Keith Barry

Keith Barry has a show running in the Olympia.

better than Riverdance for sure,

Duffys Circus in town

The old property developers are dropping like dominoes.
Bernard McNamara is in the news again. He was one of the high flyer's in the property boom. Now he is being forced to sell trophy properties on Ailesbury rd. at more than a 2/3 discount, if he can indeed get that price at all.
Then there is a house in the UK called Uptown Court. It was put on the market for £70 million. Now our NAMA is going to sell it. The Irish Nationwide has a £50 mil mortgage on it.
The house has 11 acres of gardens,46 acres of woodland.
It has 24 en-suite bedrooms. 5 swimming pools,stables. Tennis and Squash courts, a bowling alley, a panic room, a cinema and garage space for 8 cars.
Enough marble to cover 3 football pitches went into its construction.
Just to give you an idea of what such a house costs to run, heat clean etc £500,000 a year.
He claims to be talking to 3 possible buyers as I write.

Still Someone in the UK bought the winning Euromillions ticket.
€185 Million prize !
Well done, with this amount of money,the secret of your success is complete silence.
Become a secret million are, helping people as you go.
Remember three people can only keep a secret when the other two are dead.

All that money! and 12 millions starve in Africa.

Well a lady from Boston stopped me, she was going to the US embassy trying to get her visa renewed.
I asked her to find out if my old taxi plate 2473 is still hanging up in the Crossroads bar on Beacon St. When the numbering system changed I brought them over to America. One side is in Boston the other in New York. I didn't want to throw them out so I gave them away.

Her roots are in Wexford, so I told her about a great book I have about the Wexford people who settled in Nova Scotia and we had a great conversation about the Irish when they work abroad. The are sometimes inclined to stick to their own people. Drink in Irish pubs, play Gaelic games and go to Irish clubs.. Well not her or her husband. They just love the mix of cultures in Boston and they spend their time with their friends regardless of race ,color or creed.

THAT IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.

I also told her about the Irish girl going to Poland a few years ago now. She was also a civil engineer, she had a company with her brothers building roads etc. he Celtic Tiger slowed down and the funding stopped.
She told me that they had a staff meeting and the Polish workers begged them not to liquidate the company. So they went to Poland and they are building roads there. Their staff rose to the challenge and it is a great success. Whether you know it or not, that Polish girl making your coffee is really well educated, the trades people are very good too they turn up on time and work to a finish.
On that trip I told her about a customer who was being bullied at work.
She had brought over an Irish engineer, and he in turn started to bully 2 Lithuanian lads.
He was called in to the office and warned twice. Then he got a written warning.
Then he got the boot.
"He is sitting on his arse at home in Limerick now with no job, saying he did nothing wrong"

I would say that her ship is well run.

Things are going from bad to worse in the taxi game.
I seemed that a few feathers were ruffled when the Prime time on the taxi industry was shown, now the industry has started to Delcine further.
The taxi rank at Jamese's St. hospital has been taken over by a private taxi company, Global taxis.
Private company taxis park in front of the D4 hotel which means that the customers do not walk out on to the rank at the road.

Some of this has been caused by bad manners and rudeness by certain drivers. But it is very drastic to close access to work for the other honest and well behaved taxi drivers.
The taxi council which has been brought together has not got one taxi driver on it. Instead it has fleet owners and radio taxi companies on it.
Ireland's taxi industry will be like New York's. The Russian Italian and Irish Mafia will own all the plates. They will pay bribes to officials. If you want to work you pay your days rental, regardless whether you have a good day or not.

SO IF YOU BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE.

contact joecostellotd@gmail.com

pat.rabbitte@oreachtas.ie

or Leo Varadkar our minister of transport.

minister@dttas.ie

There will be a blitz on illegal taxis for the next 4 weeks, or so I hear.

Lets hope it happens.

They were on the Sackville place rank today.

Why they do not follow the guys who pull off the rank when the garda appear defeats all logic.
Instead they go through the paperwork of the guys who remain on the rank.

Talking about bad manners.
Irish manners has become so bad.
I had a shouting match with a guy who would not pull back and let me into traffic. So I got out of the car, the traffic was stopped anyhow. After a few more insults were thrown I reminded him that the penalty for talking on his fone while driving was €80 plus 2 penalty points. Since he was still talking on the fone at the time I told him he should go to the circus, as they are always looking for clowns.

I did feel a bit better after that.

But perhaps I had sunk down to his level.

Man on a ledge

For hangig up the socks, I call it a socktapus.

A new venture cycling ice cream sellers


Bless them all big and small


I was heading home through Fairvew, a man put out his hand and I checked if he was trying to stop a bus behind me.
I was hired.
He started talking and what he said made sober listening.
Jesus I am in a bad way son. I found a couple of days ago that my hand was shaking so much that I would spill half of a cup of tea as I was drinking it, I was in a really bad way. I asked if he had had a mild stroke.
No son my doctor told me I was having a minor nervous breakdown. Nothing too serious, but he would have to do a lot of tests to make sure I was on the right track again.
He lives alone and has not worked for 6 years, he had a triple heart by-pass and he is a diabetic. He takes a very strong sleeping tablet (30mg) and last night he put 20 tablets in a row on the kitchen table and was just about to take them all. His neighbor walked in and looked at him. Seeing the look on his face he told him that he should go to see a doctor. Then he saw the tablets on the table.
His neighbor was shocked and scooped up all the tablets and took the rest of the drugs from the house. The next morning he drove the poor bloke to the doctor.
He had rung the Samaritans that night and a lovely woman spoke to him very gently, when he had composed his feelings she made him promise that he would seek medical help. She was very good,
I asked him if there was anything that pushed him over the edge?
Yes he said, my sons are always coming over and telling me their troubles, relationships, money and no work. I can't help them, I am worse off myself.

I am the oldest of 15 children, the doctor told me to think of how this would effect their lives and the lives of all the other people around me.

What frightened him most of all is that he seemed to be acting against his willpower.

He told me he didn't listen to our national radio station, which is full of doom and gloom. But he was a television addict. Loved listening to Nat King Cole and Mat Monroe. (A bit of an old romantic)

I hope you will confront your kids and tell them to fuck off with their problems. The doctor told me to do that as well, yous are right.

He was clearly shaken by the events, but I will say a prayer to my God, tonight perhaps we will say a short prayer to all our different Gods all over the world for the people standing on window ledges ready to jump.

Perhaps we should all stop moaning about our own problems a bit more and listen out for others.

Cinema

GET THE POPCORN OUT.

A MORAL TAXI TALE.

Cats

Wow what a car this is.


A street that changes name 1/2 way along ? Thats Mad


Wow boys and girls ! What about that €170 million jackpot not being won..Next one €200 million or more.
Good luck and if you win, don't forget the hungry in Africa.

I was all in a heap last week, the Tango Fiesta took up all my time.
You had to see it, dance is poetry in motion for sure.

I have worked all my life, in factories, with horses,in electrics, cash in transit.
So now I have decided I will work to live and enjoy my life a bit more.

Nothing bothers me more or less.
If something comes up I go with the flow.

So anyhow I had a trip lined up to Monkstown and on the way I called into Sandymount where this fantastic cat was lying by the curb.
A black E type Jaguar no less!
1960s and all that.
What a beautiful machine, I just had to photograph it.

I spoke to a man sitting at the table. "It represents 10 years work" he said.
The proud owner, 15 minutes of praise was loaded on to him.

So when I had picked up the fire I remembered Mountown Motors which was not far away.
So I drove over to the place. Doug Skakie is a classic car "anorak". He saw the photographs I had taken and he knew so much about that car that he nearly knew the chassis Nr. of the vehicle.
So we discussed cars for quite a while!
Now you can take your car to a garage and a guy will work on it. Fair enough. Or you can find a guy who is passionate about cars. He knows the difference between a dipstick and a big end, as well as that he has an interest in what he is doing.

So on Thursday I will be getting my transmission fluid changed and my plugs.




I am a bit like the wolf who hunts alone, some work for a radio company and give 20% discount(the driver not the radio company) Others work the airport and pay €420 for the pass to pick up people. You used to be able to apply a "pick up charge" but not any more.You might have to wait 2 1/2 hours for a job of €10. These guys just go back again for more.
The taxi rank at the James's St. hospital is gone to private hands. Yesterday I found out why.
It appears that taxi drivers were coming up and getting "Last" from the car in front and then driveing away.
The driver would then come back later and demand his place back in the queue, there was fighting all the time and the hospital had had enough.
Customers of mine have told me that they walk past certian taxi ranks because they find the way the drivers behave intimidates them.

A ship passing

Just a random observation.
I picked her up in Blackhall Place, she was going to a doctor in Cabra.
Doubled up in pain with a very sallow complexion.
Junkie came to mind, pregnant too.
She was crying out in pain, tears rolling down her face.

"Look shouldn't we go to a hospital?" I said

"No mister,just the doctor"

I reckon she was having a miscarriage.

€5.80 on the meter.

"Just give me €5"

I lead her to the footpath
"Theres €7 and God bless, you are a great person."

So there you have a casual observation.

A really pretty girl on perhaps on drugs, perhaps loosing her baby, she is kind and compassionate.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers, cousins and friends.
I was in Boston a few years ago and saw 1812 being performed on the banks of the Charles river to fireworks. Sad to say it was in heavy rain.
I often hear visitors to Ireland are dismayed at how this is just another day for us, nothing special.
Have a click here

Well the last posting did not take so I will try again.



Here is one of the most watched


Yes,there is a reason why you should drive slower.



I hope this will purge my contempt your honour.

Canada day

Greek folk dancers

Colfu toilet sign. you cannot put toilet paper into the toilet, it has to go in the bin !

The beautiful flora of Corfu

This is the Gay Pride flag flying onet the Sin Fein offices.
Who ever would have thought it.

Happy Canada day for all my Canadian readers.
May the mounties never get you !

Boys and girls, us men are very stupid ! C'est true!
So htere I was with a guy in the taxi heading for Pearse St. when a French "lady"(I use the term loosley) hailed me. The guy in the back was OK to share. So off we went and when he got out she said "I only have 20 minutes to make my flight to Bordeaux".
So what did I do ?

Well if I wrote it here the policwe would be banging on the door and arresting me.
In 15 minutes we were there 165 Kph.

I had forgotten to restart the meter when I dropped off the other guy, so there was only €21 on the clock including the toll for the tunnell. The attendent had made a mistake ano only charged me €3


The bitch gave me a €50 I gave her back a 20 and 2 5s

Now guess what.

Wow, we are on time!She said.

Then she put all the cahnge in her pocket and fucked off.

Well I will be taking lessons from the DC cabby. The only time you try to help is when there is CASH ON THE DASH. I.E. PAID IN FULL UP FRONT !
A while ago I had a passinger giving me greif about the flow of traffic, she was insting I go one way I wanted to go another way.
"Listen mam, we can go any way you want. But I will make a deal with you. Let me go my way and if you are late you get the fare for free. When we arrive on time you pay me double"
We shook on it. Deal done !
It was all agreed and we arrived on time €24 on th meter she handed me €25 and insisted that I gave her €1 back !

How can some people turn good fortune into bad, I really don't know.

So now that is off my shoulders.

Have a great weekend.