Thursday, August 27, 2015

Slow down Friday


   I spy with my little eye something spying on me !!!
         Promoting Lucozade sport

  Two houses in Stillorgan built on end of terrace sites. Back to back as well


Yes folks, this is the day when the boys in blue decide to have a big fund raiser.
This Friday from 7am until 7am Saturday they will be hiding behind poles and walls trying to catch you out.
"Raffle tickets going on the Malahide Rd" used to be the signal to slow down in the days of the radio dispatcher.

So slow down and have pints in the pub and not points on your license.

Some people have all the luck.
A Russian lady was in the taxi who is looking for work as an accountant,
With 8 years work in the department of finance in Moscow she has no Irish work experience and can't get any either.
How is she lucky?
She had her daughter when she was 21 and now her daughter is 16 and the mother really only looked 21 herself.
Some people just have great genes.
She misses home as we all did when we went away.
But I hope she gets a lucky break soon and a chance to prove herself.
She had a great personality and will go far in life given the chance.

A couple heading to the Shelbouorne hotel from the boat the other day.
"Gee that was a great trip here. Thanks for all the information and the map as well.
 €20.60, Just round it up to €21.....Make it simpler"
I must try that one in Washington DC.

A Polish girl said to me.
"In Poland we speak Polish,
In Italy they speak Italian,
In France they speak French.

John, do you know where this is going? why is there no Irish language?"

So I explained as best as I could.
She has gone on to learn a lot of Irish for herself, but I haven't seen her for more than a year.





Perhaps we should learn a little bit.


Sunday, August 23, 2015

Eugene Kavanagh RIP

 There is a pub in Glasneven which has become famous through the years.


The present owner has passed over.

A great place for a wonderful pint, no music, no TV, just wholesome chat.


Farewell Eugene RIP

 

Historic Irish Pubs Kavanaghs

      
This pub is one of Dublin's hidden gems, located on a quiet square by a now little-used gate into Glasnevin cemetery.

The pub's first licensee was John O'Neill, who was owner of the Prince of Wales Hotel on the North Wall and who originally used the premises on Prospect Square as his family residency.
However, he converted part of his home into a pub in 1833, a year after Glasnevin cemetery opened its gates to receive the dead for the first time.
Daniel O'Connell is said to have played a major role in securing the pub's good fortunes in its earliest years, because he campaigned for a new road to what was then the cemetery's main gates, so that funeral processions would not have to pas via a tollgate. The pub returned the favour by mainly stocking O'Connell's Ale.
John O'Neill was licensee for almost a year when he handed over the business to his son-in-law John Kavanagh in 1835 after he had married Suzanne O'Neill. Remarkably, John and Suzanne had 25 children. Three of their sons served in the Union Army in the American Civil War, with all three being mentioned for bravery after the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1867, one of the three war heroes, Joseph Kavanagh, briefly returned to Ireland, but was forced to return to America, where he spent another 10 years, after being targeted by Dublin Castle as a Fenian activist.
When Joseph returned again in 1877, he was no longer regarded as suspect and was free to become the pub's new licensee. Shortly after he took over, the business suffered a loss in trade when the original cemetery gates were closed and new gates were opened on the Finglas Road. Ever after, the main funeral business went to Hedigan's on Prospect Road, a pub that features in James Joyce's Ulysses and which has been in the same family since 1904. In a bid to attract customers, Joseph added a shooting range and a skittle alley to the premises, but these were not long-term successes.
In 1907, the licence passed to Joseph's son John H. Kavanagh, but he died at a relatively young age in 1920 and the licence passed on to his wife Josie. During her tenure, the bar was known as either ‘Josie's' or ‘The Widows', tow nicknames that remained current until the 1950s.
In 1943, the licence passed to Josie's son John M. Kavanagh, who ran the business with his brother Fintan. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the pub included a grocery counter, which remained in operation until the 1950s. Today, behind the bar you can still see the drawers where tea, snuff, tobacco and spices were stored.
The current licensee is Eugene Kavanagh, a stepson and nephew of John M. Kavanagh. Eugene was eight years old when his father, Michael Kavanagh, died and he spent two and a half years in an orphanage until his mother, Ellen (Nellie) Edgeworth, married her dead husband's brother.
During the 1950s and the 1960s, the pub suffered trading difficulties, because of the general economic situation in Ireland and the pub's out of the way location. ‘ We were not the only pub to suffer,' says Eugene. ‘One of the reasons that there are so few old family pubs in Dublin is that a lot of publicans could no longer afford to pay their staff. Running a pub became too much hard work.'
As John M. Kavanagh grew older, the workload started to become too much for him and the pub's opening hours were reduced to evenings only. His sons took their turns helping him when the bar was open, but they were limited in the assistance they could give because each of them had their own full-time jobs. In 1973, Eugene quit his job in Guinness's and bought the pub from his family to try and make a go of it himself.
‘Luckily, my father's lack of business enthusiasm meant that the pub wasn't gutted during the formica and plastic era in the 1960s,' he says. It is still a lovely old pub in its original condition.' While the grocery counter is gone, most of the interior décor is original, including the bar counter and a partition that once separated the drinking area from the grocery.
Gradually, the pub began to be rediscovered and as the local economy improved so did business, with Eugene adding a lounge, which is twice the size of the bar, in 1980.
Today, the pub is known widely as ‘The Gravediggers', a nickname that Eugene says was coined by workers at the newly guilt Glasnevin Industrial Estate in the 1970s. ‘Lately, semi-yuppies have taken to calling it ‘the Diggers', he adds. ‘I have never used either of these names to promote the pub. Indeed, I have never promoted the pub; my policy is to serve quality drink at a reasonable price and hope that word-of-mouth will bring more customers here.
‘If the pub was used by gravediggers, there are not many of them about now. When the cemetery first opened, it had nine acres and 60 gravediggers; today it is 79 acres and a dozen gravediggers with a JCB. We now get customers from all over; at the weekend, over 50 per cent of our customers are women.'
Looking to the future, Eugene hopes that one of his six children will take the licence on after him. He says: ‘If it doesn't stay in the family, it will never be sold. I will set up a trust to run the pub, if I have to. I can understand why my sons and daughters wouldn't want to take it on, as the work is hard and long. My main aim every night is to get to bed before daybreak, but you cannot sell heritage.'
Extracts from 'The Story of the Irish Pub' by Cian Molloy, supplied with permission of the Liffey Press. For more information on the book check the Liffey Press website.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

TRY A LITTLE HARDER



Something for the weekend





 When you think about your future think about this guy, I met him a few years ago.
His name is Rasheed and he works for cyclone couriers.
He is living HIS dream. He wants to be an airline pilot and he is doing it!
This week he is in South Africa and then when he gets his wings he has a job in Pakistan.
After a few years he will be back in Ireland he hopes.

We can all sit back and not try to stretch ourselves.. Look at captain Rasheed.
(Sorry if the spelling is wrong)
Yes folks it looks like a piece of the Berlin Wall but it was the last piece standing of Windmill Lane
The home of music in Dublin during the 702 and Def Leopard recorded there.

GONE FOREVER.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Argentina taxi scam



So here is another scam from Argentina.
Believe me it really it happens!
I contacted a friend who lives there.
You just have to be awake to survive in this world of ours.
So where does the counterfeit money come from?


I bought a Kindlerecently, believe me it really is the thing of the future, it holds around 400 books and it is very compact. I bought a book on magic
and one on.
"MECHANICS AND HOW THEY CHEAT YOU"
or "Exposed:Auto Repair's Dirty Little Secrets to Rip you off".

It is well worth reading, even for someone as street wise as myself.

Once I had a garage tell me that he wouldn't let my my car out of his garage unless I had  £300 worth of repairs done. I called a friend who was a cub reporter at the time and a photographer to the garage.
"There is a tow truck on the way, the car will be taken to another garage,there it will be tested with an SIM inspector present.
You will be taken to court and exposed as a liar and a cheat.
From then on my friend it will be in the hands of the  media.
He let the car go.
There nothing wrong with it at all..

So download that book to your kindle and educate yourself.

Another book you might find on Amazon is "Cheats at work"
They are in every walk of life.

I had solicitors try to cheat me badly twice.
Could you believe it? They are supposed to enforce the  law.


Tomorrow I meet my tax accountant and mountains of receipts will be reduced to 4 or 5 sheets of paper. Tomorrow the worries will end until next year.

But I must start doing my tax bit by bit.

Like my German friend, Weekly. Monthly, 1/4ly 1/2 yearly 3/4 years estimate..Then the final accounts//He can compare any period over the decades..ASSHOLE.

The Germans do not like suspense..

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Death and Taxes


 This is the masses of packing that came with my rear light cluster from micksgarage.ie
               Lucozade promotional buggies.

This house is called Xanadu once the Cuban home of the DuPonts' it is in bad repair.
The sea has undermined a bit of the front lawn, lots of damp too.
When I saw it I told the person in charge if they didn't take care of it they should knock it down.
But it is a prize of the revolution


There are 2 things sure in this life,death and taxes.
Tax I try to nail down and I spent the whole morning doing tots.
Taxi drivers pay HailO 12.5% of each job they are sent. On top of that they also pay an extra 3% if it is a credit card job.Plus VAT.
I totted up that I payed HailO €1246 last year in commissions. On top of all that you don't get the €2 call out charge that you are entitled to for each pick-up.
So I ventured around 4.30pm to go to the shops and I picked up someone going into town.
Then on Pierce St. a girl stopped me and she was heading towards Baggott St. She had no cash and said she would be paying by credit card. I said that there was a 3% charge for credit cards and she got all high and mighty with me. She had never been charged extra for using a credit card before.
Now one point of action was to tell her to leave and find another taxi and she didn't want to use an ATM either.
It is a pity I didn't think of Ryan air,had she not been charged for paying with a credit card? but I suggested that she tried to use "Pay with HailO" Its a feature of the app and you can pay off your HailO account. She moved up another active when she saw that there was a charge to her for the credit card facility.
I just said pay now and complain later, the pity was that I hadn't known that right there on the fare card it states
 "Credit card 5% maximum charge."
After all If you don't get paid there and then and you have to buy a credit card  machine, you should get compensated somehow.

The next guy in was from Aberystwyth in Wales, and you couldn't meet a nicer man.
His mission was to attend 5 football matches in 4 countries in 7 days !
Perhaps it was 7 matches in 4 countries in 5 days.
But him luck I wish in his quest.
Welsh language is becoming more popular every day he told me, Irish language is dying every single day. He told me that he went to his local pub and there was a Polish lad and an Irish lad with another man from South Wales   All speaking Welsh, all the kids speak Welsh in school until they are 7.Then they learn to speak English (With a laugh)

An accountant go in and I told him I was doing all my tots for the tax man.
"Keep your records for 6 years" he said
He told me that the taxman can go back 6 years by law.
I have a mountain of recites and I didn't claim for meals out or clothes.

It is hard work without getting your 5%. on top



Saturday, August 08, 2015

Happy birthday HailO



So HailO has been around in Ireland for 3 years, in that time it has grown in size to become the biggest taxi company in Ireland, all this in 3 years.

Tomorrow the Iron Man is coming to Dublin  click here 
So from 7.30am until 10.30am a customer from the south side going to the airport will have to be brought right around the M50 adding around €40 on to the trip, I do feel that they could have worked it that at least one bridge could have been kept open.
I am sure it will be a great event, so come to see men and women of Iron Swim, Cycle and Run through the city streets.


Well I am still pretty mad with the law after hearing that a guy got 12 only years jail with 2 years suspended for raping a 14 year old girl.

I would bet if it was the judges daughter the criminal would never get out.

What price can you put on the sanity and happiness of a child?

The law is a complete ass.

 Back to the world,,I bought a Kindle, it can hold 400 books, so then I bought my first book.

"The art of magic" by T Nelson Downs
I noticed one strange thing there is a note that says
"This book is made available by the internet archive"
It is an actual copy of a library book belonging to Cornell University.

Can they really do this?
Is there no rights to another mans printing work?
Can they just scan books and sell them again?

It says there are no known copyright restrictions in the USA for this book

Though it is s great classic book of magic.

Thursday, August 06, 2015

70 year old taxi driver stabbed 30 times !

A elderly taxi driver was robbed and stabbed more than 30 times the other day.
70 years old trying to make pocket money for his grandchildren and this happens to him.

What do you think? An elderly lady of 87 had her pelvis broken in a €20 robbery.
The guys who did it will have had previous convictions and have a drug or drink problem.

A guy broke into  a house in Clontarf and the 80+ occupant beat him out of the house with her walking stick!!!!!!!!!!! When he was caught and came to court he had over 40 previous convictions.

The law is an ass, drug dealers and Garda work hand in hand, the courts are a joke and for murder you might get you 2/3 years. Once upon a time you would not re offend for sure.
In the Isle of Man they used the birch on minor offenders, 
15 lashes
and they never came back for second helpings.
They also had a policy that the person had to pay for the damage caused.

You beat the crap out of an intruder in your house and he will sue you for assault..
In my home the intruder should know.
"Sorry buddy, I don't do assault only GBH"

So if you are a taxi driver working the moonlight shift here is a tip from me.

"Remember that stiff shoulder you sometimes get? Or the bad knee?"

Buy deep heat spray and put tape from the front of the nozzle down the back of the spray can.
Then tape a straw on to the back of it.
Now when you put it into your hand you can feel the straw on your palm and you know which way the nozzle is pointing..

If you use CS gas spray your attacker can claim you came ready armed to attack him.
But with the deep heat it was just for your bad knee etc.

I had heard that 2 guys were hijacking taxis a few years ago and I had them in the taxi, the amazing thing was that the black guy was mute..I had a CCTV system in the taxi and I stopped the taxi in the middle of the road in Ballybough.
"Right lads the game is over, that is a camera and HQ was notified 10 minutes ago !"
They paid up and got out, the Garda said as the guys had not robbed me they would not be interested in looking at the tape.... FU2

What this country needs is a proper prison, no more Mr Nice guy, cages.


  

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Show jumping and sand sculptures.

       "The wall" arrives for the show jumping at the RDS. A week of quality horse trading.


The sand sculptures have arrived into Dublin castle courtyard.