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flame towers baku azerbaijan

my name is not chris

Because I lived in Baku for so long in the past, most of the taxi drivers know me but for some inexplicable reason they have always called me Chris and obviously my name is Steve so not even similar. This has been going on for about fifteen years and I did make half hearted attempts to explain that my name was not Chris. 'I know' said one bearded driver in his sixties 'your name is Christopher' One very tall Russian man who had to fold himself into the drivers seat was the main culprit and always shouting Chris Chris when he saw me cross the square. One night I got in the car and said 'look my name is not Chris and it has never been Chris, never will be Chris my name is Steve'  'Ok brother whatever you want, no problem' he replied. Job well done he dropped me at the Fairmont Hotel and as I headed to the doors he shouted 'Goodnight Chris'. So nothing changed  and the shouts of Chris Chris continued to ring out each time they saw me. Another night the big Russian was parked outside the Fountain bar and when I got in he looked in through the open door of the bar and seeing my friend Chris and his son also called Chris standing at the bar he said 'Its very strange, your friend is called Chris, his son is called Chris and your name is Chris. 'My name is not f.....g Chris' I shouted and waved my BP ID with photograph and name in his face. He studied it carefully even checking the back and then said 'Chris why do you have the wrong name on your pass eh'. So why do I bring up this subject now? Well when I left a Baku curry restaurant I was half way across the square to the taxi rank when the usual shouts of Chris Chris started and I jumped into the big old Mercedes of one of the shouting drivers. As he drove me along the boulevard I asked him 'do you know that my name is Steve?' 'Yes' he replied and it appears that they have been winding me up for the last fifteen years and even remembered to continue the joke when I came back to Baku after two years in Singapore.

I am not really lucky with my name because my BP driver called me John for about two years and one day in front of the other passengers I said 'Arif my name is not John it is Steve' 'Ok John' he answered.

I also worked in a Korean shipyard and they provided me with coveralls, jackets, and even a hard hat emblazoned with my name 'SREVE JOHANNES' on them and even a name badge for social events. I suppose I can see how Stephen Jones ended up as it did but I was sick to death of explaining that it was not really my name.
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  • Home
  • MY LIFE MY TRAVEL
  • MY LIFE MY TRAVEL ARCHIVE
  • Perfect Engagement
  • Caracas Venezuela
  • Venezuela Puerto Cabello
  • Lisbon Kindness
  • Turkmenistan
  • Ferryden to Angola
  • Baku Travel
  • Angola
  • Athens January 2018
  • My Name is not Chris
  • Contact
  • DAILY TRAVEL SUMMARY
  • Huddersfield
  • Home
  • Restaurant Etiquette
  • Venezuela and a lot of rum.
  • French Fries in my Pockets
  • Photographs