Taxi story: Dog-walking

I took a cab to Katong for my dental check-up last Sunday, and the driver was one of the talkative types I enjoy chatting with when I'm travelling alone.

I can't remember how we started talking about pets, but the cabby uncle started a discussion on taking care of dogs:

Cabby: "I used to own a dog and it was helluva trouble looking after it.... and when I go for holiday, I need someone to look after him."

Me: "Eh? I thought there are pet hotels? You can get them to pick up your dog from your place"

Cabby: "Nowsaday, people don't use pet hotels already. They pass them to a neighbour to look after."

Me (giving skeptical look): "Huh? Isn't that going backwards"

Cabby (looking at me via his mirror): "I say, young man. You dunno some rich people live in bungalow look after their neighbours' dogs?"

Me: "So rich also want to do this kind of business meh?"

Cabby: "Got money sure take one lah. But it's not easy, because your neighbour won't pass their dog to you just like that. They want to see your house, and how you keep your dog. If your house too tidy, most likely you can't look after dog."

Me: "Huh?"

Cabby: "You know bring dog for walk got rule one? One person can only walk maximum 5 dogs."

Me (skeptical): "A-ha...."

Cabby: "You know lah, some dogs sure fight one. Some friendly to people. And the most troublesome part is to make sure they don't sio kan". [Editor: sio kan = 'have sex' in Hokkien dialect]

Me: {speechless}

Cabby (looking at me through mirror): "You dunno what sio kan means ah? Sio kan means f..."

Me (stopping him mid-sentence): " I know, I know..."


Fortunately, I had reached my destination by that time and he had to stop right there.... :-)