The joys of driving a “taxi”
In many countries, taxis are very distinctive, such as Germany where they are all a standard off-white, or the UK where they’re black (or covered in advertising) but generally look like an Austin Marina on steroids. In the Netherlands, there is no colour distinction, so for practical purposes, dark colours are favoured. While most taxis have an illuminated roof sign, “executive taxis” can often only be identified by their blue number plate, a subtlety that escapes many tourists and even locals. There are several obvious reasons why C or E-Class Mercedes Benz station wagons are the “preferred model” for taxi drivers anywhere from Amsterdam to Moscow, the least of which being that you can sit in the thing all day and not look like a question mark when you get out. The same reasons of preference apply if you prefer motoring trips to flying. The space is also handy after one of my quarterly visits to Sainsbury’s in the UK for Fray Bentos pies, Bovril or C