Old Age

Softly splashing water droplets hit the car windows as I drove onwards; turning of the handle in my car caused my wipers to flick the raindrops off my window. The skies are overhung with a blanket of grey, so much so that I can barely tell the difference between the sky and clouds. Despite car rides having the potential to feel tedious that is not the case for me, the rain commonly calms me. I watch raindrops race down. The occasional wave of a puddle can be exciting, especially when going through it. I can just picture it: I can picture the image of the water floating upwards like a tumultuous wave and crashing onto my car; whilst scattering hues of light. Watching it swirl, I was mesmerised; it felt like the movement of water was choreographing my thoughts. It was truly magical.

Coming to a halt, my eyes flickered to the signal ahead. It was of course red but no one else seemed to care. Well of course they didn’t. Why would they? Personally I don’t mind the traffic; since the beginning of time it has always been a loyal acquaintance to me. Why you may ask? Merely because it increased my hourly wages; because the more time the passenger sat in the car, the more they would have to pay me. Simple.

You have probably deduced my profession; wait sorry let me rephrase that: my ex profession. Yes you guessed it right; no don’t doubt yourself. I used to be a taxi driver in the streets on Manhattan. Oh those were the good old days before all of this happened. Right now it is like a plague of incessant torture and remorse. Frankly, unlike my other companions I did enjoy working as a Taxi driver. I remember a time when all my friends Bill, Tom, Sam and of course Zain (I could never forget Zain) did a riot since they weren’t being treated fairly by their company; nevertheless I was in a different company who weren’t all bad, therefore I had nothing to riot for.

Remembering the olden days –ps: I’m not that old- flooded sentimental memories into me; and it made me weep tears of joy. I can remember the car engine singing in the lonely countryside; it was just me and Belle. Oh I relished the roaring breeze that twirled in my long blonde hair and the wind whispered secrets in my ears. Oh how I missed all of our olden days.

I had to pay attention to the lights; I was the only one paying attention to them unsurprisingly. Beside me, I could see a woman in her near 20’s putting on more mascara. How much more does she need? I thought. If this was 20 years ago; I would’ve shouted across and would’ve told her to pay attention to the road. However, now if I did that I would be called a folly or maybe something worse. Who knows?   Nonetheless the point is that she can do whatever she wants to. She can file her nails, put her makeup on or even brush her hair. Nothing will happen to her. She can even use her phone whilst the car is still in motion and to a surprise the cops will not come.

20 years ago, this wasn’t the case but times have changed. Maybe for the best or maybe for the worst. Nevertheless, the fact is that times have changed and I consider myself to be a relatively old guy; so seeing adolescents on their phone whilst driving is simply infuriating. I have found that I can’t seem to adapt with the world around me; I feel like times are changing too quickly and an old guy like me can’t keep up. That’s why every morning I take my car for a little while; yes I know that change can be a good thing but I don’t want this change and that’s why I do what I do because I want to practice this skill till the end of my life.

The only reason why I need to practice my skill is because it has all been replaced; there is no use for a guy like me anymore. I never get calls from my work asking if I’m available for work or if I’m free to come down. I don’t hear these things anymore. Sometimes I feel like a burden in society because I don’t feel like I belong here and I know I shouldn’t be saying all this gibberish but unfortunately this is true.

Beside me, the girl has an AID-xx01-1278 model of the BMW car. Can you guess what the first 3 letters stand for? Take your time; no rush. They stand for: Artificial Intelligence Driven. So to put it into simple terms; the car next to me is being driven by a computer algorithm. It has sensors such as wind, rain or even heat. When sitting in one you don’t need to do anything; you can just relax and enjoy the ride. This car will take you to your destination in the shortest route possible so you don’t need to think about whether you make the right turn now or later; the computer will do it for you.

Yes there are moral issues with this; but no one cares about that as long as their being lazy and the company is worth around a trillion dollars; more or less. So they don’t care either. Technology has advanced and made us human’s idler. I know it’s not our fault but we must get one thing right: we must take care of our bodies because at the end of the day they are the things that will keep us alive. One staggering fact is around 10% of the world’s population have their own home, clean water and sanitation and access to good education. However, another staggering fact is that around 70% of the world has these Artificial Intelligence Driven cars. So technically, people have the money to buy these cars but not the money to provide education for their children. Oh what has the world come to?

Driving back home, the wind flopped my remaining hair to the side until it was at the tip of my eyebrows. Spreading far and wide, the lush grass went on for miles and miles. Getting speeds up to 100 miles per hour felt like a personal heaven. Reaching to the driveway of the house; I could see Belle and she came towards me.

“How are you feeling my dear” asked Belle.

“I think I’m getting too old for this world” I replied.