Thursday, January 29, 2015

Mad Dublin

 Modern day Dublin docklands
 I don't know if I have given you this before. Blackrock pub.
                               Harolds cross
At last a chip and pin that seems to work.





One thing about us taxi drivers all the world over.
 We see it all, the good the bad and the tragic.

The other day I was passing down a city street when I got that hail that all taxi drivers hate.
Outside a pub where one guy holds the door and they run inside to get your passenger.
 You can't pull away while they drag out your customer.
 Out they came 4 of them carrying my customer who was passed out. Someone tripped and they all came down...Just like someone in a movie they soon found out that gravity had tripled her weight and they couldn't pick her up again.
 Honestly they pulled and grunted and only when 3 other big strong men came out did they manage to elevate her into the car. 
"God what did I do to offend you?" came into my mind.
Then I noticed her shoes which were burst along the sides with holes in the soles, cheap threadbare track suit and a torn coat.
2 Guys got in and we went to her apartment. "Don't worry mate we are going back with you"So we arrived at her apartment block where a balancing act took place where they brought her up and inside. The neighbors passing by said "This is every night. Where does she get the money?" No one had a good word to say about her.
So the 3 guys came back, "She is a really fine lady, she comes into the pub and sits in the snug talking to her friends, then she forgets how much she had to drink until it is too late. Her husband is in hospital and he will be coming out in an oak waistcoat. (dead)
 Her son was killed in Australia last year and she will be on her own very soon.
I had turned off the meter and they threw me €10 extra on top of the €5 which I had been paid..
    The city streets throw everything at us. 

A friend of mine was disgusted at a young guy of around 18 years old. 
The kid was a heroin addict. 
Life going down the tubes quickly.
His mother died and his father was alcoholic. "Jesus Son cop yourself on, look at you? Young with all your life before you. You will be dead in a year the way you are going on" 
I can imagine Sean laying down the law to him .
He gave the lad his number and told him if he wanted help to ring and he would stand by him.
 Most good taxi drivers have all the right (and wrong) telephone numbers.  
The best of us go that extra mile.
Come to think of it the worst of them go that extra mile too 
(the long way round)
Fr.McVerry is the only person helping young male drug addicts. God bless him. He will tell you it is hit and miss all the time.

So you thought you had problems?

The city is getting more like the USA every day..
The other day people reported a disturbance and a woman being taken into a car against her will.
Later on a woman came into a filling station in a distressed state to buy cigarette. Two policemen were inside and they approached her. When they went outside the man drove away. Crashing at the Spa Well roundabout where he stood with the gun pointing at his own head. Then he shot himself, he died today.
Parents killing family and friends have become more common.

Things were better when Apples and Blackberry's were just fruit.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Anyone for a canary?




 A crane went up in O'Connell St. I guess they are going to refurbish the GPO to get it ready for the celebrations next year. 1916 The Easter rising   2016.  100 years and a lot of bloodshed later.
Did you ever see a crane building a crane before?






Did you know that a very clever Irishman invented"aircraft leasing"
Tony Ryan founded Guinness Peat Aviation, it went bust, a lot of the guys who worked for him used the model to set up their own very successful companies.but Tony Ryan went on to establish Ryanair.

So when they decided to have a world symposium on aircraft leasing they chose Dublin for the venue.
Every posh hotel booked out for the week.
Limos by the mile everywhere.





Do you remember that I bought a PayPal Chip and Pin card reader which didn't work here?
PayPal said there were legal issues, I pointed out that banking was now streamlined through the EU.
Well this little baby comes available to HailO drivers next week. There are over 500 on order already !
I told PayPal that they would be loosing out if they didn't sort themselves out quick.
They as good as said "Hump Off"



 Another week gone.
Elvis would have been 80 if he was not dead.



On Sunday last I got a run out to Firhouse  Tallagh, on arrival there was a massive bird market taking place. I asked how often this happens and was told that it is an annual event like the horse fairs once a year only.

Did you know there is a bird market on Peter St.every Sunday? Its parallel to Bishop St.

Sorry for not keeping up but thanks a lot for dropping by.

By the way "Comments" which say "Best taxi service" etc. are deleted.



Monday, January 19, 2015

Slow down for Gods sake



Sad times here in Ireland with car crashes.
3 young schoolmates buried in Co.Kildare
And a 3 month baby killed in the back of a car over the weekend.
Not to mention the other deaths over the past 2 weeks.

I am not saying that the accidents could have been avoided but the way people drive talking on their phones and texting is just mad.

It only takes a second for the angel of death to appear.


Did you read in the paper that detection figures for drink driving were down this Christmas...I didn't see any checkpoints.
Did you?
When I was starting to drive I drove my Daddy to a scrap yard to buy a part for his car. Traynors scrapyard where hundreds of cars are processed every month.  Old Mr. Traynor took the time to bring me down to see the wrecks and the damage that a moment of stupidity can cause. Plenty of bent steering wheels, blood, hair and teeth stuck in the dashboard. 
Then we came to a near perfect car.
"This car will be shredded today" he said. 
"No one ever wants to see this car again"

He opened the door of the near perfect car and picked up a knitted bootee from the floor."look at the streak of blood on the roof, he lost control of the car, everyone's life has been wrecked.

I am not showing you this to scare you.
But some day you might decide to take a chance, or you might just remember and pull back"

A couple of years ago I was back there and his grandson showed me a TVR awaiting the same fate.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Kokeshi doll....Child delete

Just thinking over the last week.
9/11 is not that long ago.
Remember the IRA killed hundreds of people in the name of Irish freedom..
It is really time to take stock of the situation.

As the bumper sticker said.

Make love, not war.
Ask driver for details.


Getting back to my own meaningless existence.
I picked up an absolute head case in Inchacore.
She had dark glasses and a scarf over her mouth, she came up at the lights, "What time is it? Good will you take me to the bank in Grafton St.? I will get money there and pay you OK?.
She got into the "Assassins seat" (the one directly behind the driver). Then she started talking to herself,  just loud enough to hear the odd word.
I was in dread all the way. As they say every day brings a new surprise!
Then when I pulled over to the Westbury hotel and there was no space to pull in.
"No no I want to go to the one on Stephens Green"she said.
This one is on Grafton St as you requested.
But it's closed down. No its not.
So I had to pull up between 2 trucks outside McDaids pub. I spoke to one of the drivers and I blocked her as she started to run past the bank door. I whooshed her in and she started to talk to the security guy, than she started to dance !
The security guy came out to me and I told him the story.
"She asked for the toilet, look out there is a back door here, I will stand behind her"
So it came to pass that she walked around and around.... Then she filled in a form, went to the counter and got money.
Bold as brass I stepped up to her and stopped her putting the money away into her pocket and took my €10 from her hand..

There has to be an easier way to make money.


Do you know what this is ?
Nether did I until someone from Japan found her in my house.
John this is a kokeshi doll  KO(Child)  Keshi(Delete)
Simply translated it means Child Delete !
They madke the doll in memory of the child.

At a time of famine the child would be taken into the wilds and be abandoned to die !
My kokeshi doll had been used for darning socks, then her body got lost.
No respect at all..

So when things are not quite going to plan, I look at her and I know it could be a lot worse.





Tomorrow I am off to Northern Ireland to a funeral, it is the last person of my Mothers family.
Quite an occasion. A milestone in my own history.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hostage...


Sad news from France, terrorists and hostages killed !

This hatred and fear has united the French people, this has nothing to do with religion but it is the evil which is spawned through clerics of the devil who prey on the weak and disadvantaged.
All around Africa and the Arab world  law and order is breaking down, hundreds of thousands of people have fled from their homes seeking sanctuary in Europe only to find that they are ostracized from the people in their their new countries.

We have to mix. its the only way forward.

Every day I meet people of every color creed and nationality, I accept them as they are. People and we all learn from each other. Well this is how it should be.

Millions of people marched in Paris and London.In Dublin there was avery big march on a cold wet day.

A girl from Brazil once told me that "back home we don't have this racism like you have in Ireland , black, white, Chinese are all treated the same"
Perhaps in 200 years we might just get there.

 How do you like this Christmas card,it is pressed out and turns into a Church when opened.
  This is what will happen to you if you are grumpy. (Solomon gallery)
           A very bad photo of a very beautiful Brazilian girl

I got a really angry guy in the taxi today.. The call came and I was there in 2 minutes, after 3 minutes I rang him.. "Out soon"  at 5 minutes and 50 seconds I started the meter.
He came out and got into the car.
Then he told me his rights ! "You do not have the right to start the meter until you have been waiting 5 minutes .I had been waiting 7 minutes.
Well by law I have the RIGHT to have the meter running from the time I arrive, It is written on the fare card in the pocket of the seat in front of you... As a COURTESY to you HailO asks the drivers to give you 5 minutes free waiting but it is not a RIGHT. He held the phone in front of my face insisting that I had only delayed me by 4 minutes, but if I could have taken the time I could have argued the toss with him all day, but I am old enough that even if you win they are right..
So as he was coming up to his destination I told him that under the taxi regulator rules I also have the right to charge you €2 pick up fee (the cost of driving to his door) This put another bee in his hat, so I gave him the receipt from the printer and off he hopped.
People like him are drawing bad things towards themselves all the time.
Remember the very rude guy at  the flight check in?
Cursing and swearing the clerk smiled and sent him on his way.
The next guy said to the clerk.
"Wow mam you have some patience to deal with him so nicely"

The check in girl smiled and said "Well sit he is going to London, but his bags have gone to Tokyo"
Think of some things that Robin Sharmon has to say

r cool !

Only twice have I let someone get so far under my skin so far that I had to ask them to get out.
Boy was that a reality call for them.



Perhaps this might go some way to restoring your faith in humanity.

Monday, January 05, 2015

Christmas well gone




I forgot to put this in this Christmas.

Just to let you all know what Christmas often means to us.


January first fortnight has been declared as "Mental health fortnight"

It is very fitting when we read about a father who killed his wife and himself while almost killing his other daughter. Recently released from hospital he was cleared as being in a stable state of health to return home.
He was under severe pressure from the banks.
 I wonder how many calls it took from the bank to make him snap?
 All the banks want is their money, they will show no mercy.

A writer called Marsha Mehran died amid squalor in a rented cottage in Mayo.An Iranian lady she was a successful writer, loved and good looking. But she just slipped down the road where she stopped looking after herself.She had been dead for 2 weeks before the agent entered the house. Drugs were suspect bit no trace of drugs were found. Cause of death unknown as the body was in an advanced state of decomposition.

Remember a few years ago body of the heiress of the Tetra Pack drink carton fortune was also found dead?
She had been wrapped up in plastic and tape. She had been dead for months when police came to call.
Both herself and her husband were drug addicts. Despite of all the help their parents employed they couldn't be stopped.
She had died and the husband was so far gone into the world of drugs that he wrapped up the body.


Some people you can help though.
If you are feeling mental health problems seek help look up the websites or see a doctor.


The other day I picked up two girls from the bus station going to Dawson St. They were really stunning looking girls. It turned out that they were Egyptian studying in America..I remarked that although they looked Egyptian there seemed to be something different and special about them.

"Our father is Irish, we were in Donegal for Christmas"
Wow! the boys in Donegal will never be the same again after seeing them.

I also remarked how their poor dad must have felt that he was struck by lightening when he first saw their mother back then in Egypt.

"The wonderful result of their meeting is before me now"

A wise man once told me that "All that exotic beauty that you see is in your genes, it is in your nature to look furthest from your own gene pool"  So that explains why all Polish women look wonderful.

I still think Google should do a

"Tribes of the World"

Click on  Ireland and get a cross section of what the locals look like.Then you could compare us with the people in Holland or Iceland or even Iran.
Alas in 10 years we will be all mixed up forever.
The Irish might be the new good looking people of the World like the Brazilians are right now.

I met a HailO virgin the other day. She was trying to get a taxi with no luck, then she downloaded the App
I was around the corner and was with her in 3 minutes. She told me that she gets a taxi every morning from Arran quay to Allexander road and the taxi drivers who use the rank are all in the casino instead of being in their taxis.
So she will be using HailO from now on.

Did you hear about Uber in Sydney?
People fleeing from the shooting/hostage situation had their taxi fares doubled and quadruped ( a surge in demand increases the cost)  People there are not too happy about the situation.