Marley Park

From the TV series "Only fools and horses"

Gills pub with Croke park in the background.

Bride on the run,seemed they were walking to the reception!
Lovely dress though, seemed happy enough.


Well they say that deaths come in threes so I was somewhat shocked when I was told of the death of Chuck Feeney, I rang up his office and I was told that he was indeed alive and working away.
As Mark Twain (I think)said once said "rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated"

Work continues on the home front.
I am going through old boxes of papers and the shredder is working overtime.
Bills, bank statements back to 1983. Utility bills. receipt for the purchase of my house. They go so far back that I almost expect that some of them should be in copperplate handwriting,but not quite.
I found the missing folder from when I bought my first hackney car. A taxi could pick up on the street a hackney had a radio and was work was dispatched via the radio. No meter, you negotiated the price by the mile. Taxi plates cost up to 80,000 punts at one point around then.
You had to buy an existing plate if you wanted a taxi. In Wales a driver told me that they called that buying "Dead mans shoes." You had to buy them to enter the trade.
I half rented a taxi for a year as a "Cosy"
I worked days he worked nights.
He was as odd as 2 left boots.
And as wicked as a bag of cats!
Could never see that I wanted Tues and Wed off.
Your days off are Monday and Tues. rows about flat wheels cars not washed and filling up the car caused friction.Add to that getting a long job when you are supposed to be handing over. Add into the equation no mobile phones and you have a recipe for divorce.
When the hackneys came along it nearly killed him,Then he died, but his widow did manage to sell his plate before deregulation.

Well back to the missing file. Metro charged deposit of (Punts)125.00 for the radio 30.00 per year for insurance on radio and 67.00 per week rental.
I signed on the dotted line 19/5/93 Mary Meagher was the manager there at Metro.
She really ran the place.
I had a Toyota Corola 1989.which cost 6150 4 years old.It would be cheaper today.

Then I became "Driver 71"

The stories of the adventures starting off are mostly forgotten.
Except for one day I flew out to Dalkey to the 11 restaurant, after searching all over I spotted the local garda and asked him. "No such place" came the reply.
A phone call later sorry about that 71 its called "il resrarunte"
Anyhow when I went in the mat re d told me they would be down in a minute, when they hopped in we headed off to the big smoke.
We were in Ballsbridge when the radio comes on "where are you 71, your customers are ready now and can't find you?"

My "customers" had seized the opportunity to grab the cab from under their noses.
At that time taxis were like gold dust, so their dinner was well settled before they got another taxi,still they were showing a certain amount of indifference by expecting a car to wait for 1/2 an hour on a Saturday night, or then again it might have been the waiters fault.
Now it has gone to the other extreme,with more taxis in Dublin than New York.

THAT'S A FACT

I managed to squeeze in a few hours work, trying to get on the end of ranks and driving around searching for work.I had a lucky couple of hours the other day.
It seemed that all my ducks were lined up and my stars were in the ascent,one after the other people hailed me just as I became empty,it was really good.

Whats seldom is wonderful, as they say.
Good Karma!

I had an American actor in the car the other day a great character Patrica O"Connell.
"My mother and father had the same name Pat O'Connell. They say that when 2 people with the same name marry their children will never catch whooping cough and I never did.
Thres a lot of wisdom in those old sayings."

I just had to show her where Rex Ingrim lived. "Well I never". She is working with the Druid theater group. She spoke about Brendan Behan and the other drinking class Irish acting fraternity.
They put a lot of celluloid on the cutting room floor, it wouldn't happen today.

Some people will tell you their life's story and are a joy to meet, others you are really happy to see the back of them.

By chance I picked up 2 fares who were going to Heuston station. First one a student of Japanese with a Japanese man. Next an Irish man with his Japanese girlfriend both going to Heuston. back to back to the same place,unusual.

At the Westbury hotel a German woman asked me if I would lead them to the Avis depot on the Old Kilmanham Rd and bring them back, she had great English, with the slightest accent. Her son was very tall and built like a Panzer tank 2 meters 3 cm, 6foot 8 inches in old money.
They had a good holiday apart from the weather. They found the people very friendly.
Their sat nav gave them great problems but the Avis man refunded them the hire charge.

Another development here is a Polish medical center in Parnell Square in Dublin.
They are a big operation back home as they run hospitals and clinics all over Poland.
They will be able to examine you, send you off to their Polish hospital and look after you on your return.
A Checz girl told me about how bad our medical system is. "I went to an Irish doctor and his consulting room had a carpet !, my God what bacteria would there be in that carpet. There was no wash hand basin in there either".

But Checz people do not like Polish people, so she won't be going there.


Tomorrow Marley Park will host Metallica so expect loads of people with loads of eye makeup and black clothes that will be the boys.