Saturday, April 30, 2011

May

We have made it through to the 1st. of May.
It is now Summer time, and the livin is easy.

we will celebrate with a holy song.



There has been notices around for a good few weeks asking the taxi drivers to stand up for themselves against the radio companies.
The radio companies have been offering 20 to 30% discount on the fare displayed on the meter. This they do at the expense of the driver, the base rate remains the same.
So on labor day "Workers of the world unite"

One worker who has been a trier all his life is Pat McDonagh of Supermacs he was on the Marian Finnucane show the other day. If you click here you can listen to it.

Winners are loosers who keep on trying.


An old cigarette poster in the Feryman pub window with the conferance center reflected in the glass.


A hen part passses along Thomans St, the bride wears the veil. Nut cases!


A crashed car, the air bags never deployed.
I think it must have been parked at the time.

Some people would dance around the May pole.
Others just dance.



Keep on smiling and be happy.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Spring in all her glory





A Gargoyle at Christchurch



Footsbarn theater is on click here
The big top is behind the O2, hidden away. its €20 a ticket and that is not a hell of a lot. City center to Sutton!

The weather over here is fantastic at present, the flowers are popping up all over the place and the trees are all in full bloom. Last week I was in the garden and saw a Red Admeril butterfly, these tiny creatures come here for the summer from hundreds of miles away. My cousin who lives in the country tells me that the swallows are back, the swallows which come to Ireland travel from South Africa.
What a trip for such a small creature. Nature really is incredible.

You would have to marvel at the pace of technology too. Not long ago there were no computers to speak of. The first game was tennis with a white dot which popped over and back. then Pac Man.
It seems like no time at all.
Now we have my son in Dublin playing a shooting/war game against his brother in London. Skype and email are here not to forget eBay.
Whatever you want you Google and a few days later it's at the door.
My big purchase from last week arrived today in perfect order.

A few months ago I had a lady in the taxi who dropped an earring. She was proof reading a book for her niece, the novel was on a computer.I went back at the time to find her with no luck.Now Dublin is a small town so I am going to contact the lady who was mentioned as her aunt in the newspaper article and ask her if it is her "diamond" I know it is safe here in the house somewhere.

Talk about long shots. A guy went to the races and puts €10 on a horse which won.
He buys into the Paddy Power Irish poker classic at the Burlington and yes he won, can't find the amount, but it was not far short of €500,000

The royal wedding is all the talk on the telly. All this will be followed by a royal visit of the British Queen.
Half of the budget for running the police force for the entire year will be used up,Barrack Obama is coming as well, so there will be no money left in the kitty for sure, perhaps we will have to ask the ECB to pay for it all.

Dublin will be shut down for the duration of these visits.
I should have arranged to go away for that period,at least I would have a bit of peace.

Hows about this for a workout !.



OK If you have been here before you would know Chris Bliss.
So click here !
I must have seen this 100 times, it is still great.
Notice how everyone stands up at the end.A great act for sure.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Easter





Smile


And again



Dublin's Greek Orthodox church


Speed camera opposite Odd Bins on the Clontarf Rd

Happy Easter to all my Christian riders!
Oh yes we are a multicultural society now.
I saw the people coming out of the Greek church in Arbour hill, "Christ is risen hallelujah"
Anyhow a bit of religion would do no harm.

One thing about taxi driving is that you have time to think and to meet people from different strata of society that you would not normally mix with.
The other morning on Friday at 8.30 I met 3 girls and a guy completely stoned out of their minds.They got in and spent 15 minutes discussing where they were going.
The ladies looked like models low cut blouses and suntan all over.
So we headed off to Baggott St for food. They went into the shop while I stretched my back. When they came back I asked where the other girl was? She was asleep on the back seat.Then the conversation began all over again as to where we were going ?
So we went to one of the girls houses and the guy got out first. One of the girls leaned forward and gave me e50, "Take of the girls and bring them home and keep the change"
So when we arrived at their destination both girls were getting out, (nothing is worse than being stuck with a sleeping beauty in the back of your taxi. You can't shake them awake or even touch them and you spend 1/2 an hour at least at a police station trying to get a copper to waken them up).
So one of the girls tried to pay me and when I said I had been paid and I was told to keep the change she got very stern and demanded to know how much I had been given.
I told her that I had been given enough and I was told to keep the change, I also added that if I was a dishonest person I could have taken the money she had offered me as well when she was getting out.
She just walked away half carrying her sleepy friend.

It makes me wonder what effect all the drink and drugs would be having on their bodies, beautiful and all as they were.

On the other hand I had a girl coming back from a job interview.
How she managed she did not know. "They are spoiled for choice" she said
She told me about how her boss had started up a new business.
Things were very slow in the beginning and there was a lot of food wasted.
The taxman decided to tax him on the amount of food he was buying and not on the sales figures.
I told her about a very famous case which went to the high court in Britain.
He had lost an earlier case.
They explained to the judge that the revenue were in effect calling them liars but they could produce records of every piece of meat and fish and veg that went through their restaurant.
The judge asked the tax man if he had any experience in the catering trade ?
Or could he prove that any figures presented were fraudulent?
The answer to both was no.
So the taxman lost and the costs were awarded against the inland revenue. The costs were in the millions too.
So the lesson is keep a record of your transactions.



Just in case you missed this

Probably the best piece of Tango music ever played

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Who is Terry Prone ?


This could be Terry giving advice to taxi drivers.

Do you remember the writer who was going to meet Terry Prone for a coaching session?
She was really a big hitter, her name was Karhleen McMahon and she got an advance of €569,453 for her first novel."This is how it ends" Add to that the foreign royalties and she is minted! Not to mention the film rights.Her grandmother is Mary Lavin the short story writer and her aunt is Caroline Walsh the litary editor of the Irish Times. So she has it in her genes.
Terry Prone gives you advice on how you should handle yourself in an intervew situation.
Terry has been in my taxi at least twice, she is dead sound, really good at what she does.

In Ireland if you are a writer you pay no income tax ! Yes, it goes back to the days of C.J. Haughey, he wanted to encourage writers and artists into Ireland.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Ladies, please use taxis more often


Well if I don't go to hell for that.


I will head there for this.

I bet this kid has never been in McDonalds.

Fantastic.



Remember this ?


The Olympics in London are coming up this Summer, they are looking for part time staff.

Schools are off now for Easter, the courts are finished.
Normal people are on their break.
So It is quiet,what else is new?

Just getting myself back into shape after my second weekend break, I visited my other son in Northern Ireland. Just in case you thought that the Toyota Prius was no good on long journeys, I got an average of 18.4 Kms to the liter over a 300km journey. I was driving at well over 100 Kms Per hour most of the time, that is really a really good result.

There was something coming up for sale on Ebay on Sunday while I was at my son's house. I had missed a similar item at an earlier auction.
So I got a lesson on how it should be done.
First look to see how many bids were made so far? 20 "Dad why did you bid so early? You don't place a bid until the very end. watch and learn"
So 3 hours went to 2 and there were no other bids, then 1 hour 2 more bids. Then 30 mins left
20 Mins 5 mins one more bid.
Then with 30 seconds to go he wrote in his bid, but he didn't press the button until 5 seconds to go. "Confirm bid" 4 3 2 and then he hit the button on the last second..The screen flickered .
"YOU'VE WON!" "SOME POOR SOD IS WONDERING WHAT WENT WRONG NOW"
So now I know how it's done.
Cat and mouse..You wait..If you bid on and on it gives them the chance to come back and you pay a lot more.
Now it's out to the door every morning to see has the post person brought my parcel.

Today I met a writer her book is coming out soon and she has a second one on the way,
her name was Kathleen McMahon. But no doubt we will hear her on the radio in the coming weeks.

It seems as though that row at the hotels is set to continue,


Probably the best known pub in the World


Driver gets nabbed and his roof sign taken away.


Usually when you roll something as good as this its illegal !


Apple blossom on my apple trees


Swan

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Rumblings at the rank


statue in City west Ballyfermot


Dublin's newest Ghost bike


Big bell, I hope it never goes off.

Caught in a time warp

Coming soon.

The problem in the Burlington rumbles on.
It is private property.
You must have a permit to pick up at the airport, The Square in Tallagh and there is an illegal rank directly opposite the front door of the D4 hotels. Jurys in Christchurch also have "Priority" taxis which do not wait at the rank.
I do not agree with all these goings on.

BUT,A BIT OF INTEREST FROM THE REGULATOR WOULD BE GOOD.

To quote none other than Albert Einstein
"The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them"

Or to quote myself.
"Some days you are the pigeon,on other days you are the statue"

Today was a great day for me!
I had at least 4 runs where I picked up again just after dropping off the passenger.
It is fantastic when it happens.
One lady was going to Toronto Canada.
Then another off to a wedding in her old private school St Colombas college high in the Dublin mountains.It was a good drive and we exchanged a lot of information during the trip. She is a newspaper editor in Germany and we covered many topics during the journey. Bill Gates had been at a dinner she attended a few weeks earlier and she managed to have an opportunity to talk to him, she is very impressed with him.
For myself I think for the Germans the re unification of Germany was a wonderful achievement. Re building the old East, entire city's, airports, power stations, new infrastructure etc. While at the same time absorbing the east German mark. This action in effect devalued the Deuchemark.
"You just got it done!"
She looked great too, all done up with a big feather in her hair,her legs newly tanned in Egypt for the occasion.
"this is where I was caught smoking" she said as we entered the college.
"Just to look at you you would think butter wouldn't melt in your mouth"
She smiled in a wistful way as I am sure it has been many years since she heard that expression.
I have often heard it said by my father and my mother, that going to a wedding is the makings of another. (Irish song)

Then I met a crew from New Zealand who are over here for the world dancing championships.It took 3 taxis to bring them all to their destination.
One suitcase was very heavy and the lady told me it was full of food !
"We were told that food was really expensive here."

So they brought a suitcase full of food from New Zealand.

Later on when I was heading home for my own food when I picked up 2 tough Dublin men.
One was as fit as a fiddle with big muscles. The chat came round to all the new buildings. When I asked if he had been away, he said he had been doing time. Big time.
"I came home from work to find me wife in bed with another man,so I shot him".
That explained the muscles, years spent in the gym pumping iron.

That is the second time I had a guy who was just out of prison for murder in the taxi, the other guy lived in Ringsend.

I found this today I thought you would like to see it.

It only has a little bit of taxi in it.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Picket on the Burlington

Well it has come to pass.

There is now a picket on the Burlington hotel.

The history of the story is that Cab 2000 have 2 taxis parked at the door of the hotel.
Guests coming out just get into the taxi.
Problem is that there is a taxi rank 25 meters away on the street.
It is also an offence to ply for hire IE. stand and wait at any place which is not a rank.
The TThC asked to speak to the hotel manager and the local Garda and the taxi regulator was not very helpful either.

So now there will be feathers flying if this problem is not resolved.

People who run these hotels think they can run rough shod over everyone, just like they do to their migrant workers.





A bit sexist

Remember when hair was as big as this ?


The amazing sideways riding bicycle


The AZOO

This car I spotted driving around cameras filming. Moving traffic violations.




Just while I am at it Tango Fire is in London in the Peacock theater on Portugal St.
A MUST to see

Monday, April 11, 2011

London part 2

Portabello Road the song says goes on for miles and miles.








This wonderful carpet shop is owned by a gentleman from Persia, he told me that some of these carpets have been worked on by as many as 200 people.
While we we were talking a girl from Kazakhstan came in and she recognized a pattern.
She did not flinch at the price either,she said she would measure up and come back.
Her home is North East of the Caspian sea, righ in the middle of old Russia.
The owner explained to me about his carpets, from China, Afghanistan, Turkey and Persia.Tapestries made with pure silk threads that came from China.
All hand made. A great hour well spent talking with him.


A wedding party walking down the Portabello road, the leader had the wedding cake!




A Model shoot is taking place, no one knew who it was, I said it was some kind of con job, everyone thought so too.























Zimbabwe House


Price Waterhouse and Coopers


The site of t5he first Bethlahem mental hospital. This is where the expression "They were making Bedlem" the noise from the mental hospital. Beside Liverpool St. Station






This is a refreshment hut for taxi drivers, the people running it were pleasent enough. The structures are rare though.







Car numbers



Spanish students celebrate their first days of freedom in style.


Sunday protest at Zimbabwe house.