Battersey power station, the biggest brick built structure in the world.
So on Thursday we flew out for Gatwick near London and a quick hop by train and we were in Victoria station. Luggage placed in left luggage 8 quid per bag. We bought Oyster cards which allows you to travel on bus and underground. When you need more credit you top the card up.
Then we went to Westminster Abbey to pray for success for out mission. We don't do things by halves in our house. All pomp and ceremony, I took a photo later and was scolded for using a camera,even though it was my partner beside a monument to one of her relations. (I kid you not)
So I suppose the Royal wedding will not be televised if there are NO CAMERAS ALLOWED.
Well I mean fair play for all, if I can't film. You can't film.!
Well we saw some strange things and met many wonderful people for sure. More to follow.
Artists queuing with their work for the exhibition at the RHA
The last long journey
Rupert Guinness theatre
St James's Gate. Home of the black stuff.
Well here I am on the eve of flying off to London.
Lets hope my son behaves himself while We are gone.
It has come to pass that I got through the NCT at last. First failure was because one headlight was brighter than the other. Pay €28 for re test. Second test, failure,the other bulb was then blown. Yet another €28 At last a Pass, now it is off to the other place where they will judge the suitability of the car to be a taxi.
Yes, after ALL that they have to inspect it all over again !
The whole system is mad.
There was a woman there and her SUV had failed the test because it had been crashed and had been very badly repaired. Nothing in line. Not fit for purpose.
The policing of the taxi industry is REALLY BAD, we got a flyer from the regulators office a few days ago.It said that they issued 10 fixed penalty's or so for the whole island in the past year! That's MAD
On the way over to the testing area I saw a girl and I just knew she was going to hail me..It would all depend on how far she was going, I had some spare time, though not a lot.
So when she got in I said, how are you today nurse?
How did you know that?
Strange thing is, Doctors, Nurses,Schoolteachers all sit in in the front seat. Plus Australians, both men and women.
Most other people sit in the back.
She has just graduated and is off to London, if she got the job she had just come from the job interview. So it will be off to London New York and Australia for the class of 2011. There is no work for them here.
Galway taxi drivers found themselves in trouble in the courts a few weeks ago. They were setting up a taxi group and each driver paid €500 into the pot and they were supplied with a radio and they became part of the co op. Then some bright spark decided that the didn't want any Africans in the group! They asked for the radios back and the 10 Africans sued them for racial discrimination. They were awarded €6349 each plus costs for their trouble.
It is a pity the Garda are not as quick to get my €90 back from the African man who is operating an illegal clamping company here in Dublin.
Here is a piece from the late Belfast Taxi man's blog.
Just in case anyone thinks taxi driving is easy. __________________________________________________________
Two drunken women who made false sexual allegations about a taxi driver have been sent to jail.
Charlene Beal, became violent after she argued with Zubair Khan over the fare and then claimed he sexually assaulted her and exposed himself.
The 50-year-old cabbie was arrested and held in a police cell for several hours before police discovered he was innocent.
Jailing Beal, 27, for 19 months and her then partner Lisa McGuire, 26, for 11 months, a judge told them: "It was a wicked thing to do to accuse that man of what you accused him of.
"Lawyers acting for alleged victims of sex offences, he said, are entitled to say: "Read your newspapers, members of the jury, women make things up."
Recorder Cairns Nelson QC added: "You should hang your heads in shame."
Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Khan had picked up Beal and McGuire in the early hours of February 19 at the River Tavern in Strood.
Neil Sandys, prosecuting, said Mr Khan, who was working for a Gillingham taxi firm, told the women the fare to Maidstone would be £30.
After Beal argued the fare should be £22.50, the cabbie asked for the cash up front.
Beal handed over £20 and said the rest would be paid when they arrived at their destination.
Mr Sandys said when they arrived in the town centre Beal and McGuire wanted to go further. Mr Khan said he would not take them anywhere until they had paid.
A struggle then ensued.
"Mr Khan was shocked and scared," said Mr Sandys. "From then on the incident escalated very quickly indeed."
About £750 worth of damage was caused to the dashboard, radio and meter equipment.
Mr Khan managed to get out of the cab but his mobile phone was thrown in the road. As he bent down to get it, he was pushed over. Beal kicked him in the legs.
She then made a 999 call in which she said Mr Khan had either attempted to rape her or sexually assault her.
Beal admitted perverting the course of justice and damaging property.
Beal also admitted assaulting Mr Khan and a public order offence.
Mary Jacobson, for McGuire, said her client played little part in the allegation of indecent exposure. “She was literally a back seat passenger,” she said.
“This was simply meant to be a fun night out which went dramatically wrong for all parties involved. She and Miss Beal were partners at the time. They have since moved on to new partners.”
Timothy Banks, for Beal, said his client knew there was no truth in her allegations against Mr Khan and that he was entirely innocent.
“She was struggling with alcohol addiction,” he said. “It is a disgraceful incident.”
Beal worked as a school dinner lady but it came to an end when checks were made and her criminal record was discovered.
“She knows what she has done was close to wicked,” added Mr Banks.
Cabbie Zubair Khan said afterwards he was pleased with the sentence but would have liked to have seen the two women get at least two years jail.
"I think as they have admitted what they did the sentence is OK. If they had been given two years it would have been better."
The ordeal of poor Mr khan aside these two women are an absolute disgrace and do great disservice to any poor woman who have been victim of sexual assault .
Spare a thought for the 5 Garda who were involved in arresting 2 Dublin women who were at the Shell to sea protest site. One got on to a tractor . The other woman was taking a video when they were arrested. Then, as they were being escorted to the station in one car 5 garda in another were making their way to the station with the camera..... But the camera was still running, full of bravado the conversation recorded showed them to be potential rapists,not at all the type of language you would expect from pillars of the law for sure.
The situation is not being handled very well at present.
If I was the boss I would suspend the 5 until the situation had been investigated by an independent body.
I would also issue an apology straight away to the women.
This would do something to give a bit more confidence to the public.
Louis Vuitton hand bag appears on the roof of my taxi.
Today your prayers are needed for a New York Taxi driver Tony Buscemi killed at 4am while he was on his way to work.the "Belfast cabby" a fellow blogger. 2 fishermen missing at sea off Sherries and the family of the Catholic police recruit Ronan Kerr 25 who was killed when a a bomb exploded under his car in Omagh Co.Tyrone. I hope those people who carried out that violent act will be brought to justice soon.
Lets live our lives with a bit more passion, like the Mayfly who lives for only one day.
Mothering Sunday, or Mothers day. It all started when the Lord of the manor allowed his servant girls ONE day off to visit their mothers. The girls who were in service would bring Seminal cake home (a bit like caraway seed cake)
Well there was big excitement the other day when a house went on fire on Treenure Rd. West. It was middle of terrace and the flames soon spread with the high winds. The entire terrace is a gonner I'm afraid. I wonder how well the building regulations were adhered to when they were built. Most of the people just got out with the clothes on their backs.
So boys and girls, never leave phones or laptops on charge and unsupervised. Turn off electric fires ans unplug hairdryers when you are finished using them, a turned off hair drier burned my cousins house. Dishwashers should NOT be started when you are going to bed. Dishwashers are one of the top causes of fires in the home, this is because the wires going to the controls go under the door and every time you open and close it the wires have to bend.
One other thing ! Insurance ! If you are renting the landlord will have his property insured. But it is up to you to insure your own belongings.
In the taxi world I went back for my repeat car test. One headlight was brighter than the other. With a new bulb fitted and the €28 charge paid I went back up. Fail again ! The other bulb had blown. Another €28 and another visit back again.
Cab 2000 are putting it up to the other drivers at the Burlington hotel. There is a rank outside on the street and Cab 2000 have rented 2 spaces at the front door. One side of the argument says they are on private property so they can do what they like. The other side says that they are soliciting for hire in a place which is not a taxi rank, it is not private property either as it is a hotel forecourt and the public have access to it. Some kind of boycott of the hotel should follow,they are creating a lot of bad feeling for themselves at a time when every hotel needs all the business they can get.
On the day of the fire I had 3 ladies all dressed up and heading to Templeougue, after 10 minutes into the journey, I found out that the lady in the front seat used to be at my first school! I had not seen her for at least 20 years, or perhaps 30 years. God it is strange to meet someone out of the blue like that, nice to meet her again though. When I had the Fiat Scudo 6 seater I picked up a guy I knew and his drunken wife, he didn't recognize me. She was like a viper snapping at him and the other poor guy who was with him. Derek would be a very successful person, but my God his life is one awful mess. You would not change places with him for anything. Perhaps the secret of his success is that he works every chance he can get just to get away from his vile wife, still I do know that there is 3 sides to every story.
His,hers and the truth.
If you are living in the USA Sara is looking for host families for the summer activities
Not quite back to myself, but if I do stretching exercises when I stop I should improve. The trick is not to let anyone see you doing them.
Talking about people dying, did you spot Jet Harris died? Who? Of The Shadows? Cliff Richards and the......forget it !!! History lesson..
Yiutube brings us the little things in life that makes us all happy. Like this.
Today I went in for a re test for the NCT Fail again. I put in a new bulb but the dip on the drivers side blew between the time I replaced the other bulb. Lesson to self, check all the lights an hour before you go for the NCT.
Still shit happens and it's how you deal with it that makes the difference.
The back is coming on just sharp darts of pain when I twist to do something. Somewhere there is a Vodoo master busy with her pins !
If you ever saw this girl you would not forget her, blond dreadlocks, with pink green and all the colors of the rainbow, really wild looking girl. Well I picked her up today. She is Scotish and realy normal. I was expecting a real tough nut. Not so. I said to her that she could play "Where's Wally" because she sticks out so much.
When your health is fine you ignore and abuse it. It is only when you meet someone who is bunched that it hits you how lucky you are.
The Scotish girl told me that she went into a doctor on Wicklow and he looked up on the internet to see what was wrong. Then he had to go back on line to check the spelling. It hardly inspires confidence. So this guy waves me down on Townsend St, he is on oxygen, the cylinder is on a pack over his shoulder. "Elm Park my good man" He was in great form, though he had to stop every few minutes to get air into his system. The oxygen had a valve which let out gas then stopped. So I reckon he had to time his breathing to the beat of his machiene. He told me he was in hospital for 8 weeks being treated for bronchitus. Then someone checked further and they found out that he had TB. So all the treatments have affected his heart. But you know he must have been a great person in his day. Sharp as a tack with his wit and humour in spite of his bad health.
Everyone needs a good kick up the arse to let them know that they are alive.
Some of the sunrises over the last few weeks on the Clontarf seafront have been the best ever. If I was an Angel and I bouught you down to see that miricle of the dawn. "I was sent to collect you, but I thought you should see this first before you go." You would wonder how I produced such a beutiful vista. Yet It was there for you, all you had to do was to lift up your eyes.
So boys and girls it is time to lift up your eyes and look towards a better future.
At the moment of arrest the girl in the blue track suit is caught. The girl with the bag on her back is being pushed back as she shouts "I'll always love you Mary"
Graffiti
Folks wait for the Aircoach to the airport.Bet they all wish they had the worlds lightest luggage.
Taking the bus home
This house was on Abbey St.lost to Dublin Corperation when the tenant stopped paying rent, the Corpo didn't act and he won squatters rights
Elizabeth Taylor died and was buried last week. Colin Farrell read this poem at her funeral. Sooner him than me!
Richard Burton had such a wonderful voice though, didn't he?
Still I wouldn't like to leave my friends with such a conundrum something like this would be much better,
While I was looking this up I noticed I noticed ads for beautiful Chinese brides. "Hey lads I am trying to write a eulogy, give me a day to recover"
This bad back is a total feck! But it is far from being terminal for sure.
AND I HATE TO TEMPT FATE THOUGH IT IS GETTING BETTER.
Talking about travel, did you ever think about going to Sydney from London and visa versa by Bus? Then take a look here. In Ireland you can go to London for €50 return using Eurolines, with 2 big bags, then onward through Europe,as far as St.Petersburg and Istanbul. I just found I can get a Eurail pass for €239 which gives me 5 days travel over 10 days or 10 days travel in 22 for €339. Look into it here A great way to see Europe, much better than a bus. Do you remember in every city the cheapest accommodation is near the railway station. The most expensive is at the airport.
If that old ash cloud comes back again, just use it! I remember a woman who just Had to be back in America.
Book a ticket on an ocean liner I said. She looked at me as if I was mad and said. "I can't, I have no dresses for dinner at night"
Well there you have it. Never made it through vanity.
Here is a prize winning act from FISM in Blackpool, its amazing what you can find on you tube.
The cube has a beautiful air of being totally weightless. Quite wonderful. I still can't find the great French act which stole the show.
This pub nearly lost its licence for selling drink to a drunken man.
Here is something quite clever, its not Katie but very good, The dance fits perfectly to the music.. When I was waiting for an aeroplane in England I read that Katie has had a nervous breakdown. Showbuisness is very hard,travelling all the time on TV stage and very little real quality time. Add to that that she was only 18 when she shot to stardom. She is Russian from Belfast,her father is a doctor there.
People come and go today Imelda May from inner city Dublin is the new rising star. She used to play in Brussels near the Westbury when she was rising, then to the Jules Holland show in London. Imelda has the advantage that her husband plays guitar in the band and the seem to be a close knit group of people, so there is little isolation for any one of them.
Remember Jessie Jackson was in town to address the students? One of the drivers with a six seater was asked to be there at 11.30 to pick his party up and bring them to UCD. So he turned down 2 other jobs and waited for the appointed time. Then he started the meter and the party came out 20 Min's later. It turned out that they were going to Trinity college and decided to walk. The driver stopped the meter and asked to be paid, but they just walked away.
I don't blame Mr.Jackson, but what about the rights of the working man !
On my second attempt to join the Heuston rank I failed again and was at the lights heading back into town when I got a tap on the window. "Palmerstown Please" He was pleasant enough around 19 but talking quietly on the phone perhaps 6 calls in all during the journey, all the time saying where he was. There were photographers taking photos outside the court and he said his mates girlfriend had been photographed laughing leaving the court, she was just nervous, but the judge must have thought that she was not sorry for her crime (slashing another girl on the face and breast with a bottle) "Her drink had been spiked and she was out of her head" Still the judge gave her 7 years. He knew the young lad who was stabbed to death in the flats complex at Inchacore the other night too. The more nervous he became the more it effected me as well. He developed a tic which then turned to a stammer. The tension started to alarm me too. Is this a robbery ? Is this a high jacking? "Go to Stewarts hospital and down the hill"
A cul de sac, So I pulled my coin holder over and got ready to beat the crap out of him with it. "€10?" He paid me, jumped out and ran off.
My guess is that it was a drugs thing, collection, delivery or payment.
Young people with no jobs are fresh meat for the drug lords.
One of the lads told me that he picked up 3 really aggressive lads going to Inchacore, he was really worried, but as he came out of the dip to pass Dublin Providers there was a Garda checkpoint. The younger Garda waved them through, but the taxi driver slammed on the brakes, blew the horn and jumped out with the keys in his hand. The older Garda turned around and shone in his torch. "Ah hello lads !, Did you have a good Christmas?" "Call for a van, these 3 wise men forgot to return to prison after Christmas leave" So he got paid and they went back to the slammer.
I went to Liffey Valley to buy an ice cream and just as I was walking out a Romanian girl ran over to me to ask if I would bring her to Tallagh?
Wouldn't I just.
She had a package to collect,but it was at the other entrance.
So I walked over to collect it. It turned out to be 4 Stone of frozen chips,which I carried back to the car in my arms,instead of walking back and driving over.
Which is why I now have a sore back. What I SUFFER FOR €20
Still I learned a lot about Romania on the drive.
Oh yes I went for my NCT taxi all cleaned out,
Fail
One headlight was brighter than the other !
Retest next week then the "Suitability" test.
There are many taxis in this city being driven by people with forged documents ! That is a fact. When the regulators enforcers pull on to the rank the allow these guys to drive away. Then they inspect the papers of everyone who stays on the rank.
As Homer would say. DOH !
There is a guy who consistently picks up around the back of Heuston and right in front of the station as well. The regulator tells me she cannot stop him (I have the letter). One of the guys has punched him out cold. He has amassed fines of over €3,500 which he refuses to pay.
Yet guys are being pulled up for the silliest things. Martin on the tax Clarence cert and Marty on the licence. A gap of 1/4 inch on the side of a roof sign. Worn patch on the arm rest.
Yet they ignore people who are driving taxis who don't even know where the villages of Dublin are. Clontarf , which way to go?
So if the driver is illegal where do we look when he kills or rapes someone ?
It is a bit unfair that a legal driver has to pay tax, insurance and income tax. While the illegal ones do not have to do any of those things.
I don't know how I forgot this, but early on St.Patricks day I got a fare from a Polish girl of about 20. She was heading to the handball alley at Croke park. We came to a set of traffic lights which were red, nothing was coming so I drove through, the next set were the same. Five sets of lights in all. Then I came to the main road and stopped at the lights. "Why did you not stop at the other red lights?" she said,,"Well on St.Patrick's day you can go through 5 red lights, but this is nr.6."
DID YOU GUESS WHAT CAME NEXT?
Are you selling programes at Croker? says I.
Oh no they wouldn't let a Garda sell programmes.
I must be getting old, she was just a kid. But it is great that our country is assimilating the Europeans into our society. How fantastic, a girl at the police station who can speak Polish, Russian,Chinese or Romanian perhaps. The very fact that they don't have to send out for someone to translate. Such a saving of time and money too.
Over the weekend I went into the pillar room to see the tango lesson in action, they are having a special guest over for the tango fiesta 1st to 3rd of June. They will feature this female dancer who has been shown dancing many times before.
When I sent the clip to Julian last year he told me that she is the finest tango dancer in Argentina.Remember the woman does as many steps as the man, only backwards and on high heels ! If you go down to "Tango lessons in Dublin" then go to events you can check out the up and coming events. Today when I was getting my Coffey I met that famous Baptist preacher Jessie Jackson. Hi is over here making a few speeches, it will be in the paper tomorrow so click on Irish Times newspaper for details.
My back LOCKED today and I couldn't afford to have that girl from Thailand to unlock it,in her special way. So I walked for 3 miles and now it is off to a hot bath.
It is sad how you do one thing and you have to spend the money you made to have it fixed. Chinese acupuncture for the back! That's the cure for sure.
That was last night, still in pain so I went to the Chinese doctor today.
Sadly my old doctor has retired and gone back to China, the new doctor didn't say "If you are not better come again and I will fix you free" (which is what the last one said) So here I am broken hearted,payed my money ....and still in pain, only worse. It will be a while before I can do this.
I often thought I would like to manage a restaurant, let me say more !
Today I went into "The Green hen" on Exchequer St. Looks great, but my mistake there were only 8 people inside, so I had a lunch special Linguine with mussels. I wish I had noted the time from when I sat down until the food came. I would say 40 minutes, but there is a video camera there if someone cares.
So when it arrived and there was a chili pepper which was chopped through the dish and that was all you could taste. Pasta is cheap I got so little that I was very hungry leaving the table. The waiting staff where standing around like sentries, just standing there, I didn't see any of the staff say "Can I get you anything else? Would you like some more water?"
Or,what I would want my staff to ask is.
"Was your meal OK?"
The manager came in, threw his keys behind the bar, didn't speak to his staff or attempt to make eye contact with any of his customers.
A few doors away there is a sign in a window "FREE FOOD" when your order doesn't arrive in 7 minutes. They were packed to the rafters. Pichet around the corner is also excellent. I know the head waiter there, I should have gone to him. You pay wages for staff, heat, light, rent and rates 20c more of pasta would have made a difference. Thanks to Paddy I bring you the loyal dog who would not leave his friend.
