Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Dying in Dublin





This guy had a big place in broadcasting for many years



I picked her up near St.Vincents hospital going to Church St.
On the way she told me about her friend who was diagnosed with cancer in January, at 26 years old you never think of dying. She had held back about telling and worrying her mother.
Just hoping to get better.
Then her mother was told and she is flying in with her sister to arrive on Monday.
But it seems like she might have died before then, she was very weak.
She paid with a credit card, touch and go.It beeped and then just before I turned off the SumUp card reader I read the message "Communication error!" I hadn't been paid and she was gone.
I had rung her before she got into the taxi so I rang her again, then sent a text.
Later on she texted me and we arranged to meet om Monday at her English school to get paid.
I met Virginia from Brazil and later on that evening she sent me a text that the girl used to be in her English class and she knew her.
On Monday morning Virginia sent the message
"John she is with the angels, she died this morning."
I sent a text to the customer and told her to give the money to the girls mother.
I had put the transaction through the MyTaxi app and they would be taking 12% out of that.
Fair play I wrote in and they refunded the 12%

God bless her, I hope her mother made it to her bedside in time to say goodbye.

I could easily see how you would tell your folks back home that you were fine so as not to worry anyone.

So today the snow came, then more snow.
Tomorrow the airport will be closed, all buses stopped from 7pm and they are off all day tomorrow.
I went out and drove around, I found work.
The big problem with bad snow or flooding is that if you damage your car you get no compensation from anyone.
You also get "€25 ? it was only €18 yesterday"




Saturday, February 24, 2018

We beat the welsh !!!!!

 I saw this trick preformed on the train going between Blackpool and Manchester.
I sent away my £20.. Can you guess how its done?????????????????/



Fantastic weather at the moment, but things are set to become worse.
So enjoy it while you can.
The Welsh arrive in this weekend to play rugby and sing out of key.
They were beaten so there will be crying in Temple Bar tonight.

With this job the minute you step back into your taxi after being away its like you never left.

One of the first people back in the taxi was going to the four courts, facing bankruptcy he could not afford legal representation.
He had bought property and told me a chunk of his history.
A brother in law worth €20 million who just hung up when he asked for help.

As I wished him well two elderly men got in and they were going to Crumlin. The had spent the early part of the morning filing in papers to send their sister into the nursing home scheme. She was not able to act on her own behalf.
Sad to come to the end of life while living in the twilight zone.
But it could be worse, think of Syria.
A shipping clerk was a refugee from Damascus,  he had been asked to attend the FAS center in Ballyfermot to have his skills accessed. I was not sure which exact road the place was on.
So he rang her and asked and the answer came.
"Are you fuckin thick? Its in Ballyfermot !"
I nearly crashed the car as I struggled to get the phone from him, but I shouted at her and told her that she would be the one drawing the benefits if I had anything to do with it.
"That is no way to speak to anyone."

He praised me and said he did not want things made worse for him.
 Then he told me this
"In the Koran it is said that if there is ever war and bloodshed in Damascus it will signal the end of the world. 
What is written in the Koran is the truth"

We had arrived and we wished each other long life  and good health.
I would still love to have nailed that bitch on the telephone though. 
If I had a shipping company I would employ him in a flash, fluent Arabic, French and not bad English, plus he would know his way around the shipping forms.
Smallest house on Careysfort ave

Spring has sprung with snow to come

3 Wheeler food van
 

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Blackpool

I was away for a long weekend at the Worlds biggest magic festival.
We all need a little bit of magic in our lives and this must be the best of its kind.
More than 4,000 delegates 150+ magic dealers
Competitions for best.
Comedy magic
Stage magic
Childrens magician
Close up magician     Etc Etc

Paul Daniels told me
"John in this life MAGIC is as much fun as you can have without taking your clothes off "

The town of Blackpool was big up to the 60s when cheap flights took people to the sun.
Now it is very run down.
But they are building a new convention center.

Magic and me go away back.
I did a great trick for a guy years ago who sold his bookie business in Ringsrend,
off to the airport. I was practicing the "Elmsley count" a big part of a trick called B'wave.
He asked me to show him.
I did and he was floored !
The cost to the airport was £15 way back then and he gave me £20

"Would you accept Sterling ?"
I went to give back the  £20
He then gave me £60 Sterling.

I was confused.

"No No its all for you
That was fantastic"

He was from Bristol and I told him where he could buy it.

Every time I pass Ladbrookes I think of him

Here is the trick



There was a guy WHO IS BLIND doing incredible card magic he was there



IF YOUR ACT ISN'T WORKING
WORK ON YOUR ACT

The dealers hall 2015

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Two ships lost in the night


I wonder if this is stolen, parked in an unlikely spot

This entire block was built facing the wrong way, the founadtions were in when the rest of the plans arrived.Imagine it 180o the other way

The light closest is 1/3 smaller than the other one the rest is reflection


We put lights into the bay window at home. We got the fittings in "bright Lights in Glasnevin industrial estate beside Lidl.

Just by chance I picked up 2 people who were having a rough period in their day.
The first one was in her pajamas and dressing gown heading up to Clare Hall.
She was really glad to be picked up as no taxi driver likes a crazy woman in his car.
She was on a mercy mission to a friend who was having a major meltdown.
4 times the other woman rang on the way up (15 minutes)
"No honey I am in a taxi" etc. etc.
All the rest of the time I heard her life story.
She was born out of wedlock and her grandmother wanted her mother to go to England, have the baby and have it adopted..The grandfather insisted that she stay in Ireland and have the baby here,
The mother took flight when my passenger was a couple of years old and the grandparents tried to rear her. The granny died and as the grandfather couldn't take care of a small child she was taken into care. In and out of different institutions she met the woman we were going to rescue when they were 12 years old and they have been soulmates since.

We arrived €8 on the meter. Jesus she insisted on me to take €20. So strange when the business people on expense account wait for 40cent.

The second was a guy of around 20 dressed in black.. 3 stop journey.
Like the lady I got a good look into his private life.
He got out of prison the night before and he made 3 phone calls from my phone.
He didn't have time to fix himself up with a new one.
"I was innocent, CCTV footage, real blurred. It could have been anyone"
He went on to tell me how loads of young lads in prison were innocent.
The way things work, you are asked to drop this package over to Jimmy, then mind this for me and the next thing is you are caught in possession.
Well I dropped him at a lucky 7s casino, just the place not to be going.

I told someone that I write a blog once , A stupid British lady.

"Well I hardly thing anyone would find your life in any way interesting"

She had insisted to be brought to the wrong address.
I had brought 3 other delegates to the right address earlier.

A very sad story






Tuesday, February 06, 2018

Be on your guard


This boy is now back in town

Temple bar

This is the famous Dutch print cloth on sale in the Moore St mall


I picked up a girl from Brazil the other day and I told her what great kids they were.
Always happy and working hard.
Her fone rang, "No I am in a taxi. I foned for you 1/2 an hour ago and you didn't come so I cancelled. What do you mean you have followed me for a mile looking for me?
You didn't come and I cancelled you, why didn't you call me?
You are going to what? 
He is charging me €6 to cancel the call  The bastard."
  
At least I could help her with that one, I told her how to contact MyTaxi who will deal with him.

Then she leaned right over between the seats until I could feel her breath on my cheek.
"You are a good person and I want to tell you something, all people from Brazil are not honorable or honest, so be on your guard.
I have a 2 year old son and I had paid a friend to care for him while I was out working.
My boyfriend came home early, and I came home as well by chance  unannounced  and caught him having sex with her in my bed..She was my very best friend and they betrayed me.

I have been treated for an aneurysm in my brain. If this had happened 6 months earlier I would be dead.
I have great friends and the most beautiful son you  ever saw, so I moved on.
I have lived in Ireland for 8 years now and I got a PhD from Trinity college.

I will give you this advice,
watch your friends."
Then she sat back in her seat.

She was as bright as a spark from an arc welder and the journey took no time at all..

At times like this you feel like you should do one on the house, she is a really great person, you would love to know her better, such energy.

Then to get back to other things.
Taxi driver attacks.
On Sunday morning a taxi driver was attacked on Jamess St and robbed of his mobile fone.
Another taxi driver stopped when he saw the man in distress, then the driver collapsed and he was brought to the hospital.
He died later.
 The postmortem has not been released as to whether he had another weakness or did he die from a blow to the head.
It is very sad for his wife and kids. RIP

On the other hand the meter updates and sealing?
Why is it a monopoly? SGS for testing and sealing for €85 a pop and the setting up of the meter €70 for 90 seconds..In this day and age there should be a few agencies you could go to.
Then you would see prices drop.

In another life I had another business which involved using multi meter's which had to be calibrated,
The NSAI said that it would cost  £110 per meter and the same body in Belfast quoted us £15 per meter.  Then the Irish standards people told us that they would not accept the UK calibration.
Check ! To us.
Someone rang the EU office of the standards authority.
They ruled if the Irish standards people would not accept the UK certification that their license would be revoked. 
Check mate !
The price dropped to £15

A neighbor brought his mother in laws car to testing station in Ballymun.
( Perhaps I told this before)
He worked in the maintenance section at the airport and he tested the emissions, "Great a pass" he thought when he tested it at the airport.
But it failed on the emissions.
No way would they test it on another machine 
So her rang the standards authority who told them to test it again or they would close them down.
It passed and then they were told to bring back all the cars that they had failed that day, plus they got fined for not cross checking the instrument that morning.
So you see no one is above the law except the law. 

I just bring this up to show that you should not take things lying down or they will walk all over you.  

Thursday, February 01, 2018

A new month

A new month and another classic American car


Idiots at work
So there I was waiting at the bridge having come down Fishamble St The cars coming towards me have no right turn.
So a Kenneddy truck comes over the bridge, the pedestrian lights are green.
That guy walking was 4 feet from getting creamed.
I couldn't clip the footage. This is a video taken by my fone from my computer