"I am very proud of Bermuda, and I like to show people parts of the Island that the average Bermudian doesn't even know about."

Small wonder, then, that taxi driver Gilbert Pearman came highly recommended when the Visitor Industry Partnership was reviewing candidates for its third quarter 2001-2002 Bermuda Sunshine Award.

Travel writer Gay Martin wrote a glowing account of how wonderfully Mr. Pearman had served as the driver and guide for her group of five friends.

"He is a most extraordinary man," she enthused. "It is obvious that he knows and loves his Island, and it is also obvious that Bermuda casts a spell....but stunning beauty alone does not account for the indigenous magic. No, Mark Twain's heaven also owes that spellbinding charm to its people like Gilbert."

In fact, tours are the "vitamin pills" of Mr. Pearman's career.

"I love tours because they rejuvenate me. I can go on a six to eight-hour tour after working at night and be completely relaxed," he says.

When visitors step into his immaculate cab, T1223, they are hiring a rolling encyclopaedia of local lore which includes everything from unusual quirks of nature to facts about history, geography, architecture, cuisine, entertainment and even family histories.

"Up close and personal" - but not too personal - is how Mr. Pearman likes to make his guests feel.

"I always try to get to know my people and make them feel as relaxed as possible," he says. "One of the first things I say is my name and `Welcome to Bermuda'. I ask them if they are visiting Bermuda for the first time. If they say `yes', I say: `What took you so long? " They get a kick out of that. If we don't have a set itinerary I ask them if there is anything about Bermuda they are particularly interested in and I try to accommodate them."

Even this genial ambassador admits that tours are not always smooth sailing, however. Cruise ships, for example, will book a tour for six but invariably the group are strangers, and inevitably there are one or two who don't want to go along with the majority. In such cases Mr. Pearman adheres to his late grandfather's advice: "The shortest cut to being a complete failure is when you try to please everybody. As long as you can please the majority then you have made their day."

And if there is one thing he believes in, it is making every passenger's day, visitor or local.

"Whenever anyone gets in my cab I usually ask them: `How was your day?' " he says. "With that question they tend to be more relaxed, and often you strike up a conversation. In fact, sometimes you discover that you are speaking with someone who is related to you. But I never ask personal questions."

Mr. Pearman particularly enjoys picking up visitors from the airport because it gives him a chance to cement their first favourable impressions of the Island and its people.

"The first impression is the lasting impression, and the taxi driver is usually the first person visitors get to talk to when they leave the airport. Lots of tourists read about the friendliness of the people, and when they visit they look forward to the driver saying something," he says. "I find it so rewarding, particularly if it is their first visit and you can point out places of interest along the way. You must remember that every time you pick up a person that is also a potential tour, or they are likely to want you to take them back to the airport."

It is the same positive attitude which sets Mr. Pearman apart from drivers who pick and choose their fares according to which will be the most lucrative. In fact, he has no time for colleagues who do this.

"I never refuse short distance fares because I feel short jobs can lead to long jobs," he says. "Drivers have to be able to mix the thick with the thin. Those who don't want to do a short job are not working in the best interests of the public. Unfortunately, there are a lot of drivers who, when their hat is on, their family is covered, meaning they don't care whether they make a dollar or not. They're independent."

He is also sympathetic to seniors who hire him, and sometimes gives them a break or doesn't charge them at all.

By his own admission, Mr. Pearman is a man who believes in speaking his mind, and says it is probably what led to him being included in redundancies at the Southampton Princess Hotel in 1992 after 20 years' service, during which he rose to become beverage manager in the conventions department.

"I believe one should always stand by one's convictions. While you may not always be right you are bound to be respected," he says. But, as someone who always held two jobs, the man who was once a professional dry cleaner quickly found the silver lining to this temporary cloud.

"My experience in human relations, and the fact that I love people, which is very important, made it easy for me to become a full-time taxi driver and I also found it relaxing," he says of the career change.

With regard to the wealth of knowledge he has acquired along the way, he pays tribute to the "Sparky" Lightbourn and Kingsford Bean for their invaluable input.

"There were times when I had the pleasure of going on tour with them, and I can honestly say that between those two gentlemen I learned more about the Island and how to tour in a short time than I learned in three or four years of driving."

Always a keen observer of his surroundings, he even has some pet attractions known only to himself, which are a source of continuous fascination to all who visit them. One is an unique banyan tree on private property, and the other is the shape of a South Shore rock whose outline everyone interprets differently.

Overall, he is proud to be a member of a profession whose drivers he says are unique and whose vehicle standards are high.

"Bermuda has some of the finest taxi drivers in the world, and what makes them unique is that they come from all walks of life. You have doctors, lawyers, dental technicians, policemen and teachers driving cabs. The Island also has some of the cleanest taxis anywhere."

Viewed overall, he says the industry's biggest problem is a lack of communication, and he is firmly in favour of the proposed central despatch service, but dead against the proposed global positioning system (GPS).

"The GPS is an unnecessary expense, and as a taxi owner it can serve me no benefit. If I had a fleet of taxis and was operating a GPS system myself then yes, I would want to know the location of every vehicle," he says.

But what if the GPS system is implemented anyway?

"Then I feel it should be operated by the owners of the vehicles, not the taxi service or the Government," he responds.

As for taxi drivers reaching consensus on this issue, the Bermuda Sunshine awardee acknowledges that this is difficult to achieve in Bermuda because the majority of drivers also own their vehicles.

"When you sit down and do business collectively you are dealing with 500 independent businesses, so the opinions of various owners differ, and rightly so. It's not like Las Vegas, for example, whose approximately 3000 cabs are owned by six people."

However, he is clear on where he thinks the proper focus of Bermuda's drivers should be vis-?-vis the proposed central despatch system.

"The main thing is serving the public, and they will definitely get better service through a central despatch system because many more calls can be answered simultaneously," he says. "I should not be concerned about how much money the other driver is making, nor how much work the other driver gets. As long as I am putting in the necessary hours and serving the public, and I am satisfied with what I am earning, that is all that is necessary."

Because tours form only a portion of his business, particularly in the off season, he spends most of his time driving at night, largely as a result of having worked for decades in the hotel industry. He is, however, aware of the dangers, but like most drivers has developed an instinct for avoiding potentially troublesome passengers, who he says give off certain signals.

"I always tell people to stand under a light and put their hand out 50 yards before I get to them," he says.

Off duty, the father of three is a devoted family man. He has been married to Juliet for 45 years, and has three daughters, Bethea, Vanara, and Juliet, and three granddaughers, Tennille, Martina and Raven, as well as the best mother-in-law and friend in the world", Hattie Richardson.

He and his wife enjoy travelling, and his hobbies are photography and fishing.

"Fishing is not only challenging, it is a game that is good for the mind," he says. "It is also a very competitive sport, and in July, 1989 I fished in a tournament and caught a world record blackfin tuna weighing 42 lbs. on 20-lb. test line. It was the biggest one ever caught at the time, and the record stood for at least ten years. It also tied the all-tackle record, which is held by another Bermudian, Alan Card."

On dry land, Mr. Pearman likes to photograph ships, flowers and sunsets, but surprisingly does not keep a camera in his cab.

Of winning the VIP third quarter Bermuda Sunshine Award, the successful Bermudian says: "It was my second nomination but my first win. I was surprised and not surprised because I am a firm believer that if you strive hard to accomplish something you shouldn't be surprised at the results."