A London cabbie changed my career

This is a true story. Every word.

It took place 9 years ago, but the message still resonates

It was my last night in London after two weeks of hard work. A few beers, and into a cab.

In that taxi, I met one of the most extraordinary people I have ever encountered.

The cabbie and I exchanged pleasantries. Traffic, weather, rugby.

I remarked on what sounded like a Welsh accent (not common in a London cabbie). He confirmed it, and I asked how he came to be driving a cab in London and for how long.

At this point, I had not really looked at the driver, whose name turned out to be Merv. I had a vague image of a middle-aged, fit-looking man, so when he said he had been a cabbie for 19 years, I felt confident to remark, “Ah, most of your working life then.”

“Not at all“, he grinned. “This is my third career so far, and the shortest one at that.”

And so it unfolded.

Merv is 80 years old!

I kid you not. He was agitated that he had to have a medical every year, unlike the other cabbies, who only needed one every three years.

His brief CV;

• Born 80 years prior to a coal mining family in South Wales (“Still go hiking in the Brecon Beacons every chance I get, boyo!”)
• Worked in the coal pits from 14 to 40 (“12 hours physical work every day – and people died down there all the time”)
• Worked as a scaffolder from age 40 to 60 (“It is a tough job boyo, lifting, climbing, carrying, and falling too, if not careful!”)
• Cabbie from 60 to 80 (“The hardest part was ‘the knowledge’ , the rest is just fun”)

And did he have stories to go with that CV? The deprivation of life in a coal-mining town. Scaffolding work that took him all over Europe and Africa. (By the way, his opinion is that Latvian women are the world’s most gorgeous. “But they are all gorgeous, aren’t they, boyo”, he reminded me.)

He has been married three times.

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His first wife, the love of his life, died of a stroke at 50.

His second, ‘she who must be obeyed’, died of bowel cancer when he was 65.

Then, there were a few lonely years. Very lonely.

He is currently married to wife number 3, who is “also a very good woman.”

I asked when he intended to stop driving a cab. “Next year” came the prompt reply.

Foolishly, naively, blindly, I remarked, “At last time to retire, hey Merv.”

His response was a mixture of a scoff, choke and a laugh.

“Not on your life. It will take me until then to set up my new business, which will be ready to launch in six months.”

I was astounded. New business?

It turns out Merv has developed a few theories over the years. He believes that exercise—specifically weight-bearing, muscle-building exercise—can hold the effects of aging at bay. He credits physical fitness with his longevity and mental alertness, primarily due to the physical work he has done for so much of his life.

Indeed, he feels both his now deceased wives would have lived longer if they had been ‘stronger’. Dementia and Alzheimer’s can all be held back by strength-building exercises, according to Merv.

And he had done his research. He quoted Harvard studies and longitudinal research, which proved his point.

He, Merv, had designed a piece of exercise equipment based around the muscles used in coal-mining and scaffolding that he is poised to unleash on the market this year. This is where I go a bit hazy, but I think he called the machine, the ‘Hercules Jones’, but I may be wrong. But what is certain is that he has the prototype, he has the patent, and he has the manufacturer ready to start production. He knows his target market, he has a business plan, he has a marketing plan, and he is about to hire staff.

He is an 80-year-old taxi driver!

Merv gave me his phone number and said, “Call me in six months, and I will update you.” Australia would be a good market, too, he opined, and I suspected he was eyeing me as one of his international sales agents.

Stupidly, again, I succumbed to a stereotype and asked, “Don’t you ever get tired Merv. You know, feel like you have earned a rest?”

“You must be joking boyo” he puffed, “I just wish there were more hours in every day. So much to get done”.

So I took the lift to my hotel room, astounded at the energy of this guy who had been working for 66 years and appeared to have more energy and career drive than me, who had been feeling sorry for myself after a hard couple of weeks on the road.

I can’t speak for Merv, but clearly, age was nothing to him. He had plans and energy, and he would make them happen.

So, I resolved to stop being so easily satisfied with myself. Smug about what little I have achieved at work, and see my own lengthy career as just a stepping stone to my ‘next big thing‘.

And now, as my work career surely must be much nearer the end than the beginning, I am looking again to this experience to help me consider what ‘aging’ and retirement’ really are or can be

Thank you Merv! I have now decided that whatever I have done in the past is just the beginning.

I am anticipating that my best work is in front of me!

And what a great feeling it is to view your life like that. The best part of your career is yet to come, no matter what you have achieved to date, or what age you are

The message is that there is no ‘retirement date’. You are not a one-trick pony. Our ‘use by date‘ is a myth. You keep doing things if you wish and change course if that feels right.

How about you?

Can you “out-enthuse” Merv?

Footnote. This encounter happened 9 years ago, and I wrote a similar article then. However, it’s resonated with me recently as I ponder my new ‘work move’. And you don’t have to be towards the end of your career to learn from Merv. He changed careers three times and enjoyed them all. By the way, I googled ‘Hercules Jones’ but found nothing. Merv would be 89 now.

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