By 4am things had dried up and potential passengers were being vastly outnumbered by taxis looking for hails.  I had a look through Subiaco and checked a kebab shop, where people often gather to eat before they go home.

Sure enough, at 4:25am, someone walked up and got into the car, and directed me to start the meter but not get moving just yet.

He rang his girlfriend, who was still in the Subiaco area somewhere.  After trying three or four times he gave up and we started heading off to Landsdale, a pretty good fare for me.

Within minutes he was making phone calls again and finally got an answer.  There was debate about whether they should meet at his place or her place, and he managed to convince her that his place was where to be.

We were a few kilometres out of Subiaco by now so I asked if he wanted to go back and collect the girlfriend.

No, it turns out that was another girl he had just rung.  She was obviously the second option of who he was going to go to sleep with when he got home.

Sure enough, we stopped by another house on the way and an attractive young lady came out and got into the taxi with an overnight bag. I doubt that she was aware that she was the second preference.