A piece of stone ?

What a varied and different day.
By that I mean that no one moment was the same as the next and the contrast between situations were so so strange.
I started on the Clontarf road where I picked up one of my favorite regulars.
Today as it turned out she wanted to go by bus as she had no money.
Well this may be end of our friendship as I told her she could pay me another day.
She is Polish and has the most wonderful laugh. If you make her laugh on her journey it creates ripples in your very soul, these ripples make me happy all day long.
I dropped her off and headed for Sandymount then back into town, from there to Heuston station. The station has become so bad that you cannot get on to the rank most times.
So I got on and picked up a lady in obvious pain. Walking with the help of a stick, she got in and we headed off for Vincents hospital.
She had a morphine pump to eases the pain in her back and with the drugs she is on she has put on 7 stone. Now she was not at all complaining of her condition.
Her mother and father are living with her family, her father has Alzheimer's and is difficult (to say the least)He jumps through decades all the time. Her mother had a bad fall so is in hospital for respite care and she put her father into a nursing home while she is going up and down to Dublin hospitals. Problem with her father is that the carers don't know what to do and keep asking her to come over and give them a hand. The people in the nursing home are supposed to be the professionals after all. This wonderful lady never complained about herself once during the journey, though she was in a lot of pain.
She told me that she had a thriving business selling bridal wear, but as she was ill she had to give it up. "I have a big storeroom full of the most beautiful Spanish wedding dresses, I don't know if I can ever get rid of them."
At the end of the line it was €14.20 I said €14. "Here keep the change"When I looked she had given me a €10 and two €5s. Look you have given me €20 take back the €5.

No keep it and thank you.

Bits and bobs later I had to visit Mabel my 101 3/4 year old friend, she is dying and wanted to talk to me about her affairs. Where she wants her ashes to go etc.
I told her a few tall yarns and we had a few jokes together.
"Mabel I will miss you but you have had such a full and long life that I will be happy to see yo go to meet Jack and your daughter Barbra again". She is a very romantic person and says good night to him every night, though he is gone for more than 30 years.

Later on that day I picked up a lady going to Blackrock. As we crossed the bridge going on to Northumberland Rd. A bus in front of me stopped short, which meant that my back wheels were on the pedestrian crossing. A young enough lady banged on the window and abused me. It went on for a while, my passenger was shocked by her bad behavior. I suppose you don't thing of the right thing to say at the time. But, I had just spent 2 hours with a dying friend. People do snap sometimes, she should be more careful.

What did I say to my passenger?

"Did you ever read a book called the secret?"

She had.

"Then you will know that she is attracting all kinds of negative shit upon herself?"

God I really don't know what happened after that, I started getting one fare after another for the next 2 hours.
I didn't get home until around 9pm.

but I am up at 4am for an airport run!

Now for a bit of trivia.

The first photo is of the archway at the top of the Mall in London, Buckingham palace behind you.

The second is of a piece of stone which protrudes from the right hand side of the left archway.









OK boys and girls what is its significance?