter what the meter said "because they had so many bags". They were unhappy, but paid. This was absolutely illegal, of course. But they naturally didn't get the guy's name and number. The ride should have cost 10 euros at the very most. The real issue, of course, is that they are no longer allowed to refuse a ride and so this is what many resort to in order to make up for what they see as too short of a ride.

We supposedly have a system where the drivers all have to have special permits to stop at CS. That was supposed to stop this kind of behaviour.

I don't know what it's going to take to get the drivers at Amsterdam Central back under control. Frankly, I think that they should institute a zero tolerance policy where a driver loses his/her license immediately and permanently for either refusing a ride or trying to overcharge. If the consequences were serious enough, then surely this would stop? After a few days in Brussels this Christmas, I noticed that taxis there are already around half what you pay for Amsterdam-- and that's without illegal bag charges. What are we doing wrong?

Last night, Melkweg, Amsterdam.

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I didn't take these. These are taken from a website which keeps track of the progress of new buildings in Amsterdam. These were presumably taken by someone who works on site. What's neat for me is that they focused on what will be our apartment and the view that we're going to have. And they did it from the side that we can't normally see.

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This wasn't the most spectacular summer in the history of Amsterdam, but the Autumn seems determined to make up for the sins of the past.

I thought that I'd share a few happy sunny pictures.

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A little bit of Pride for you all.



Champagne, braised tuna steak, sticky garlic/lemon rice.



Not amused.

Off to Switzerland tomorrow for the rest of my summer vacation. Beep beep!

Circle in red will be the first floor of the new apartment. It will be a so-called maisonette, and around 144 square meters. (That's around 1500 square feet for you Americans out there.)


Detail. You can see the hole where our stairs will go! Also the bedroom window!

Something of this is being heard, I am not merely talking to myself, that is in the wilderness, a thing I could never bear to do – for any length of time. (Pause.) That is what enables me to go on, go on talking that is. (Pause.) Whereas if you were to die – (smile) – to speak in the old style – (smile off) – or go away and leave me, then what would I do, what could I do, all day long, I mean between the bell for waking and the bell for sleep? (Pause.) Simply gaze before me with compressed lips.
–Happy Days

Today was the beginning of the Holland Festival for me. I went with coco_keesses to see the Fiona Shaw Happy Days.

I realize that watching theater isn't the same as reading, but Beckett is one of my favorite authors and this has at least encouraged me to go back and reread Ill Seen, Ill Said, which is probably my favorite work.

I don't know that I have anything useful to say about the piece. It mostly dares me to sit in silence.



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They're getting closer to our floor!

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It's getting close! We have to put this house on the market soon.

Parking ramp in place-- preparations for further floors begun.

The second level of the parking garage is mostly covered, and that's plumbing that is starting to appear next to all the wire.