2024 The future

 I have 3 sons, one of them lives near Belfast. He had been down before Christmas and on St. Stephens day he landed back. Then after a cup of tea he went away and when he came back he was upset and told us about his distressing news.

One of his friends from Mount Temple school had killed himself on Christmas day. 

A married man with young kids.

Remember the Samaritans 116123 there 24/7

Try and close down TicToc and Facebook and listen to the people around you.

Here is a story from history

A taxi driver used to pick up a regular client at Howth around 3 am. A job to the at the airport. He was a piolet and a good guy to talk to. 

He pulled up to the car park at the summit and took out his blanket to take 20 minutes rest.

He heard a car drive up and saw the rights sweep around, then the car went away. Just as he was about to close his eyes again he saw a woman in a nightdress walk past his car and head for the cliffs. He jumped out and grabbed her while she protested. He dragged her into the car while she burst into tears. "Let me die, Please let me die" He covered her with a blanket and told her that he would bring her to the Garda station. She protested wildly and in the end she told him to drive her to John Of Gods hospital in Stillogan.

Talking to her all the way he realised that by her accent that she was no ordinary common person. 

When they got there the staff refused to take her in, she was discharged yesterday.

It was a cold night so he had to keep the engine running to keep her warm. Around 8 am the day staff started arriving and the driver approached a well dressed member of staff who when he saw who she was was appalled by the situation. In 10 minutes she was gone and the driver had to ask for his blanket back.

He went home and told his wife and she asked him if he had lost his mind. A nights work and a full tank of fuel and you get paid nothing. He went back to the hospital and they paid him €20!!!!! The brother of the taxi drivers wife was a detective Garda and when he got wind of the story he went over to try and unravel the tale.

"This was attempted murder"

Someone came to him and gave him an envelope with €200 "For the taxi drivers time" 

His superintendent then told him that this case would be going no further, lucky for her that there was a taxi driver there on that day.

story never told

When I drifted into this game things were different. There was a huge shortage of taxis and you could rent one on a part time basis. After I passed the PSV test I went looking for someone who was renting a taxi out at night time. The conditions and the cost nearly put me off.

Someone  suggested that I could have my own car passed out and a radio company called Metro would install a radio and this is how the work would come. As far as it went it worked well.

One night just before Christmas I got a call to go to Crumlin children's hospital accident and emergency and ask for a doctor by name. A young couple came out and they were in bits. Rafters road was the destination. Their 9 month baby had died. She just got sick and by the time help came the little girl had slipped too far and died.

The doctor had forbidden them to drive home, now the problem arose that they would be stranded in the morning. I said that I would go back to the hospital and bring the car home for them. They gave me the keys and I walked down the road where I caught a taxi. I told the driver the sad story and I got the ride for nothing. A real gentleman. I used the remote car key to find the car and then I drove it back to Crumlin. I parked the car and popped the keys through the letter box and went home. I never was paid money for the job but at this time of year I feel their prayers.

I never even told my wife but Metro cabs did not charge me for the job.

There is a God !

 After being asked for €50 by the NTA I wrote a letter and a week later a very polite lady rang me and she told me to Present the taxi and they would put the new sticker on. "There will be no charge for this procedure"They have a thousand teeth to trap you. I sold a taxi once and I did not remove the stickers from the front and back windows. I was told that I had to bring them back or there would be a £60 charge, I contacted the new owner and she had taken off the stickers. But she found one in the bin and I drove up to her house to collect it. So I drove to the test center the next day and he said that as one of the discs was missing I would have to pay £30. He would then destroy both discs and re issue new ones. 

You couldn't make it up.

I could take you out for an evening and show you at least 20 un documented drivers, but that would mean that the officials would have to come out late at night.

A few years ago I had a girl from London in the car. She told me that her parents were going to Heathrow and they went to the railway station. After a while a railway porter told them that on Sunday there were no trains to the airport. They rushed down and took the only taxi and she called an UBER. When he arrived she noticed that he was going in the opposite direction. The driver fobbed off her protests. She sent a text to her friend. Her friend told her to jump out when the taxi stopped in traffic.

When her chance came the doors were locked !

He friend told her by text to open the window and say that she is getting sick. When she did the taxi stopped and she jumped head first out the window. She landed on her face scraping her head as well. The Police were called and she was told to contact UBER.. After a few weeks she contacted the Police again. They contacted UBER and they said that they had no booking at that place or time and so the story ended. She was so happy to have a friend to talk to that night.

UBER is everywhere here in Dublin and coming soon we will have rickshaws for christmas.