倫敦出租車司機的綠色“避風港”

Just beyond the gate of Hyde Park， to the right of the road， stands a cabmen’s shelter. Attendant 1： Any sauce on the sandwich？ Cabman 1： 1）Ketchup. Please.

The air was heavy with conflicting scents. Fried onions seemed to be having the best of the struggle for the moment， though 2）plug tobacco competed 3）gallantly. A keen analytical nose might also have detected the presence of steak and coffee.

Bill Munro （Cabbie and Author）： Driving a taxi’s a very lonely job. You meet lots of people， but you never get to know them.

It’s a place to come and meet your mates. It’s a place to come and socialize， 4）chew the fat， grab a cuppa tea and a sandwich.

Green shed’s a good description. They were devised in the middle of the 19th century， as a means of providing shelter for horse cabmen. Remember the horse-cabmen were stuck out in the open in all weathers.

A newspaper proprietor， George Armstrong， set up the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund， and the first one was in Acacia Road， just around the corner from this one， and within 25 years there were 60 of them in London.

This is one of the 13 surviving cabman shelters. They’re all this particular size and shape， so they should take up no more space than a four-wheel horse cab. You have your entrance in the side， 5）ventilator on the...on the roof， and， you see this...this black rail running around the outside？ That was for tying a horse to. Originally they were designed for cab drivers alone， but these days they do serve the general public.

Attendant 2： You gotta remember a lotta them work’cause they’re on their own， so they come here to meet up， to ask for advice， to offer help with some problems.

A lotta them come here just to unwind from a day’s work. Some people come here to ask advice from my Mum， you know， like she’s an agony aunt for the cab drivers.

Cabman 2： You know， gives you that opportunity just to…to 6）let your hair down a bit from a hard day’s gruel in the...in the heavy conditions of polluted London traffic. It’s more like a little family that people have problems. If someone is ill， maybe there’s a little collection for them.

Munro： This is an Austin London taxi from 1934. These cabs were in service up until about 1952. So， even then， there was a need for some real shelter for a cabman.

Just a windscreen， no window in the driver’s door， open platform， and you get the wind and the rain and the snow. You could， sometimes， literally freeze to death in a cab on a cold winter’s night.

Emma Smith （Artist）： What we have inside these shelters are lots of drivers， who not only have the knowledge but who bear witness to the city on a daily basis. Their knowledge， therefore， that’s contained within these tiny spaces that you may not even think there’s anybody inside， is absolutely immense.

Cabman 3： The centre of the...the local community， I suppose， like a focal point.

出了海德公園大門往右拐，會看到一座出租車司機休憩站悄然佇立在路旁。服務員甲：三明治要醬汁嗎？出租車司機甲：要蕃茄醬，謝謝。

空氣中混雜著各種味道，這會兒炸洋蔥的香味占了上風，不過口嚼煙草的氣味也不甘示弱。如果你的鼻子夠靈敏的話，你還能聞出牛排和咖啡的香氣。

比爾·孟羅（出租車司機、作家）：開出租車是個孤獨的活兒，你遇到許許多多的人，但卻沒法真正認識他們。

在休憩站這里，出租車司機可以和同行們碰面，交際一下，侃侃大山，喝杯茶，吃個三明治。

“綠色小屋”一詞貼切地描述了這些休憩站。它們建于19世紀中期，是為了給當時的馬車夫提供一個遮風擋雨的地方。要知道，馬車夫們無論天氣如何都是在露天工作。

一位名叫喬治·阿姆斯特朗的報社老板設立了出租車司機休憩站基金，第一座休憩站建在洋槐路，離我們所在的這座很近。接下來的25年里，倫敦共建了60座這樣的休憩站。

這是保留至今的13座休憩站之一。所有的休憩站都是這樣的大小和形狀，因此它們占用的空間不會超過一輛四輪馬車。入口在側面，屋頂有通風裝置。有沒有看到外圍這些黑色的橫桿？這就是當年拴馬的地方。最初這些休憩站是專為出租車司機而設的，不過如今它們也服務于普通大眾。

服務員乙：要知道，出租車司機大多是獨自開車，所以他們會到這里來碰碰頭，就一些問題詢問意見和提供幫助。很多司機工作了一天，來這里就是為了放松一下。……