July 6th

The lord mayor of Dublin.
With a fantastic vintage car

She is really looking great.

A bone shaker,a tiller to steer by.

Well there is only one way to make that car look better.

Yes folks July 6 th all roads lead to Terenure college for their annual vintage and classic car show.

Now I had a wheelchair accessible Fiat Scudo taxi,in that time I saw how hard it is for these people to get transport. The taxi regulator is still dragging her heels about everything including creating incentives to increase the number of accessible taxis for people with special needs. (Don't start me off)

Driving down the Quays I spotted a guy in a wheelchair.

I pulled over and he stood up and got in while I folded his chair and put it on the back seat.
He was heading to Blancherdstown, to Halfords to buy a bicycle!

He explained that it would help him build up his muscles and help his balance back.
I said that there was a cycle shop on the Malahide Rd.plus there was a Halfords in Coolock,plus a bus lane most of the way,so off we went.
The first shop was packed away for closing and he had a few second hand bikes that would fit the bill,so we went to Coolock to have a look.
In Coolock as we pulled into the wheelchair space a woman blew her horn at us to get out of the space.She was in the space beside us. She waved her wheelchair pass at us and started to feck us off.
We have a wheelchair I said as she got out,(without help) and for all I know there is little wrong with you...That pass might even be a photocopy.
That shut her up."yer right he said ,stick up for your rights"
If you go out to Liffey valley shopping center there will be 15 or so cars parked in the wheelchair spaces, most of the shoppers walk back to their cars no bother.
You know they should do a blitz on them with fines for offenders.

Anyhow
He went in and looked through the stock, there was one bike that was near enough to what he wanted.

What will you give me off for cash?.....Nothing.
Would you stick on a carrier for good luck ?.......No.

OK I 'll take it......Call back on Thursday then and it will be ready.
What do you mean? I want it now............Thats a display model, you can't have it.
Why not?......Because we have to assemble one.
OK have you got one in a box?....Yes.....How much less will it be ?....It will the same price.....You mean to tell me that if I took it away in a box and assembled it myself you would not give me a discount?.....NO......Well you can stick your frigging bike....and off we went.

Modern businesses have systems,the young guy got paid whether he sold the bike or not.

I would have given him the display model if I was in charge and built the other bike the next morning before my tea break.

I know with this bad weather they will be wanting to clear floorspace, so they will be having a sale soon.

Perhaps its me getting old.

What do you think.

What was wrong with wheelchair guy?
I hear you ask.
Well he has a muscle waisting disease in which the signal from his brain does not reach the muscles in question..He knew he had this condition and he was fine a few weeks ago, came here on holiday from Wales on his Harley Davidson and was fine.

Then he noticed that he was loosing weight fast,so to hide it from his mother he started wearing bulkier clothes, he said he didn't want this mum to worry and he thought his condition might improve again.
Then a bombshell hit him ,his system shut down completely and he was rushed off to hospital in a coma by ambulance.....The initial thoughts were that he had only about 6 hours to live.

Now against all odds he was getting back on his feet and wants to get back on his bike.

He got the bill from the hospital 2 days after discharge, he knew that the bill should go to Bupa his health care provider, they were willing to argue the point,so he told them that the next call they would get would be a newspaper reporter asking them why they were causing him worry when they knew he was right.

Then they tried to take the wheelchair back from him even though he reckons he will only need it for 2 weeks.

He is a real fighter.

I wish him the very best of luck.

We really don't know how well off we are.
My checkout girl was very upset about the ferry which sank in a typhoon in the Philippines,800 souls lost,women children and babies.
Or the other people made homeless by landslides,so many small babies.

"You don't know how lucky you are John"

You know she is right.