Tonight I got a ride from the oldest living cab driver. I kid you not, big liver spots on the side of his face and he sat about two inches away from the steering wheel.

Now, I know it's not right to make fun of stereotypes, but this guy must have been studying the elderly driver stereotype. He did it perfectly.

We approached the wreckless speed of 20 mph once or twice, but most of the time we cruised along at 10, except when we went through intersections. Then we slowed down to 5.

Turning corners was an adventure. We never knew if the car was going to stall from lack of gas.

He was very sweet, but he shouldn't have been driving.

If you've ever been to center city Philadelphia then you know it's not that hard to navigate. Numbered streets go north/south and tree streets go east/west. He picked me up and 3rd & Chestnut. I wanted to go to 20th & Spruce. Not that hard to figure out. We needed to go south and east.

I had to give him directions every step of the way.

Him: "We're at 18th Street. What should I do?"

Me: "Go straight two blocks until we get to 20th, then turn right."

"We're at 19th. What should I do?"

"Go straight one block until we get to 20th, then turn right."

"We're at 20th. What should I do?"

"Turn right. TURN RIGHT"

"Which direction?"

And watching him make change for my $20 was so exciting.

Me: "Can I have $11 back."

Him: "You want what?"

"$11. I gave you a 20."

"Yeah, that's a 20."

"Yeah."

"You want how much back?"

"$11."

"Okay, here's a 10."

"U-huh."

"And... what else do you need?"

"A one."

But, I made it home safely, without having to fill out a police report. That's more than I can say for the cab ride I took two weeks ago. I can't decide if this was better.