Stardust reborn

 Here in Dublin on St.Valentines night a fire broke out in the Stardust ballroom.

48 young people died and a generation of people who lived in that area are still traumatized by the happenings on that night. 

The fire doors were locked or blocked and tales came out about things that happened.

One girl got out and then remembered her new coat....She went back in and died.

One young buck hot wired a car and smashed through the fire doors saving many lives.

I was in a house in Coolock when the woman of the house said "Heres my daughter coming don't react to anything she will do, she doesn't know"  She came in and tapped on every window of the house. The mother said that she had been in the Stardust that night and she is like this since, plus nightmares all the time.

I was in Blackpool at the worlds biggest magicians convention years later.

A lecture was about to start and I went to the venue and believe it or not there was around 1,000 people in a big room with 4 fire escapes all blocked up. I couldn't stay and when I came home I rang the Police in Blackpool.  "Oh no you are on to the wrong department. you need to call"...........

I cut her off.. You are the person I called so you should act.

 Did you ever hear of the Stardust Disaster??  .... No she said. Ask your colleagues.

The ball is now in your court.

When I went back the following year there was 3 or 4 inspectors going around with clip boards.

My son said that I   was a busybody causing trouble, but I would make an effort to save a life. 

 

You would have to wonder how many people should have noticed that that ski lodge in Switzerland was unsafe, yet they said nothing. 

 

Timothy Harte RIP

 Poor kid Timothy died aged 17 after his heroic battle against Leukemia.

Your health boys and girls is your wealth. Thank your God for every day for it.

Take a look at the sunrises we are having at the moment and see the glory of God 

Have  GREAT YEAR 

Another week to go

 In about another week the Christmas fever will subside and the Ho Ho Ho will give way for the January sales,, Hurry Hurry, everything's going fast. 

My wife saw a bargain on mobile phone service. "Look its Virgin media". So I allowed her to switch my phone. 

All was good for a few weeks. Funny how I was getting few calls. Then we found out that they had switched our phone numbers. We rang the helpline and each time we went on hold for 1/2 an hour.         No joking. Then a very pleasant person in India asked us our account number. "No trace of that account number" Bing she was gone ! Another tactic was to keep you holding and then disconnect.

Another 30 minutes to get a new assistant. 

We made more than 20 attempts, we spoke to 4 supervisors over the time who assured us that it would be fixed by Friday and we wrote 2 letters and we were getting absolutely nowhere.

I shipped my hook and went back to GoMO. On the very day I left they switched our old numbers to the new service. But I am gone and my old number is still stuck in the Virgin system. 

I know that I am a stupid old man, but why would your pour millions into a system and never monitor what is going on ? It is not like you are serving up prison food.

Virgin media are spending millions in this area putting in fiber cable, the next generation in communication.

Perhaps unhappy customers coming over from deplorable customer service will look elsewhere  for something better.

 

 

The angels in heaven are crying.

 There was a car crash last week 5 people in their 20s were killed.

The grief felt by everyone  in the area is beyond measure.

When I turned 17 I got my first license and I drove with my father to Armagh to Traynors scrap yard to get some second hand car parts. My dad told Mr. Traynor that I had driven up and this was my first trip on my new license

Hold on he said.  Micheal you look after this gentleman while I educate this new driver.

We did not use seat belts back then and he showed me how on impact your body impacts with the steering wheel and the bracket which holds the steering column in place can break both your legs below the knee.

Hair and blood embedded in the windshield and even teeth implanted in the dashboard.

Mostly these people  were in a hurry, making up 5 or 10 minutes, they never made it.

Do you see this car here? I will take the wheels and engine off it and it will be crushed.

No one wants to see that car again. Why not I asked, it looks brand new.

He opened up the car and under the front seat the pulled out a knitted baby's boot. They were going along, someone in the back holding the baby, they swerved and the baby hit the roof of the car as the car tumbled over. No one ever wants to see that car again.

I did not do this to frighten you. But some day you will see a wide load ahead and for a second you will hesitate and hang back.

I was back at the scrap yard a few years ago and I told that story to the assistant.

"Grandad would treat that trip as a civil duty, he saved many lives"

He brought  me round the back where there was a yellow sports car and he told me that the young lad who was driving it tumbled it upside down and as there was no roll cage on the car he was decapitated 

Be careful out there, the crash might not be your fault 

. 

Bad bad service.

 Virgin is a company which provides internet TV and other technical services here in Ireland. 

Yes they also run an airline, but who would go with a company which would not go the whole way. Anyhow to keep it brief my wife put both our phones to Virgin and I really didn't know anything until someone told me that my phone must be broken as they couldn't contact me for a month. 

Wow ! I had been cut off. They gave me a new number without telling me.

I had the service from WhatsApp and I contacted people via WA as well. 

Now when you ring Virgin there is a hold on time of 30 to 40 minutes. Then you talk to a very polite Indian person. But they cannot find your phone number or your account number your name and address means nothing.

So I wrote to them and delivered a letter by hand to them in their office.

A week later there was no reply ??

So you have this massive group of workers who don't have access to the customers files while the big machine just trundles on.  

A little complaints box would be great.

My wife got through  a few times more and they told her that it would be all fixed by Monday. Not yet after a few more attempts.

Anyhow that is my 10c worth and what would a taxi driver know? 

By the way Virgin dug up the same  spot outside my house 3 times in the last 12 months.

This is another unbelievable story. 

Aldi East wall rd in the car park a Chinese lady in a new car was pulling in and she was going to rip the whole side of the car until I stopped her. I convinced her to step out and I showed her what she was doing wrong. Then I saw it No insurance No tax disc No number plates.

She told me that she just bought the car and drove it here. WAIT FOR IT. NO DRIVING LICENSE. I was gobsmacked completely. 

She bought the car and drove away. Listen I said please ring a friend who has a car and they will explain what you have to do.

I picked up a few things in the shop and shadowed her. Then back at the car I told her that I would have to drive her home and she promised to talk to her friends about all the things you have to do to drive a car. How the garage had not put number plates on the car is beyond me.

When I drove the taxi you would see something and say 

"Well I have seen everything now"

2 weeks later you would be saying it again.

But that Chinese lady she really took the biscuit. 

Death and taxes RIP

 The news of my long time school friends death came to me from Australia. Instant death by a heart attack. 

Same age as myself I had just sent him a YouTube clip just before he died. 

So do your taxes by the month and by years end there will be no pressure.

You have no idea how much work my wife put into my tax recently. 

Her and 2 accountants 

The Contender - Tommy Fleming

 

There is a certain person here in Dublin who is fitting into the slot left by this man Jack Doyle.

Money and fame when it goes to someones head can cause awful destruction. I had a very famous Hollywood star in the taxi, ha was behaving very badly and I told him to be very careful or he would be kicked out. A few years later he was back in the taxi and I had to threaten him with violence. Then he said "You wouldn't talk to me like that if you knew what I am going through.

Another Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne told me about the other guys problems, You or I would not swap places with him. But perhaps a therapist would help a bit. 

 Fame and pressure can ruin the trajectory of the brightest star.

Jack Doyle was a top boxer, his flight was taking him to the stars, he had a beautiful S. American film star wife. He took to the bottle and he lost everything. When he died he was unknown and homeless on a London street. Years later his manager tracked him down and brought him home to Youghal  where he was buried in a proper grave.. 

So if you win the Lotto or you become famous think of what you are doing,you are standing on a slippery slope.

A star is born.

 There is a house here in Clontarf where I live and every time I pass it this remarkable story comes back into my mind.

The owner of the house was Doney Potter (Donald). he loved opera. He worked with the Rathmines Rathgar choral society and they needed a new voice to wow the audience. So Doney went to Italy and found what they hoped would win the hearts and minds of the Dublin people. The son of the house told me that the star loved football and he brought him down to Inshacore to kick the ball around.

The show was a huge hit and the manager of  Covent Garden operatic society in London brought him over to be an understudy for a show they were doing. 

On the second performance the leading singer was struck by something. 

The understudy stepped on to the stage and Pavarotti wowed them.

As a thank you to his beginning he came to Dublin and did 2 shows for no fee as a thank you to them all.

The house was sold around 15 years later and the new owners gutted the house and things were moving on. One of the kids wet the bed and the au pair  popped it into the tumble drier and they hopped off to mass. Someone passing noticed the smoke and the noise of a frantic dog barking. He called for the fire brigade and later the assessors arrived.

An electrical fault was the verdict and the electricians head was on the block. His insurer had a retired Garda working for them. He spoke to each person alone and took notes. When he spoke to the girl who had put the duvet into the tumble dryer his electrician was off the hook. The dryer filter had not been cleaned for months and it had overheated,

 

When I was on holiday in Spain I was talking to a guy who lives in California, the topic came around to the fires and the exotic homes that were all destroyed. 

He told me that the insurance companies will not be paying . The reason is that the home owners were warned long ago to remove all the scrub bushes around their homes, This was not done So they will not pay.