New car? Just walk into the office

 As I was driving along with a passenger in the taxi a brand new car drove past and I said wow!

The guy beside me opened up his laptop and an a few minutes he had the cars details. "Its leased from a certain date  and he is paying X per month, and that is a lot of money.

Going back to when I was 20 I bought a new car and borrowed £700 over 3 years at 4%. my dad asked to see the loan details and he asked me if I had ever paid attention when I went to school ?

What the BANK did was to take the £700 and add 3 years interest and divide it by 36. So what I said.

When you got the money you have not accumulated 3 years interest. 

When you make a payment you do not owe £700.

Do you see it now? 

I went back to the bank and the manager came out and he really thought he could talk me down. Until I said that I would take it up with the media. So I then got my first term loan.

Did you notice all the new cars around? I asked Mr.Google and he says that over 90% of new cars are bought on finance. 

Chuck Feeney told me to burn my credit cards and use debit cards instead. Now you cannot spend money you don't have.

I once helped a girl move apartment and I noticed  a credit card statement with a  e2,000 balance on it unpaid. I brought it up as we moved out and she said its only 3%.. No No its 3% per month. She checked later and she told me that she had been blinded by the figures.She worked in a bank.

If your parents are alive check up on their finances, Spry finance give loans to the elderly and  they will then have rights to your parents estate. So check up on them.

 

 

Suddenly I was cut off

 Long time no see 

I really don't know what happened. 

Like Alice I went through the looking glass and my world took on a different reality.

I did buy a second hand computer when my old one died suddenly and that might be a clue as to how I lost the link to the blog.

In the end I did manage to find my way back, but another strange thing happened with the book.

I got an email to say that the author had stolen the book from Amazon "AS IT HAD BEEN STORED IN AN INSECURE LOCATION" and there was nothing I could do about it. They also said that they had sold the ideas from two of the chapters to a film company.

Nice of him to let me know.

So I contacted that big river in Brazil called Amazon 4 times no reply.

The book was not on sale and strange to say when my son went to look at the email it was a burner, it had vanished. Time passed and one day Amazon contacted me and they told me that I had written something bad in an earlier publication. I said go to look it up and get back to me.

They did and it had been a mistake and just like that it was back on the market, no apology.

"The steering wheel university" By Paul Malone is back on sale.

The author drove a million miles and met thousands of people along the way and they educated him,   

Wow !!!!

 This has been a real mess.

My computer sat down and I bought a second hand one. A big mistake as it has a mind of its own, passwords applied and unknown.

So here is a story that would make your hair curl.

In the past when money was worth something a developer decided to build houses for £1 million each. At the time you could buy a good house for £60,000. So this was an exclusive development, a quality undertaking. A taxi driver bought one and he paid cash!!!!!

The tongues started to wag and the other kids would not play with the taxi drivers kids, every time a police car saw him they chased him down and searched the car. "Why are you stopping me? I have nothing to hide." So it went on and the taxi man went into the Garda station where the super told him that he knows himself what he was up to and it will be only a matter of time until he is caught.

Taxi drivers have a wide circle of contacts so he started throwing out feelers. 2 private detectives were added to the mix. Then one day when he came home he was met with "Drug dealers out" painted on his front door. The police did nothing when asked but as luck would have it a spy video camera caught the villain.

2 legal eagles who had houses were summoned to court and the local Garda superintendent was ordered to attend, smug in their righteousness, but boy oh boy they were in for a shock.

On the day everyone was shocked to see  the taxi drivers legal team, All high quality the  CC tv was shown and their confidence faltered. The chief of police took the stand and called him a drug dealer. Plain and simple.

The barristers jumped on him and asked him why he never checked up on the taxi driver ?.

The judge said that although he was under no obligation to declare it openly in the court 

He would like to know. 

So an envelope was passed to the judge and the judge said to the superintendent. Everything is legal and in order. A simple phone call would have straightened out the matter.

The taxi driver will sell his house and any deprecation will be picked up by the residents committee. 

The taxi driver also got compensation and costs for the disturbance.

Where did the money come from?

The taxi drivers brother had gone to England and became very successful

He never married and his money came back to his family in Dublin on his death.

The brothers company was very successful I have 5 pairs of Clarkes shoes myself.

If you come into money just say I won €5000. and I mean that. 

A guy I used to work with won €6MILLION IT DESTROYED HIS LIFE

A lady talking noncence

 We have a saying here that one good turn deserves another.

And so my story begins in Sandymount after getting a coffee from the girl with the golden smile. I had just stepped up to the taxi when a black lady from the other side of the green started calling me. So I went over and she said "City West". Which way would you like to go?

Oh Jesus Christ the taxi driver don't know the way.(She is talking into her phone) Do you have a particular route to go? Go to the coast and turn right. She directed me along the road until we hit the M50. All the time she is telling the person on the other end of the fone that she will get drinks on arrival and canapes for the 1,000 guests.My mind kind of switched off as we were  taking the most long route ever. Then as we passed the sign for Ballymount she shouted

"My god the fucking eejit has gone the wrong way we just passed a sign for for Ballymun..I slowed way down and said Look at thee sign for Balllymount the next turn is yours. Any more of the bad behavior and you will be walking.

5 minutes later we were driving into City west. I was shaken and went into the hotel to use the toilet. I said hi to reception which is a good tip as they might be needing a taxi. Outside there was a guy struggling with 2 suitcases on wheels. I decided to tell him that you cannot push anything on wheels on gravel, you have to pull it. So I took one case and he pulled the other. On the way over I told him about the mad woman looking for free wine and food for 1,000 people.Some chance that. Catering for large groups leaves very little profit, if you looked at a breakdown of the figures you would understand extra staff etc. What she is looking for would cost around €8,000

As we walked beck to reception I saw a wonderful sight a Rolls Royce and a Hummer. Wow I said that is fantastic, I love the Rolls. "Take it for a drive I will get the keys" No No No I said. I can't do that. I would be mortified if I damaged such a car. You see I would be very nervous as well. God you are a great guy. I didn't think about that.

So as we reached reception he asked me if I had another job lined up. He went inside and asked in reception and then he lined me up with a cup of coffee and a job to the airport.

I asked in reception who the guy was and was told that he was Mr Mansfield who owned the whole place.

Just as I took my second mouthful of coffee the colored lady stormed into reception and ordered me to take her back to Sandymount, 

But she had to make other plans.

Reception told her to wait for the taxi outside for her taxi.

The Windmills of Your Mind - Noel Harrison

This song is like an anthem for taxi drivers doing long night shifts, one moment of time telescoping into the next endlessly.

On Monday morning at 2am the clocks move backwards one hour. An extra hour in bed.

All the technology will move forward all by itself.

Its easy to remember which way the clocks go. Spring forward and Fall back.

Another thing that is changing the taxi meters, we got a raise.

I love this story about a taxi driver who worked hard and was pulled over for overcharging.

The passenger went to the carriage office who measured the journey in another taxi and he was guilty according to them.

Did you check the day? Was it Sunday? No ! 

But it was Christmas day, extra pay that day for him and for me!.

The driver told me that after all the threats no one said sorry.

I do miss going out and meeting all the different people, I met a wonderful girl from Mexico in Aldi, she was only a few hours in Dublin. I hope her life goes well.

Our city is populated with wonderful people from all around the world. Brazil is well represented ,wonderful girls with a heart full of laughter. We are lucky to have a girl from Argentina who comes in to give us a hand. A wonderful artist.

Clearing up and I find old treasures

 I was clearing up and I found a wad of papers from a bank.

Taxi drivers know a lot of people and some of the people we know have power.

I had a mortgage which was paid by direct debit from my bank account, a large payment went through and there was not enough payment for the loan. A little fecker from the bank rang me and gave me hell. It was really rough although once the shortage was brought to our attention the funds were paid. 

Someone said that I should write to the bank with no reply. So I went into the head office and the little girl told me that they do not have a complaints department. Then I handed the letter into my local AIB in Raheny. 10 days later I got a reply to say that they had investigated the matter and found no problem. A customer advised me to write to the banking ombudsman with copies of the letters and times. A few days later I was asked to clarify a few points.

A customer who had been advising me phoned me and said that my case had shone a light into the darkest corners. He had gathered the offenders into his office and had great fun with them.The head manager had not listened to the tape at all.Everyone nearly died to hear how the staff member spoke to me on that day. Then questions were asked for around 20 mins. In the folder that I came across someone had written on a letter.

"This client may have mental issues"

I have made recommendations said my contact and I feel that heads should roll though that is not up to me.

My compensation £1200...

Letting off steam

 ,

Things happen which makes my blood boil, here are a few. 

Two sets of twin boys living in the UK. Neighbors alerted social services that the children were being neglected.They called to the house and the mother would not let the inspectors see the children. After a month or so they dropped the case.

A fire broke out and in the beginning they herd the children calling they then stopped and the 4 bodies were located under the bed upstairs. Unfortunately they were dead.

The mother had gone shopping and locked them in unsupervised.

She got prison for manslaughter. There was a description of the state of the house which was really very bad.

Then there was the nurse Letby in UK again. She is alleged to have killed as many as 15 babies, convicted of killing 7. The manager of her hospital where she worked was afraid of reporting her or the hospital might have been closed down.

And the last one was the Verizon Computer scandal in the British post office.Loads of postmasters were locked up in prison accused of fraud. The computer system was faulty. What did management do?They lied and covered it up. The head of the post office got an honor from the Queen and the saga sails on. The percent Postmaster got a £30,000 bonus which had not been approved, all this while hundreds still have not received compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

Something really good to finish on.

I got a big surprise in my bank account €220 in payment  from Amazon for the book.

The steering wheel university 

By Paul Malone.

The author drove a million miles and met thousands of people and they educated him.

You can download it on Kindle as well

(Theirs 3 spelling mistakes)

Summer yealds to taxing times

 Death and taxes, nothing is surer.

So I had a business and an accountant made a VAT return every month.Now I gave him the figures in plenty of time but he was late filing the paperwork a few times.(forgive me if this is a repeat) The gay from the tax office decided to come and see me at the accountants office on a set time and day. On the chosen day the accountant decided to go and see France warm up on the Clontarf rugby grounds.

The tax man was livid and he said "Because you have a bad accountant is your fault not his.

I will come to your house tomorrow and I want you to hand me £400 cash or I will take your house from you. At that time I was setting up a detective agency and I had high tech recording equipment, I also knew a guy in the tax office and I asked him if he would like to monitor the situation from the kitchen..

He nearly blew a fuse and told me to do nothing and he would call me back.

They nailed him and they very grateful and they came back and went through the books giving me a  £400 refund.

I went to the accountant and he wanted £600 to give me back my books. "I will be down with big posters saying that you are a blackmailer and incompatant. I got the books back.

Doing burglar alarms was full of problems. A young guy might read the spec for an alarm on his lunch break, the next day he is missing and he is installing the alarm with no insurance and he would not be able to certify the installation when he finished the job. The other biggie is stealing, I used to set traps with the serial numbers of the notes to use as evidence.

3 Minuets was the record to catch a guy stealing, but I was lucky.

Anyhow about the neighbors cat.She comes to us most days and the agreement is that we have with her owner is that we will not feed her. She loves us and brings us presents, a little bird (alive) and 3 baby mice that would fit into a matchbox. You have to be quick.

Its a never ending roundabout of life.