Back to basics

Badgers in the Natural history museum

Sign on the Cork Waterford border.


A big arrest. The one in the track suit facing the camera is under arrest, the one with her back to the camera is saying "I love you Mary and if you hurt her I'll kill ya.. The one in the white hat is threatening the Garda.
The Garda car came up Eden quay against the traffic, turned into O'Connell St and drove up it against the traffic to do this arrest..I thought at least a hostage situation..He also blocked the Luas in the process.

I am doing so little in the taxi that I might as well sign on to the "Brew" for welfare.
This morning I had to bring my wife to buy a sofa bed, I hate shopping for furniture, but it is in the contract, "Thou shalt shop when asked"

Today I made a connection which I hope will bear fruit.
Fr.Peter McVerry runs a shelter for homeless boys who are on drugs, It is in Sherrard st. beside the new apartment block. Well I loaded up around 8 boxes of cereal that my kids wouldn't eat. Its good but they are picky and won't eat store branded goods.Anyhow there is a homeless boy who frequents the Grafton St. area, he has started on the Heroin now and he is sinking fast, so I gained some strategy about bringing him over to see him. I hope he goes as his days on the streets are numbered for sure. Fr.McVery should be given a few million to help the kids he helps, but he is like a kid with a water pistol trying to stop a forest fire.
Still he is a hero with his efforts, keep up the good work.

Here is one for the guys who are going to buy Toyota Prius hybrid cars when the big change comes next year.The Prius has a very small battery, the reason for this is that it is just needed to keep the computer system going.. The power comes from the big battery under the back seat. Now sticking on Meter, printer and roof light might drain your battery in a short time.You come out in the morning and you have to get the key out to unlock it. Then for the boost, the battery is way down in the boot and the boot release is electronic so you can't open it..I won't go into it but a Polish guy told me where the booster point is.
Pop the bonnet and the fuse box is on the right hand side.
Now do you see that nut with the copper connector coming off it?
That is your positive and your negative is any part of the bodywork.


Now next time turn off your roof light before you go to bed.

The Prius is the best ever car for a taxi. I really get 63 MPG I save e50 per week on fuel from my Avensis 2 Litre.
Timing chain, not a belt.. Don't take a test drive in one unless you have the money to buy it, you won't want to give it back.


Oh I am still thinking of that girl with the faulty Boxter, dirty fuel, faulty thermostat, faulty fan It could be little else.
It is great when you learn about fault finding on cars.

Here is one. You are driving along in your E class Merc, suddenly she dies and will not start again..What could you do?

1 Pop the bonnet
2 leave the drivers door open.
3 disconnect the battery.
4 Say the Lords Prayer.
5 Reconnect the battery.
and away you go !

Why does that work ?
Nothing to do with religion. When you disconnect the battery the system which controls the engine needs time to re set. When you put the battery back on the doors lock themselves so that's why you have the door open.. the Citroen C6 had this problem as well and the proper cure is a new chip !

Every car has its little problems, but very often to guys working in garages its just a job.
Here is a great example of what I mean.
Remember the Citroen 2CV, Diane, and Dolly?
I had a 2CV Van one of only 40 R/H drive ever made.. and it is still on the go 2125 ID is the reg.
Well it had its first service and it wouldn't start and the headlights were dipping to the right, so you couldn't see into the left hand side of the road and you were blinding oncoming traffic. I brought it back twice to no avail.
So I looked around and found a guy from the Lebanon who was an aircraft mechanic at the airport.Contact made I got a shopping list of parts and drove out to his house in Stepaside,
when I got there he had injured his hand (I am getting a deja vous feeling, hope I haven't written this before) So he coached me on how to do a complete service, when it came to the spark plugs the garage had put the wrong plugs in.
With the correct plus she started first time, always without fail..
It had a 2 cylinder air cooled engine and the spark plugs fired together, but the cylinders would only fire every second time as one cylinder was on exhaust stroke each time...a really great car I had a good few of them.
I was looking at a spark plug comparison chart a few years later and what they had done was when they compared the Marcell plug to the Champion one the dropped down a line, they never corrected the error.
The headlight problem?
Take out the bulb and push the bulb tilter the other way and put the bulb back in, as I say garages don't care

Here is something that is like PORN to me, sorry to disapoint the league of decency.