Having a Tom Friedman moment

Two taxi rides on the other side of the world

(Credit: Unsplash)

This morning, as people all over the world began jotting down in their gratitude diaries, I mentally opened up my resentment log. The double standards that pile one on top of the other with such vigour that, like one of those hypothetical folded pieces of paper, they could reach the moon. The 17 separate accountants I have managed to accrue, for reasons of birth and life choices, each asking increasingly absurdist questions predicated on different tax years. And the weather.

Then, Hassan drove by in his silver Toyota Camry. This is not a bit about Tom Friedman discovering a new wrinkle on an old conflict by talking to taxi drivers. Just a reminder that talking, even to strangers, can be good. So there I am on the other side of the planet, on the way to the airport, and it begins in eminently sensible fashion.

What time is your flight? 4.30pm. Where are you headed? London. What football team do you support? Arsenal, of course. The rear-view mirror was at such an angle that I was prevented from seeing Hassan’s face. But I could tell, just by gazing up at the folds on the back of his neck, that he was grinning from ear to ear.

An Arsenal fan? Him too! He’s followed them since the 1980s. Everyone in Freetown, Sierra Leone is either a Manchester Utd fan or Arsenal. Premier League matches are played to packed out cinemas. He went to London once and saw an FA Cup match. He reeled off the Cup Winners’ Cup final side from 1994 (I was poised to correct him but never had the chance) and the France 1998 World Cup-winning team.