There’s a particular booking that only comes around in December, and it’s one of my favourites. Not an airport, not a night out — just a slow, warm loop around the village to look at everyone’s Christmas lights.
My imaginary passengers this evening are a grandma we’ll call Pauline and her two small grandchildren, noses already pressed to the windows before we’ve left the drive. Pauline has a flask of hot chocolate and a list of the best-decorated houses, gathered through careful research (gossip) at the local shop.
Slow is the whole point
Most of the job is about getting somewhere on time. This one is the opposite — the slower the better. We crawl past the house with the full-size inflatable snowman, the one with the reindeer on the roof, and the one the kids declare the winner three separate times before changing their minds.
Some journeys are about the destination. This one was entirely about the twenty minutes of wide-eyed wonder in the back.
By the time we got back, two children were asleep mid-sentence and Pauline was quietly wiping her eyes, in the way grandparents do when a small evening turns out to be a big memory. The hot chocolate, I’m told, was excellent.
Why December’s our favourite month
Because alongside the airport runs and the Christmas dos, there are these little ones — the lights, the markets, the family evenings — that remind you this job is really about being part of people’s good times. Long may the inflatable snowmen reign.
More tales when the roads are quiet. Planning a festive outing of your own? See our services or private hire.