the apologist

The cabbie who drove me around the city today was very different from the usual taxi drivers.

He kept apologizing about things: the general state of his cab, the creaking shock absorbers, the low volume of his radio, before moving on to being sorry about the heat, the traffic and the ultimately the travesty that the coming elections will be (he is not for the incumbent GMA who is poised to win, one way or the other).

Irritated old meanie that I am, I just wanted to say "Shut up and drive", but instead challenged him to do something about the things he was apologizing for.

And that kept our discourse going for the entire trip.