Friday, February 26, 2010

Rugby weekend


I suppose when you turn 100 you expect a few cards.


2 shops on Fredrick St.North




The weekend beckons and it should be a good one.The first months wages which haven't been spent before the workers get their hands on it.

In the coffee shop this morning I found a €2 coin. "oh that's the homeless boy, people give him money and he leaves it in the shop, stuck into odd corners. He is afraid that the older boys would beat him up to get the money from him."

I think we need to do a lot for the vulnerable people in our midst.

We could manage well on 1/3 of the politicians, working for 10% of their present pay.
Pensions only payable when they are not working and one pension only.
They have lost their way.


Scooting around Barrow St I decided to go around to Gordon St to meet Gordon Kellett the Saab dealer, he is from my home town.
On the way round I met a girl called Pamela who had the most beautiful speaking voice I ever heard, it turns out that her mother is Swedish and she was brought up in London.( So the accent is a mix) Strange to say she has the accent but can't speak Swedish.She could make a fortune doing voice overs for radio.I know there is a place off Baggott St. I brought the voice of the financial regulator there once.

Just off the phone from my cousin asking me all about my long lost relation Henry James who did good in the USA.
You always forget to check these things up when the people who have the information are alive. A fair bit of my family tree is on the net, its a pity it is mostly dates, I would rather read the stories, some have written a book about the ramblings of the clan..When I break a leg I will study it all.
You should never go up your family tree, you might meet a monkey coming down.

Well the night was not good, I just couldn't catch the fish. Too many trawlers out.
One girl I brought from the Westbury to Kinsealy e30 on the meter."Its usually only e25"She told me I should have gone on the M1".It turned out it was closed for road works anyhow,the port tunnel closed too, people were stuck in it for 3 hours or more. No reason given.
Everyone is having cutbacks. I hear that the bookshop Hughes and Hughes has gone into admin.Rents are high in Dawson St. and would you be arsed to go into town to find a book when you could just click your mouse and have it.
Or if you were a real smart arse download it on to your kindle.

I also hear that a big taxi operator who has been at the front pushing for taxi drivers to give 20% discounts is in big trouble himself.....Property speculation has come back to bite him on the backside.

Its all like deja vous ....again

Ah well I will go to bed and try again tomorrow night.

Good night, sleep tight,don't let the bed bugs bight.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Back to work


Personalised number.!


A Tank at the Imperial war museum

A Flea circus! www.svensons.co.uk

Its always a bit of an anti climax when you are heading towards a big event, then it comes and it becomes an anti climax.
If I was hoping for work to pick up my hopes have been crushed....more and more taxis.
It must be a great joke for visitors. "I just went to look at my watch and 20 taxis stopped". Or "I was pointing the Spire out to my wife and 3 taxis stopped". It is a fact that at night if a couple are kissing goodbye a taxi or two will stop.

Young guys with house and car loans are in great pain.
You couldn't keep a Budgie on the work that's out there now.

I have been painting plumbing and putting down a new floor after the leak.

Day by day I feel like I am becoming Larry David.



Just not happy unless I can fix it myself.

I had a mad moment the other day, a can of Guinness was empty in the middle of a pack, so I went back to the shop. No problem you might think.
"Have you got a receipt for this?"
"Well you see I have no way of knowing whether it was damaged before I sold it to you, or whether it was damaged in your house,"

She would not change it even though the ring was not pulled.

I know my friend Arthur would change the can, after all I have consumed a good number of tubes of Guinness in my day.

Just 2 observations from life.

Before the break I went into my coffee shop and I saw a bar of chocolate at the sugar and sturing spot.
I had seen one there before and I said it to the shopkeeper. "No, David the homeless boys buys chocolate every morning, all he needs is the silver paper"

Work it out for yourself.

2 guys come to Blackpool, I saw them at least 3 times that I have been there. They hold hands and walk around together. One is BLIND and DEAF his mate "Tells" him what is going with sign language which he has to touch on to the other guys hand !

I was told that they are subsidized by the magicians, It is a triumph of man over adversity for sure.

Mick Miller was the MC for one of the shows he is very sharp.

"My girlfriend must have had 61 other boyfriends, she calls me her sixty second lover"
I never went to the Embassy club in Manchester with my cousin, now he is gone and so is Bernard Manning.


When I get back to it all I will have tales of the high road again.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Blackpool


The lectures by a magician in the Spanish hall. The camera projects the lecture on to 2 big screens so everyone can see.

A view of the dealers hall 125 dealers in all


David Williamson with kids !

The tower in the snow.

Special lighting effects near the Winter Gardens

Freak circus

Circus of old
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Old nags on bags

Fire on the streets display

The guy on the right is Franz Hirari !

the imperial war meusium

the bridge that lifts up to let ships pass.


The MU Grounds
Pit props pass by the platform in Preston.
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The new BBC HQ in Manchester

China town Manchester fantastic...





Well as they say "Been there ,done that,here's the tee shirt"

Back home from the Blackpool magicians convention safe and sound.
And much wiser.
I flew over via Manchester and went to see an exhibition of photographs by in the Imperial War Museum north.



As he says "Dark photographs"

Strange thing is that anyone I asked where the imperial war meusum was didn't know where it was, so I asked a taxi man and we headed off for a £10 trip.

Its close to the MU HQ in old Trafford and it is not in Manchester it's in Salford which is where the song "Dirty old town" was written about.
It sure looks great now.
I asked in the Lowrey centre to get back into Manchester. and went in by tram, a great way to go.

Then I caught the train to Blackpool.
I met a guy called Darren Mason on the train who gave me a discount card and told me about a great Indian restaurant Terrys Balti house on Clifton St.
Well Darren we waited for 1 1/2 hours before the food arrived! and it was barley lukewarm. The chips on my friends plate were soggy and the steaks were as tough as old boots.
Then after complaining we ate and when the bill came thay said that we had not shown them the discount card at the start of the meal. In spite of having held it up like a free pass coming in, asking if it was good here and leaving it in full view at all times.
We did get the discount in the end,but I just had to ask them if they did all that on purpose or had they been sent in by another restaurant to close this one down ....as this one must close by the carry on.
I sometimes watch "Hells Kitchen", when I eat I feel that I have come to the places where his rejects finish up.
I must learn HOW to complain.
On TV when I was resting Egon Roney was going around all the outlets in Heathrow reviewing the food...Well he came to the staff canteen and after sampling and spitting out the food..HE CLOSED IT DOWN. The girl in charge said "I just thought he was an ordinary customer, MR Roney said "I wouldn't give that food to a dog"

I have eaten bad food and said nothing, that is not good.

If you are into Magic the Blackpool convention is the one in the British Isles. 3 days of magic, 125 magic dealers. Many competitions, a showcase of talent show Plus a Gala show.
We had Franz Harary



David and Diana did a star turn..Saw them 3 times

That last change is something to see live.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Runner to start my day


This is James's gate Home of the black stuff.
Note the ID card flat on the dash.


Wests soon to close its doors Est 1720


A fancy garden in Fairview.

Today started off with a runner.

Picked her up in North Strand going to Dolphin House court.
She had asthma and she told me that she was going for custody of her son, he had been taken from her a year ago and she really missed him.
She hopped out and said, "I'm just going in to get yer money" and off she went.
I got the feeling that she had done a runner and then I parked up and asked the clerk at the desk where she had gone, "second floor".
When she saw me coming she dashed up the stairs and into a courtroom, I rushed in and pulled her out by the collar, followed by a court usher.
I explained my case and the 3 of us went down to the front desk.
I spoke to the Garda on duty and he told her that she must pay. "But I don't have any money".
He told her to get it.
I cut my losses then and told the Garda to follow it up and put the money in the poor box.

I am not a hard harted bastard, she knew she had no money, she could have taken the bus into town, but she will have money for drugs and she won't care what she has to do to get it. The judge would be mad to give her back her kid, I wouldn't give her a goldfish to take care of never mind a child.

I cruised around and managed to get onto the back of the Heuston rank where Allah be praised I got a run to Dun Laoighre and when I was dropping her off I got a lift back to Heuston ! Good compensation that.

So for the rest of the day I watched my windows being fitted.
One of the frames broke when they were putting it in and they phoned head office in Moy Co Tyrone, they made another one and rushed it down before 3.pm.
Now I am double glazed so the noise of the traffic should be gone.

So there is my Summer holidays. In windows.....,,,,,

Mardi Gras is a big day in Brazil Carnival time...Get your feathers out.
I got a visitor from Brazil the other day 10 centavos. I will give it to my friend from Brazil and she can bring it home again. Strange how it looks so much like Euro. You would have thought that they would have looked at all the coins in the world before designing the Euro. There are coins from Thailand which appeared as soon as the Euro did..very close, so easy to pass on.
Not that I ever would.
The Australian notes are the best in the world...Never been forged and made of plastic they last forever...
Today saw Ryanair offer 300 jobs to Dublin if they could have a recently vacated hanger at Dublin airport.
The minister of transport had not returned calls SO. M O'leary said, phone a friend . Well the jobs are going to Europe.
You see the DAA are a law unto thremselves.
Taxi drivers have paid them over e3 million and they have the worst conditions ever.

Many people come to Ireland to learn English.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Valintines inquest.


They were making a movie.

This is a Garda "stunt"car.

It has exploding panels etc.
It also has UK number plates.

Well the Chinese new year came in, but when I was making out a cheque I still keep putting down Ox instead of Tiger...!

Well they said in the paper that the firemen rescued €500,000 from a safe in the basement of that head shop which went on fire.

Was this legal cash or money syphoned off from the business?

We're in the wrong game, we should be selling "legal" drugs to kids.
The Sunday paper carried an account of a kids funeral.
He died when he became addicted to those same legal safe drugs.

Valentines day worked out a bit of a damp squib for me. Saturday night was quiet, I went home at 2am, back out at 8am and I made €45 in the first hour and a half, more than the Saturday night. How mad is that?.

I did hear that for the restaurants it was the same.
People are staying at home, if they are going out they are coming home early.
Nothing wrong with a steak dinner at home with a bottle of wine.
1/2 the price and no hastle getting home.

Taxis are a luxury and people are cutting back on luxuries.

Just how bad is it for some people?

I picked up a guy who does repossessions on behalf of the lenders.
"We have 6,000 immanent repossessions on our books, I did 3 on Friday.
We just go in and change the locks, read the meters and secure the building.
They are mostly investment properties. The buyer had a good job, there was a willing rental market and they took the plunge, but there are no tenants now and rents are falling.

The big problem for the investor is that when we sell the property he will still owe a substantial amount and the investor may have lost his own job, this has a knock on effect, as his own home may be held as collateral."
His own uncle had bought an apartment and finds himself the only resident in the whole complex.
Talk about how things have changed, it is no time at all since developments like that were sold off the plans, only to be sold on again on completion at a vastly inflated price.

My Lord and master Google are looking for new offices? The current rent of €6million per year in Barrow St.is a bit high! They claim according to the Sunday Times that certain things which were in their lease were not delivered,,,,rent reduction? or will they be taking away their big plastic balls, jelly bean dispensers and table tennis tables to a newer cheaper location?

How the mighty have fallen, their landlord,a decent sort is in hot,hot water.

I thank God that I never flew so high, not that I didn't have ambition, but I have had a fear of property for at least 5 years or more, this stems from seeing property prices in th UK, France, Italy and the USA. It never made sense to me that you could buy a villa in the south of France with views of the Med. for less than a house in Bayside in Sutton. You could buy 2 houses in the USA one in Florida and another in Vegas for the price of one in Dublin.
Before the crash in the USA the criteria for getting a loan was.

"Can you fog a mirror?"

ie. If you are alive you can have the loan.
Then these loans became "toxic"and were sold as "investments" to banks which then had to be given loans so that they could continue to pay themaslves massive bonusis.

While you and I still have to go to work for less money.
WE will have to work for longer too as our pensions have taken a hammering.

I will survive. I will work at different things, I will cut my own timber for fuel, I will paint my house and cut back on expenses.
No foreign holidays this year.

But we will not suffer like the folks in Heiti.

So lets get things into perspective.

Kathleen Doyle.(taxi regulator) Its good to talk.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Head shop gone









Friday morning and Capel St. is closed to all traffic.
The local head shop is on fire,gone in a puff of smoke. The fire raged for around 6 hours before being put under control. Capel St will be closed until Monday.
Head shops sell "Legal drugs"and they have been opening all over the city in the past year. This particular shop has been open on a 24 hour basis at weekends. To the great annoyance of local people.
Well there will be deaths and at least I for one think that they should be all closed down, or made legal with proper permits.

I had an Indian doctor in the car telling me about trying to sedate kids who come in to him high on the drugs that they bought legally. He was as mad as hell about them.
OK if they are licsnced to sell drugs let everyone know the source of the drugs, let's see the label how these drugs are manufactured...
It is just another example of how our great leaders are out of touch with what is happening on the streets.

Just another example of how we are changing as a people came to light last week.
A woman went off to England to visit her boyfriend leaving her kids home alone. The kids aged a few months 5 years and 12 years old.. Seems to me that we have a few contestants for the Gerry Springer show going around.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

D.I.Y.




I told you that if you needed a car radiator you should go to Bond St. behind Guinness, well now Gary stocks the full range of oil and air filters at a really good price.
Wipers and bulbs he will fit for you and he has a mind like Google when it comes to cars.
Time to take control of some of your costs.

Roy in his blog was having trouble with a garage, nothing new there.

I have been doing my own oil changes and simple servicing for years.
Every time I lapse back into going to the garage I get stung again!
If I need brakes I go to the brake man, exhausts I go to the other place.

Look! a gallon of the best oil and new filters comes in at less than €80,(this includes the pollen filter) you can change the oil and filters in a car in less than one hour.
So why waste a day at the garage.
In the UK you can rent out a service bay for your work and if you need a mechanic there is one there is there who will give you a hand out, its big business.
If you buy a set of socket wrenches and use them only once they have paid for themselves.
I have been buying a magazine for years called "Car mechanics"
They had an article in an issue I was reading about a Massarati, a home service. Well this guy had bought one and they talked him through the steps...
The oil has 6 drain points and the car has a dry sump!
Food for thought there and the air filter is located inside the front nearside wing !
So you have to take off the wheel and the wheel arch to get at the filter...Which had never been changed in spite of the car having had 3 fill services. each service costing over £1,500
Every issue of this mag gives you at least one secret of the motor trade..It really is good reading, I keep it beside my bed.
They had a special 50th year addition last year, I well remember one addition where there was a 45rpm record which played the sounds of a worn big end, noisy tappets etc.

Learn how to code a key yourself.

Did you know that if you have one of the faulty E class Mercs and it dies for no reason you can get her going again?
Leave the window and drivers door open, pop the bonnet, disconnect the battery for 5 mins, connect it up again and the on board computer re-boots itself and off you go again.
When the battery is re connected the doors lock themselves, so you don't want to be locked out.
You have to feel for Mr.Toyoda, he takes over his grandads company and has to preside over all those recalls, costing Toyota Billions.
Nothing wrong with My Prius though, nothing wrong with any Toyota I ever bought, I will be buying Toyota again and again.

Well here we are heading into St.Valentines weekend.
Did you know that there is a relic of St.Valentine in a church in Dublin?
It is in Whitefriars St. church on Auinger St.
There is supposed to be a black Madonna there too, but she just has a light tan.

Religion is a funny thing.A friend of mine was very sick he had cancer and a priest came to visit him,he brought a mitten from Padre Pio to bless him with it. John,the patient who is not at all religious told the priest to brace himself. Then he showed him his two hands which were bleeding from the palms....."I think I caught that myself said John"
The poor old priest was gobsmacked and took it as a sign for the good.
John did very well he just built a house in his garden which he has rented out, he has been to Las Vegas for a trip and life is for living !



There is no excuse for not going out.
Specials at Little Cesar's near the WESTBURY.

Now on the 14th it is the Chinese New Year, so rush into your local take away and say.
Happy New Year, I'm feeling lucky,, give me Nr.13.

Year of the Tiger, I hope it doesn't stink as much as the last one.

I am still carrying a passing er, in my head..
I picked her up on James's Sr near the hospital going to Ushers Quay.
If she weighed 5 stone that was it..Skin and bone.
Junkies and people with aids really upset me, in one respect I could drive past them, but they always pay..It is the waste of a life that upsets me and that "there but for the grace of God go you or I".
This girl has very little time to live, she complained of the cold, wearing pajamas would not have helped her situation. The trip was not eventful, nothing bad happened, but I can't put her out of my mind because she was so far gone.

You know if an animal was suffering like that you would put them down and end their misery..If I was in charge I would follow the line back to the one who imported the drugs on the first day and take them out too..

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Spring ?


The Spanish embassy

Eddie Rockets car


Ranelagh church.

Lennox st,hidden Dublin 3 houses through a doorway.

Toyota have apologised for not spotting the fault which causes loss of control.

They would have noticed it sooner if the Yaris had actually been bought by men.


I was looking through old papers when I came across the results of the sale in Bonhams vintage car auction. It was a Bugatti which had been in the bottom of a lake in Switzerland for 70 years. click here for the story. Now when it did go under the hammer it sold for €260,500 it is absolute scrap.

But when I googled it I found footage of that Bugatti Viron crashing!

Money and brains do not always go together.

Contains strong language !


An ad break.


Did you notice Snowdrops and Daffodils as you drive around ?
Spring is coming for sure, the birds are really loud in the mornings, spring is in the air for sure.
Pancakes and Easter are coming.

Today I drove around for 2 hours from 8.30 am without getting a single fare.
I couldn't even get onto a rank.
Still you have to take the good along with the bad.

Its good to have a nagging wife to keep you going.
I came back home to paint and move furniture, seems like its time to put Willie Nelson on the CD player!

Once we had a big CD player and I couldn't work it. I got tired of asking the kids to turn it on so I tried myself. Well I got it working and I was real proud of myself until the CD finished off and I opened it up and turned the CD over to play the other side, they still laugh at that.

"If you had brains you'd be dangerous" as the Dublin woman says.

Things muddle on so I hope I will be at the docks when my ship comes in.
This Friday the Euromillions will be somewhere around €220 million, If I win I will take Tuesdays off and the rest of the week as well.

I was just looking at the stat counter on the blog, I had a visitor from Vanuatu, I remember that place from my days in the international telephone exchange.
To travel there would be great.

The issues are still rumbling on...Far too many taxis.
No taxi to be older than 9 years old after next year.
8,000% rise in the cost of the PSV licence.
No rank space.
The regulator turning a blind eye to the illegal taxis which are operating.
The persistent snatchers who operate at Heuston station, pulling up in front of the rank when a train comes in.

e mail info@irishtaxicouncil.org.

Monday, February 08, 2010

There was cake


Yes it should read Mabel

The birthday girl shares a joke with Senator David Norris.

On Saturday we were invited to a very special birthday party.
Mabel had achieved the ripe old age of 100 ! Born in 1910 she lived through the civil war, two world wars and saw more changes in her long life.
She got a letter from the President and a cheque.
Funny thing is that you could never call Mabel old, not really.
She cooks and cleans for herself, she lives on her own and she keeps me up to speed with the news.The only thing she cannot do in the last while is shopping, she gives me a list and is delighted when I find her special offers. She is as sharp as a tack really.
Here's to the next century, her mum lived to be 103.
`
A funny thing happened to me the other night.
I was hailed down on Baggott St by a tall girl with a white jacket. She hopped in and off we went. As it was early to be going home I asked why she was going home or had she just finished work.
This proved to be the opening for a great trip.
Well she had fled from a blind date !, the guy was a geek of the worst kind.
This opened up a great conversation about what attracts one person to another.
Did you ever notice how guys of 6'3" are attracted to girls of 5'3".
Or really clever girls marry complete dunces.
The better looking the girl the uglier the spouse, look at Wayne Rooney then look at Coleen, and she doesn't even play football.
Or take that guy Bernie Eccelstone who ran F1, what brought them together, though now parted.
In the south of France a few years ago I saw scores of young girls on the arms of men in their 60s and 70s...Now what could attract them to each other, I wonder?

When she said that she was a receptionist in a plastic surgery clinic the conversation moved to a much higher plain..I had had a fright in my local supermarket when a woman turned around in front of me and her whole face was a complete mess, big swollen lips and her skin was all pulled tight over her skull.
She looked like she had been stung by wasps and had taken a bad reaction...Not good.She was shocked herself because we both jumped back startled.
She by my expression and me by her ghastly mask.
I don't know how anyone could do that to themselves.
I must confess I got such a shock that I did not look down at her chest, probably just as well.

So before we arrived back at my customers house she said that she would buy coal and briquettes and light a nice fire.

I have been thinking how it is so much by random that we meet the right person, another time perhaps we would have made each other perfectly miserable.
But that night I had a great time.

I told her of a plastic surgeon I had in the car once who hated the boob jobs but I told him of a charity who wanted someone to do plastic surgery in India with the burned brides, a tragic situation where the husband throws the paraffin lamp on his sleeping wife to kill her, sometimes she lives but is disfigured.
So now he works with cleft pallets an skin grafts..
Then the gets well paid for giving western women bigger boobs.
Now everyone is happy.
Sometimes you need a middle man (or woman)

Things picked up for the weekend, the rugby created a buzz, but I had to finish early both nights, There was dense fog around Portmarnock on Saturday night and I had to stop on the way home when it was safe, and sleep for 20 mins just so I could drive home.
You know, that is a very dangerous practice.
We shouldn't have to work so hard.

This is for those of you who don't live in Ireland.
Des Bishop sees us for what we are..


Just as Des mentions Coke...Remember Katie French who died from coke.
A beautiful girl, or am I wrong. Still an awful waste.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Quickie.

A guy in a restaurant said to the server that what he really wanted was a quickie !
She clattered him and walked off,his friend said the word is quiche !

So I will give you this. Elvis and comedy!

So for Paddy.


Now go to see that show coming up in the Olympia, he is really good and much cheaper than the real Elvis.

Now for Welsh comedy, good for those who travel.


Then if you were a spastic, would you have the balls to do stand up comedy.



Well I can never get enough of this guy!


And for Bobby my son


So one and all.

HAVE A NICE DAY

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Romans are coming.



This is an illustration for the book Peter and the wolf.
Drawn by, Bono of U2

When you do the grand tour of Guinness you finish up here, the atmospheric bar, with fine city views.



Black people love colour! Looking great too.
This exotic lady was at the opening of the film Invictus.
Her name is Yoyo she is 1/2 Zimbabwean 1/2 South African.

Here we are,heading into Thursday and the weekend is coming.
This weekend is a rugby weekend Ireland V Italy.
Not a great rugby nation,unlike the Welsh or French.Or the New Zealand people..Who..Eat sleep dream and live for rugby..My Mate John Barry used to tackle his wife in bed while asleep as he dreamed rugby.

A great guy RIP

So what of the ways of the world.?
You might ask.
I didn't work Friday or Saturday.

Instead I visited my extended family in Northern Ireland on the shores of Lough Neigh.
My middle son is married to a great girl up there, so my family is expanding.

I didn't work at all, even though this was the first pay day since before Christmas for those people who are paid monthly .

I am paid weekly... very weakly.

I have to get my act together , but this month I have a lot on.

This week DV a friend is having her 100Th birthday!

Wow imagine born on 5/2/1910 and still very much going strong!

She has seen some changes for sure.

She got her letter from the president congratulating her, it is a very well crafted piece of writing, perhaps if we all live to be 100 we will all get one.
Plus a cheque which will go to her great grandchildren I am sure.

Then the rugby!

Then the painting...walls, ceilings ,doors and skirting boards.

Then that fantastic magicians convention coming up in Blackpool!

Sure what else are credit cards for ? If not to put us in debt.

I am doing my best to put the economy back on track I will be spending around e8,000 extra this month.

So I hope things improve.

The Westbury rank must be the worst in the land, I went there for coffee on Monday, the newsagents in Grafton St make a great coffee for e1.99 with loyalty card!
The lads said that they did not have one fare since 9.30 It was then 12.30!
3 hours with no move, time to take a reality check.

It is said that a porter in that hotel works for a radio cab company, all night long he calls in cabs for customers, then in the morning he POPS the roof sign on his car and gets a few good jobs while he is driveing home.
Then there is another porter (it is said) who is on the take, or the make.
He calls a friend when an airport job comes up...This guy charges over the odds for the job (Well over the rate) and splits the difference with the porter.

I am not going to fight this kind of thing any more.

Whats the use ?

Every week the guys ripping people off become the norm.

If you are honest the best thing to do is to leave this game while the going is good.

I asked that you look at the Anderson Shelter blog a few weeks ago....That's the picture of whats happening in London, then that tragic story about the girl thrown from a taxi after the driver robbed them and drove off with thee door open.

When I was in London a taxi driver told me about his mate who should have known better, who got into a mini cab. The driver went into a cul de sac and 3 guys jumped into the car and robbed him.Then threw him out of the car.
The only thing he remembers is never to get into a minicab again.

Australia, Vietnam, Cyprus and Dublin the regulator is out of touch.

What about the driver who doesn't know where O'Connell St.is?

What about the driver in Phoenix AZ. Who knew nothing and was very annoyed when the passenger wouldn't give him directions...2 Days in USA driving a taxi...A Somalian

Well yesterday there was a discussion about the illegal taxi drivers.
One Chinese guy had everything fake. Driving licence,insurance, PSV licence.
Well he got jail!! Now theres a first.

Metinks he might have copied all his papers in Chinese, that's how they caught him..

No a while back they did do a few raids with social welfare, carriage office,immegration and customs and excise.
But its not happening often enough.

I am still thinking about an Italian lady from Milano that I picked up in Blackhall Place going to City West.
She just moved into a new house and she noticed that the lock on the back door was weak. The landlady said she would get a locksmith to fix it, but he never came.
Then in the middle of the night someone tried to kick in the door!
She had jammed an umberella against the door and it held.

Tell your landlady to upgrade your security or you will be out of there Pronto.

Well if she sends me an e mail I will get her in touch with the right people.