Big snow

Its not only the taxi drivers who have the hump
A camel at the circus.


A statue in the garden of remembrance depicting the moment when the chirderen of Lir were turned to swans.(Irish mythology)

Well The students are marching today.
16,000 of them

PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN WAGE

reads one of the banners.

At this time our leaders want to re introduce fees for third level colleges.

The workers of Waterford crystal are marching against closure of the manufacturing plant. The brand has problems because the dollar is weak and the euro is strong and its debts are high, the receiver wants to close it down. But to abandon ship and let it sink would be a disaster.
When people think of Waterford they think of its famous crystal.
From Sydney to Saratoga and quite a lot of places in between.
Rolex,Prada,Chanel are not just products they are iconic brands you see, they have a value well beyond there worth.

Imagine America loosing a brand like Harley Davidson, the brand is worth millions even though the company might have big debts.

Dell is off to Poland. IBM is off to Shanghai.

Worst jobless figures in the history of the state.

Well I think that's enough about the bad times.


Remember the Irish Times offer A meal in 6 of Dublin's restaurants for e20 with a glass of wine?"

Well I managed to visit 3.

Everything was very well laid out in all the places we went.
Servers in suits, meet,greet and made to feel welcome.
All the places were warm and clean.

So what did I think?

L'Ecrivian....Baggott St.
The people who had come for the special were brought upstairs and served away from the other guests..The food was excellent but for me fell down in 2 places.
Drinks were served but my water glass remained empty for the rest of the meal.
The waiter serving the water never came back.
The second was the soup, it was just lukewarm,probably because the bowl was cold, or perhaps we were too far from the kitchen.

Chapter One. Below the writers museum.
The waiter was very happy to see us and took a genuine interest in what we thought of the other places where we had eaten.
They have a lovely private function room which seats around 14 just right for a birthday party.
The food was great and we got the best of attention.
All the care that went into the design of the place really paid off well.

My partner says that for her the food here was way the best by far.

The Cellar Restaurant Downstairs on the L/H side of the Merrion hotel.
By the way this building is where the Duke of Wellington was born.
When you go in there are a series of doorways that seem to go on forever.
A great sense of perspective.
Terrific sense of adventure, with Chinese lanterns and paintings with a Chinese theme.
Perhaps it is for the Chinese new year, I don't know.
Like Chapter One it has vaulted ceilings and really good lighting.

I hate to eat in poky dark places.

The food here I found the best,flavors were subtle,servings bigger too.
All the plates were nice and hot and the soup and salmon were steaming hot. The home baked breads were great and the service could not be faulted in any way.

When you add to that that we were not segregated in any way,this made the whole experience better.

Be careful you don't wander into Patrick Gilbeau's on the other side,its the most expensive in Dublin,but really really good.
I mean that,really,I know that it is a gastronomic experience like no other.

I will probably never go back to any of them ever but, I found the Cellar restaurant the best and if I had loads of money would make it my local, I would recommend it to a good customer.

To a prat I would send him to Jo Burger.

That's enough about eating already.

Boys and Girl back to work.

It is at best fun driving a taxi.
At worst you could be stuck in traffic for 4 or 5 hours because there was a little snow.
Its not Canada!!!!!!!!!!!
There were people stuck in their cars for 5 or 6 hours yesterday because the Garda were writing tickets for taxis which were overhanging the ranks.
If they feel like it,they re-construct a robbery for TV with a helicopter overhead, where a few Garda with a bit of cop on on a bicycle could have prevented the whole thing in the first place.

I really don't know why someone does not call in and complain.

"Tom, you were on duty last night, why was the traffic locked for 7 hours?"

"Well the lads in the depot were down on there convictions for the month so I sent them down to persecute,sorry prosecute the taxi drivers at Heuston."

"Good thinking".

Seriously with all the flooding I do feel sorry for the people who bought houses built on flood plains, my house is on top of a hill.
If you are buying , look for height.
Jamese's house is 20 feet above his neighbours, he paid around 8 grand more for his site.
His uncle pushed him at the time. But his house is dry.

Great luck today to meet a beautician from Lithuania,going back into town.
Business is down she said.
Well she did look great.
A few vouchers and a 4 for 3 sun bed promotion should make things pick up.

Really boys,did you that all those Polish and Latvian girls had absolute natural looks?,
More like supernatural looks

I often look at how a Polish Latvian Czech or Slovak girls walk.Straight back with great posture, while the Irish girls often walk like they are walking up a hill with a wind against them.
I don't blame them.
I do blame Mary Harney for being their role model.

A long time friend of mine is 99 today, she is a fantastic person.
Agile in mind,she cooked cleaned and fended for herself until Christmas. Then an attack of shingles over Christmas put a wobble in her stride.
But you know I am still
Looking forward to the day she is 100.
Up to few months ago the phone would ring.
The Simplex crossword puzzle 7 across ?
But in Truth is that the answers were mostly from her side.

I am so happy to know the people that I now know whether through taxiing or through normal life.
Outside my door I met a mum with 3 children under 5. The boy was playing around,so I asked the young girl how she liked the new baby?
She was very happy with him.
The mum was a bit restless about talking to strangers.
Are you French? I said.
No,I am Swedish.
Well,it must be your mother I helped before Christmas?.

Well you would think I had electrocuted her.
You are the taxi driver?
Yes, I saw what had happened and took action.

What had happened was simple. She got off the bus with 2 small kids and left her bag on the bus.I put her into the taxi and raced the bus to the terminus. She got her bag intact, so then I I brought her back home.

But she wanted so much to pay you.
Well if you want to have good luck you can't except payment for a good deed.

You are a hero in our house for sure,did you know that?.

So I went from pest to hero in 5 mins... not bad.