Barometers For Society

Newcastle Herald

Saturday November 12, 2005

BEN QUINN

JIM Lees, of Merewether 65-year-old known to ABC radio listeners as the "Gabbie Cabbie", would be pleased if the Newcastle Knights won the premiership every year.

Lees, who has been driving cabs for 12 years, will never forget the vibe around town when the Knights won their maiden title in 1997.

"It was just so euphoric," he says.

"People were handing out tips left, right and centre. Even though they were drunk they were jovial.

"That feeling lasted for quite a long time. It really was a wonderful period for Newcastle."

Lees has seen many changes in society over the years and has an opinion on all of them. Not for him, fence-sitting.

On the topic of sex:

"When I first started it was blokes taking girls home, but now there's as many, if not more, girls taking blokes home.

"They often like to play around;

baring breasts, all that sort of thing. So

what? That?s the way the human body?s

built.

?When I fi rst got the camera installed

one girl fl ashed me because she thought

she was being captured for posterity.?

On the topic of generational change:

?Young people seem to have the

philosophy that now?s the time to live, as

long as they?re putting superannuation

aside and have enough to live how they

want to live. In the old days you busted

yourself to get a house and security as

soon as you left school.?

On the topic of cabbies getting the

best inside mail: ?I?ve always said cabs

are a barometer for society three months

ahead of government statements. At the

moment there?s a lot of talk about the

industrial relations reforms, but when

you challenge them a bit almost no one?s

read anything about it.?

On the topic of rough fares: ?One

bloke had been slightly crook on the

inside of the door. Bit of a spit, that?s all

it was.

?When I got him home he proceeded

to fl ood the back seat with a garden

hose. There was three inches of water

on the fl oor, and I was completely

saturated.

?He?d had so much to drink he

thought he was a fi reman.?

When Lees recounts his more sordid

encounters it is with affection rather

than disgust. There is no hint of Travis

Bickle, Robert de Niro?s unforgettable

sociopath in Martin Scorsese?s Taxi

Driver.

The Bickle character famously said

that all the animals come out at night

? whores, buggers, queens, fairies,

dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Some day

a real rain will come and wash all this

scum off the streets.

A no-nonsense cabbie like Lees would

have told him to lighten up.

?This job is never dull,? he says. ?You

meet so many different people ? nice

people, by and large ? and have so

many interesting conversations.? JIM

© 2005 Newcastle Herald

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