Second in command is ready

My son has been driving for a few years and he still is penalty point free so he is taking another go at the PSV test. He failed it two times but now things are different for him.

He has been working as a delivery driver for Amazon and this has been quite a baptism of fire for him.

One side of the city right to the other 100 to 130 drops all over the place.

He loves it. A lot of the directions are on the SatNav but the experience has taught him a lot, he said that there is a few taxi drivers working there as well and they help each other out when they are out and about, its great to hear that.

So the book sales are very slow.(The steering wheel university by Paul Malone on Amazon) so I am going to do a talking book version, it will take a while.

I might have to get an actor to read it as most people hate the sound of their own voice.

Did you hear this one ?

"If the judge likes the sound of her own voice you will surely get a long sentence"

All in the future.Actors spend a lot of time in idle bliss and they might like the break.

When John Hubbard was young and could not drive I took him around with casting scripts.

A truly educational experience. I would go to the house and ring the bell, knock on the door.

"Nobody here." Kick the door he would reply. BANG BANG and the door would open 

"Why are you kicking my bloody door?" The face was instantly recognizable. 

John would shout out Greetings and the actor would change like the switch of a light. "Oh John How are you. Would you like a cup of tea "The actors were instantly known, very famous faces.

I often asked why they were just sitting at home "They are resting" was his answer.

John Hubbard and Stephen Spielberg (see the book) got together after I met him and did a movie called Lincon.

John and Stephen are both very clever people Johns skill to pick the right person for the part and Stephens ability to frame a great story.

Try and find Cinema Paradiso it is our favorite movie.

So in a month Jnr will take steering wheel and start his education.

A marker in the ground

So very soon I will go back. I have had enough of this boredom.

I need freedom.

Driving in the bus lane and picking up interesting people.

If it was not for my pill box I would not know what day of the week it is.

Of the thousands of people I have met one has come into my mind Martha was her name and she came from East Africa, I can't be sure but I think she was from Tanzania but it was a long time ago.

She was full of life and she had a really impish sense of humor. S he told me that the people of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are wonderful runners and the women are the most beautiful on Earth. They are also the greatest lovers that can be found. But don't think of going there you will never catch one. 

Then a big burst of her laughter.

One day the Lottery was £1 Million (A lot of money at the time)

I said that I would buy a ticket and if I won we would buy an ice cream.

"John take it back now" I asked her why she was so upset and she told me of the Jen.

A Jen is a spirit which lives on the edge of society and when someone makes a wish they will grant that wish in a very cruel way. 

They use their powers and enter your life.

They suck the life out of your most loved person, wife or child.

But you cannot see, hear or find your Jen.

You are the happiest person I have ever met. 

I would hate for you to suffer or change in such a bad way.

Stop at this shop here and I will but the ice creams and you must promise me not to buy that lottery ticket. 

Around 6 years later her life imploded and she died from a drug overdose

Sometimes your heart breaks

 A dog killed a 2 month baby last week in Co.Cork.

The incident happened at 2 am just out of the blue.

Things like this are complicated, you need to introduce the child to the dog gently, slowly getting the dogs confidence. It is hard on the dog as well when he sees his master making a fuss of this new thing which came into the house.

Shit but it makes any of my problems seem like nothing for sure.

My life is starting to move forward.

I got my meter re calibrated so that I can move back to work when things pick up soon.

I have been painting and gardening for long enough.

My youngest son has found himself a great job. He is a driver for Amazon. For him it is really great as he covers the entire city. He is tougher than I thought he would be doing 10 hour days with no complaint finding his way around with goods from the great river.

He will fly through the taxi drivers exam in a few months, then I will retire.

When you see Amazon very often there is an arrow underneath, its called a swoosh and it shows that they have everything from A to Z. 

Clever marketing.

Ladies and Gentlemen keep an eye on your kids.

I found a spoon on the footpath outside the convent in Clontarf.

So what you might say.

It had burn marks on it. It had been used for cooking Heroin.

In the leafy suburbs of Clontarf and the upmarket Dalkey and Foxrock even in the inner city areas of Shirreff st and Grafton st. the city is awash with drugs.

Early on when I was driving a hackney I drove a guy around, on the phone and he lined up his orders in advance, out of the car and back in. Good areas.I suppose they had the money back then.

He looked at me at one point and said  

I didn't make these people take drugs,I only provide a service for them, and when I die there will be 10 other people to take my place.

Then after a while we drove into a house in Foxrock ( I still remember where it is)and when we were coming out again there were 2 kids waiting 10 and 8 He had something for them. 

I told him that it was way out of line. 

Its only Smarties. Which we all doubt.

If there is a God I hope that she gives him a long and painful death.

What people fail to understand is that criminals need taxis as the police would recognize their cars in a second and catch them.

1.5 million hits

 I just spotted on the stat counter that we have just had 1.5 million hits.

My oldest son would say "Thats a lot of bots Dad",

Give yourselves a good pat on the back.

Well done.

I will try and get a techie to show me how to put the photos and the videos back on the blog.

The old stat counter used to show me where the hits came from down to the street and the house number.

I often wonder what fascination a person in Moscow had with Dublin that they clocked in every time I updated the blog. 

Computers world is strange and wonderful ways.One guy told me not to rely on that Nigerian Princess who wanted to give me money. First of all she is probably not a woman at all and second the only money she would have would be your money. 

Take care and walk softly

Its like early Spring

 I was in town yesterday and saw pubs,restraints and other shops getting the windows cleaned and painting their facades all in preparation for the big reopening.

The Lord loves an optimist.

For myself I do not see an opportunity to resume in the taxi business. 

On the bright side I do not have a landlord breathing down my neck looking for rent.

Oh for the joy of being an old fart !

Our woes will pass and in 10 years we will be able to laugh about our present fix.

I broke a tooth, one of the big ones at the back. It was not sore for 2 days and then it got a bit soreer.

I rang my regular dentist but he was busy, booked up, no vacancies..

1asked Mr.Google for help and he said Smile Hub Dental Clinic in Bayside.

They are just starting up.Open 7.30am  to 10 pm 365 days a year, with a doctors surgery and skin a treatment place in the same building.

That is one great idea. I really hope that it takes off.

Are you old enough to remember when the banks opened up at 10 am closed for lunch from 1pm until 2 then closed again at 4 pm for the day? Banks are closing down for good now all over the place.

The Central bank is keeping them under their thumb so they are not getting away with the sharp stunts they are used to pulling. I got my bank fined €200 by complaining to the financial ombudsman. Perhaps the next time they will not dismiss my request so easily.

Just on my local bank. The teller was very dismissive. "Put in your pin number now" The account opened with more than a €40,000 balance.Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Well hello. How are you keeping today?"

I was importing 2 cars from Japan so I had a fair poke of money and the next day all the money was gone.

I did OK with those cars.Toyota Prius forever.

One of my sons was on the phone just now and he told us about a guy he used to work with in Northern Ireland.

His specialty was tree removal and he was good at his job.He had an accident and his 2 year old son was killed..

Now that is real disaster God bless them and keep them.

Ask your God to pray for them

The days before I drove a taxi

https://youtu.be/LwFxu0Dpp0Q

You will have to click on the link yourself

Well I have been sick in bed for around 6 days,different symptoms every day and my "Doctor" tells me its nothing. 

Ah the war of the sexes.

So I was thinking about what I did in another earlier life.

I drove an armored car moving cash and gold and other valuables around the world, 

I never had a day like that guy but I did have some strange moments.

So you sit in a van surrounded by steel plate and 3 inch thick bulletproof glass. The assistant is called the back man and he stays in the car while the driver collects the cash. Everyone starts off as a back man to learn something about how the system works.

In my time driving nothing ever went missing on my watch, but there were dickheads in charge who were sowing the seeds unknowingly for the destruction of the company.

One such bonehead came up with the rule, the last person to receive a package is responsible for it.

If it goes missing. Without further thinking the rule was adopted by the company..

One of the oldest and most respected guys was sacked when a packet of cash went missing from the vault. We all protested that at least 6 people had access to the vault and any one of them could have misplaced it. The bone head was delighted with himself until around 4 months later cash went missing on his watch.

Wow you should have heard him protest about his kids going hungry and he really needed the job.

He was kicked out and a more normal governance came into force,

I love when a company is run from the top down, that everyone knows the workings of the company, who the people are and how it all fits together.In my mind this formula breeds great success.

So I was there a few months driving and foreign guys came along. Many of them were great but some of them were missing the most basic thing, they didn't speak English. 

I never had any problems, but you can see that something might happen,

Each car had a radio and your backman was in charge of that. But he didn't know the city and with limited English there was a big problem. Your personal mobile phone would ring "What time will  you be at the King stores?"So you would give them the next one on the list and ask HQ to ring the next one and have the cash waiting. Then they would keep you 40 minutes waiting for the cash to be made up.

One day I had 5 calls from the HQ as to what time I would be at the same certain stop. 

I blew up. 

Just ask any of the other girls beside you in the office. This phone is being turned off.

On my return to the depot I was called upstairs to face the big boss.

I told him that he should have a tracker system on the armored car and not to be ringing me 5 or 6  times with the same question because the girls are not cooperating with each other.

Also I should have a hands free system.

His reply to me was classic.

"When we need a new manager we will call you, until then keep your ideas to yourself"

 Things went back to normal for a while.

The motor tax office was in a building behind the 4 courts back then and it was the beginning of the month, credit cards had not caught on so it would be a pick up of around £1 million.cash.

I went in with my helmet and my ID.and was told that there would be a 10 minute delay, no problem. When I went down to reception I was met by a guy in  a suit and the nicest pair of dress shoes I have ever seen.

"The regular guys are off I have the key of the door" He said. I nodded OK.

This is a robbery, a trick of some kind I thought.

To this day I did not have a plan when I went upstairs to collect the cash.But it came to me on the way down.

The procedure was that you should enter a room to which the security man had the key.

He locks you in, then you empty out the sack of money bags and bring them out in your explosive transport box 3 bags at a time out to the armored car.

As I hit the bottom step I tossed him my helmet to the guy and said "Waste paper for shredding" Out to the van and rang 999, 1/2 hour later they arrived. No security guard could be found, CCTV cameras all turned off .

\i had a perfect set of prints from the helmet as well.

When we got home they never said thanks to me, but one old guy who worked for the company asked me a few days later how I knew it was a robbery. 

I don't know anyone who would wear such good shoes to work, Is that all?. 

No there other lesser factors at play. No thank you John, no well done we will buy you a pint..

The police never asked me to look at mugshots of the usual suspects.

They never asked about other staff either.

In my own mind I think it could easily have been an inside job after all  £! million would have bought 5 houses back then.

I often drove into shopping centers where I noticed robbers waiting for me. Once I drove up to them and turned on my siren and blew the horn..

It is complicated some people are just dishonest, just live with it.

There was so much good work that could have been done there to make things great.

Like

Sending out your trip sheet up to the office, Hello Tesco the cash in transit van will be with you in 10 minuted. then ring the second number we expect your collection in 40 mins .Are you ready?

This would have streamlined the whole operation

A sure what would I know ?.

Then one day we were waiting outside the Credit Union in Lucan I got out of the car and went inside the newsagents and bought the Evening Press. There I saw Taxi for sale 99 Fiat Scudo for £12,000.

I thought that it was a mistake as a taxi plate just a few months earlier might cost you £90,000.

Deregulation was the word and things changed fast.

There were around 2.600 taxis in Dublin within 5 years it had mushroomed to 12,000

New York had only that same number of taxis for a population of 8 Million.

Oh Ho but the Russian mafia owned the plate or Medallion and the "Value" of the medallion was over $i million. 

What happened?

Uber came along and it was happy days for the drivers and the customers.

So I told them on the job that I was handing in my notice which caused a panic on the day.

You did not work out your notice! Just tell us when you are finished today and good luck.

So on the very next day I had my badge around my neck and I went to the Sackville Place rank and I got my first job. She directed me and I told her as it was my first job driving a taxi it would be free,,No No she paid and I was hooked.

It has not been bad to me I learned an awful lot and if I had paid more attention I would have loads of money as well.

Sometimes the lads from security would come over to me when I would be parked at Foster Place and stories of robberies would come out weekly and sometimes daily. One of the guys jokingly asked me to make it stop as there had been no robberies on my watch.. Just luck Just a bit more than luck.?

Then it happened!

A hold up with guns. The driver was not trained and he gave the van  over to the robbers.

The panic button was not pressed!

The isolation key which grounded the car was not deployed.

He never blew it in on the radio.

3 Days later the van was found in The middle third in Killester.

No Money.in the van.

The insurance company inspector came in from the UKwith his big note book and asked the questions about staff training. How there was not a second more experienced operator in the back.?

Then the big question.

Why did it take 3 days to locate the vehicle?

The satellite tracking was not working.

It is a condition of your insurance policy that the tracker in working

With that the insurance agent drew a line over the insurance policy.

Null and void.

God I would never have wished such an end to any company.

The owner was in the taxi the following Christmas and he did say how sorry he was not to have listened to me.

God they lost a lot of money.

Justice What justice?

 I met an old friend today and I mentioned something about the boys in blue, the Garda Siocana. And we spoke of justice.

A mentally handicapped girl was sexually assaulted near St. Johns Rd I wrote 3 letters to the Garda HQ and to the place that the girl was going to at the time. I got a few replies and one bright lad told me that unless they could actually see it happen there was nothing they could do. My reply to him was that it is just as well that he is not in the murder squad.

So I told this to my friend and his reply was that a young schoolgirl was raped and she had bruises all over her body.

She went to the Garda station in Raheny where she made a statement and a doctor came and took samples.

She heard nothing and went back and was told that there were no witnesses and she should forget it. She persisted and the local priest intervened and told her that if she pressed this that people find out about it would be talking about her behind her back and be laughing at her and she could never find a husband.

"Just forget it " So she finally did.

That was 30 years ago and only a short time ago the mystery was solved.

The man who raped her was the younger brother of the Garda that she reported the assault to.

She will not fight it now as time has moved on.

Justice is a hard won fight.

You need a police force to investigate the police.

I has a lovely lesbian couple who had been through the rigors of the RCMP,

they spoke of how their love was discouraged an many ways.

One of them progressed and was in charge of investigating fraud within the force.

She would go in, tap the phones and computers and plant listening devices in police cars and under desks. If they accessed her records she came up as a rookie, but in fact she was one of the highest ranking officers in the entire Canadian police force. 

This is so they could not pull rank on her and impede her investigations.

They gave me a bottle opener with a Canadian flag on it.

I still have it among my souvenirs

Did you get the jab yet ?

 So at last I got the jab and I feel fine.

I hope it goes well for you.

It will be May in a few days, I must line up my tanks and army to march through Red square.

What a load of crap all of that is and a total waste of money as well.

Like most folks I am emptying the garage and as I tidy I find many lost things.

Like a disposable camera which I kept in the car years ago in case of a crash, now redundant as all phones take photos and the dash cam never blinks.

Once when I was clearing rubbish my wife was yelling at me not to be looking through the bags,

"Just throw everything out"

Then I found it.

I had been doing a VAT return long ago when I got a call out and had to leave. 

I asked that everything be left there until I got home again.

On my return the table was cleared. Cash, Cheques,Bank lodgment books, check book and £2000 in blue pound notes. 

All gone and she could not remember where she had put it.

Around 5 years later I found it thrown behind the kitchen door in the back passage.

I had to go to the central bank with a passport and a bank account to have it changed to €uro, they don't hand out cash.

Many taxi drivers are working for Amazon and delivering pizzas. 

My son had a wake up call a few months ago. He was delivering a take away meal to one of the richest family's in Clontarf. 

"Dad the never even gave me a 20c tip"

Son the rich do not tip.

I went to great lengths to bring a phone back to its owner once, time wasted and fuel burned.

The woman just pulled the phone from my hand and I don't think she even said thanks as she closed the door.

There is none as quare as folks as the woman said when she kissed the pig,

The builders are back at work and I was up at a building supply center and they are flying.

They were never busier.

Must look at a new career. Where is there a need for something? 

I notice that there are no pork butchers in Mecca !

Perhaps that is a bad idea.

I once met a guy who said that if he had to live his life again he would just love to be a taxi driver. I said it is not a bowl of sunshine, He came back with a list of positives.

You can work as long or as few hours and no one is going give out that you did not start at a certain time or finish at a set hour.Every place in the world if I am looking for something I will ask a taxi driver. If they don't know they will know someone else who will know.

A good idea will pass your ear every few weeks. They may be doing it wrong, all you have to do is to grab that idea and run with it.

He was right and the next day I found out more about him.

Mr.Obama had brought out a law that you must make your name public if you donate more than $2,000 anonymously  Mr Feeney was on his way to a press conference to declare that he was the person behind Atlantic Philanthropies and that he had given away 8 Billion Dollars.

He invented something very simple DFS  Duty Free Shopping.

Funny thing as it turned out we have a mutual friend in common so I managed to stay in touch up until quite recently. 

Yes he did give a tip.

At least I will have an ally for when I win the lotto.

The Euromillions was at €30 million and I had a ticket. I scanned it at 11pm and it came up.

"Its a winning ticket" How much? I couldn't find the amount. 

I scanned it the next day and got the same result.

So I got my bank details, passport and driving licence and took the bus into the Lotto office.

So picture this? 

I hand her the ticket and say that its a winner, she scans it and says.

 "Yes you've won a ticket to the millionaire raffle"

I was like a goldfish, hardly able to speak and why did the Lotto app say its a winner ?,

The computer has to calculate the prize money. Scan it again and it said a €3 millionaire draw ticket. I really hope that they have re worded that announcement.

It was quite a shock at the time.

One thing Chuck told me to do and it worked so well for me was not to put up with bad manners and rudeness.

I had always bitten my lip and carried on but I have booted out 3 fares and I really felt better for it. The second guy was so surprised when I turned off the main road and told him to get out. He offered me €100 on top of the fair if I brought him. But I knew his game, at the Airport he would try to say that I had stolen his money.

One time when the Garda really helped at the airport a guy asked for a receipt for €30 A Garda was standing beside my taxi, but the man never paid. I jumped out but he was gone.

Did he not pay? said the Garda. You cannot run after him, so please wait by your car.

He got on the radio and gave his description. Let him get to security he said over the radio.

We chatted together and a good 1/2 hour later he was brought back.

He protested that he had paid and the Garda said that he was standing there and noticed the transaction and that there is a camera in the taxi if he would like to go down the the station to view the footage. So the man handed me €20. Let me see that receipt said the Garda.

You owe him another €10 don't short change the driver. So he paid me the money while all the time protesting at how he had missed his flight and that it was all our fault.

Sir just be more thoughtful the next time said the Garda giving me a wink and waving me on.