So yesterday I jumped in a cab at Centennial Parklands in Sydney, bound for the airport. I’d been there for a blogging event and was armed with a small overnight bag that was bulging at the seams thanks to a large array of goodie bags received at the event and a sneaky post-dumpling shop at Country Road with Mrs Woog the day before.
ZOMG. SO GOOD!
I was a bit sad that my stay on Wisteria Lane had come to an end and as I slipped into the front seat of the cab the driver asked me why I’d been in Sydney.
He probably also wanted to know why I had 372 boxes of Arnotts shapes stuffed into my handbag but was too polite to ask.
Keeping It Klassy with an over stuffed handbag.
I told him I’d been there for a blogging event to which he asked, “What do you blog about?”
I gave him my standard reply of “Oh I blog about everything from recipes to intellectually stimulating recounts of The Real Housewives of Melbourne” before waiting for him to change the topic of conversation to something more interesting.
“Lovely,” he said. “So are you on Blogger or WordPress?”
“Um, I”m on WordPress.”
“Really,” he answered with a grin, “So do you have lots of great plugins?”
Now between you and me, I was intrigued by the questions. I mean here I was, sitting in the front seat of a taxi on a stinking hot day (it was 40 degrees and I was wearing jeans FFS) with an older gentleman who seemed to know a lot about blogging. To say my interest was piqued would be a huge understatement.
Before I could ask him how he knew about plugins, he continued on with, “So what sort of theme do you have? Is it a simple one or is it one of those fussy looking sites with a chevron background?”
I’m not going to lie. At this point, I started looking around for a hidden camera!
Laughing nervously I replied with, “It’s very simple. Plain white background with a black font and a splash of hot pink.”
“Oh very nice. Very nice. And have you monetised it yet?” he asked.
“OK,” I said, turning to him while trying not to slide off the seat in my jeans which were basically stuck to my skin, “I have to ask. Are you a blogger? Or am I on some sort of candid camera show?”
The driver started to laugh, “No. No camera.”
Long story short, it turns out that the bloke who picked me up in his cab from a blogging event used to work as a keyword writer and, based on all the incredible SEO tips and tricks he passed onto me in the 10 minutes that followed, was some sort of internet genius!
Honestly, I could not believe it. As I sat there, listening to all of his advice, my head was spinning.
We stopped at a set of lights and I pulled out my phone. “Ok” I said, “I just have to say that I’ve learnt more from you about SEO in the last 10 minutes than I did at the last blogging conference I went to. Can I ask what your name is? And do you mind if I blog about this conversation? And can I take a photo of you?”
“Of course! My name is Raan and go ahead, be my guest, take a photo”
I took the photo and thanked him profusely for all of his information before also thanking him for being far more interesting than the cab driver who picked me up from the airport the day before and talked for a solid 45 minutes about how to turn a piece of stone into a marble tile.
“No problem,” Raan laughed. ” I have enjoyed chatting with you too. It always amazes me how the world works to bring people together.”
Me too Raan. ME TOO.
Raan. Taxi Driver by day. Internet Whiz by night.
Ever had a cab ride that made your head spin? And what are your thoughts on dumplings?
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