Over the hump.

These are Martello towers, they were built to protect Ireland from being invaded by Nepolian.
They are in Malahide and Portmarnock.
So after all these fine fortresses were built he decides to go to Moscow in the Fall instead.
Not a good idea.
Now they are converted into very desireable homes, cannon proof with 8ft thick walls !.

Today is St.Davids day so if you are Welsh you can celebrate. I don't know why any of the links to www.harlechhouse.com would not work. But go have a look. Wear a daffodill for the day!
Yaki da

Thursday on the horizon the weekend approaches we are over the hump.

St.Patricks day came early for Dublin taxi drivers last weekend with a fantastic win for Ireland in Croke park. I worked from early morning, taking a break for shopping and lunch and out again. Unfortunatly I got tired and had to quit when things were still frantic, but not before I had collected a good bundle. One fare alone was to Balbriggan for e63.00, the punter slept most of the way and paid up without any agravation. Then I got 4 runs from the airport which was like a scene from the evacuation of Dunkirk!
A lot of people had taken the week off for mid term break, now not a taxi in sight to take home the holiday makers. The dispacher was upset and was shouting at me. Why is there no taxis?
All I could say was this is what it will be like all the time when taxis refuse to pay the e500(per year) charge.
I met Richie again the man behind Green and gold radio in Australia. His site is not back up yet but he expects to launch by Paddys day,17 March.
I have a link near the bottom right of the page.

Another retired man from Clare who could recite all the teams who won the All Ireland GAA finals since 1913 for Hurling and Football. He said he used to know all the minor results but was a bit rusty now.

Another young man who is traning to be a racing driver, told me of crashing at 150 MPH! Then racing the next weekend. There is a lady who trains racing drivers near Ashbourne and he was signed in !.
I really should bring my note book and write in the names and supply more photos with my new camera phone.

A New York taxi driver and a Cardinal die in the same second!
St. Peter walks down to meet them,
St.Peter walks up to the taxi driver and embraces him warmly.
Welcome to heaven Paddy Reilly.
I have been looking forward to meeting you.
Come inside, go over there and shower, you will find silken vestments all laid out and a silver orb and sceptre. When you are ready sit at the top table.
Welcome again.
Turning to the cardinal St.Peter says, welcome father your changing room is over there, your vestments are cotton and your orb and sceptre is copper and you sit on the lower table fourth row down.
Hold on a minute St Peter says the cardinal. This can't be right I have served God all my life and you give the taxi driver the pride of place over me.
How can this be?
Up here it is reckoned on merrit says St.Peter.
While you worked half of your flock slept while the rest of the flocks minds wandered off to other thoughts.
Paddy Reillys customers on the other hand, from the moment the door slammed cried
HOLY GOD HELP ME !
IF YOU ALLOW ME TO SURVIVE THIS JOURNEY I PROMISE I WILL NEVER SIN AGAIN.

Victory

Ireland have beaten England at rugtby by 30 points in Croke Park!
I feel as if we should dance.
Hope you enjoy!

Rugby on the northside

Well the old unusual cars keep turning up. the red one is a Robin Reliant a three wheeled car, made of fiberglass if my memory serves me well.
Landsdowne Rd home of rugby is being redeveloped and the GAA are hosting rugby and other foreign games in their state of the art stadium. 82500 seats will be up for grabs and it seems again as though tickets are like gold dust. To put this event into context we must look back to history and recall bloody sunday. An event which was the trigger great unrest which would lead us to civil war, which then led to the partition of Ireland and the formation of the Irish free state.
Old Irish die hards will hate to hear God Save The Queen played within the boundaries of the grounds. The officials have made a great gesture to the IRFU, lets hope the gurriers behave themselves
Still if its a win for the boys in green it will be a great event .

I will be working.

I had gone 1/2 way through the process of renewing my PSV licence a few weeks ago all I needed to get was a new tyre. Well I have been going to the same company for a good while, Fast Fit have expanded and taken have the Quick fit chain.
Time to reflect says I.
The last time I had a flat before Christmas they said "new tyre boss"
I said ok.. then they said the wheel was slightly buckled and the allignment needed to be done. Fair enough job done.
The steering was a bit off, so after Christmas I went back. The weights from the balancing had come off. I collered the boss and said that the tracking could not be correct with a buckled wheel so. Put on the spare re allign the steering and rebalance the other wheel.

So after the NCT I decided to try a small guy Atlas tyres in Phibsboro for the new tyre. Price was the same and when he balanced the wheel he stuck the lead on to the cetnre of the wheel. Alloys have to be done this way as they don'thave the edge that steel rims have, seeme like logic.
He did the other side and told me that there was lots of weights on the rim and when it was all taken off it needed very little ballast.
Perhaps it is a case where firms get bigger they get more careless.
So up I went to the NCT place only to find out that that day was the last day before my licence would expire.I thought I had until the 25th.
That would mean an extra charge of around e400.

So now I am all set for another year!

I hope the weekend goes well for you all.

Happy Chinese new year

Geese grazing on the Clontarf seafront all the way from Greenland. On the right we have Custom house the spire and Liberty hall home to the trade unions. an the foreground the new pedestrian bridge which swivels. I have yet to see it open.

I am awake it 3.30 am can't sleep. I will tell you of the highlights after I tell you why I am awake.
Last Job of the night brought me to Vernon Ave.Clontarf where a beggar works. and he hopped in while I while I was trying to park. Coolock says he so to avoid hassle I dacided to run him home. But home sweet home was not on his mind.
He was on the old mobile.I herd the figures 100, 150, 300 all mentioned. Turn right here buddy..So we had a three way conversation between him me and his dealer.
The deal was to go down at the shops in Edenmore, when we got there there was a wide boy there but he was not the main man. Then another car pulled up, turns out to be the beggars "cousin".
The waiting game went on for a few minutes, then a bit longer, I took all the money I had and hid it in the boot. He had given me a 5 before he left so with his apple slices on the back seat and 8 50 on the meter,I made a break and cut my losses.
Fabrese is a great man for killing the smell of junkies. Its a pity it wont kill them.

Later when I got home I decided to give Coolock Garda a ring.. well It rang til it stopped then on the third attempt we got through. I gave him the reg numbers and told him what happned..Right if I send up a car will they still be there?..Well no you are a BIT late with that.

If there is a few people around who want to play a game ?
Ring your local Garda station at 8 pm (not a busy time)and count the rings..then ring your local Chinese takeaway.
Compare the response times.
I suggest we get the Chinese to run the Garda switchboards.(After all this the year of the pig)No offence , but it is

A few years ago at Findlater Place a Chinese man was stabbed to death. The murder scene was taped off and a bean garda(female) was on duty to preserve the scene. Talking away to a man she did not notice the confused Chinese girl coming from behind. I called over before she stepped over th tape, I shouted again as the lady walked right through the puddle of blood.
Then again I shouted Look Behind you. The garda just turned her head to the left as the Chinese girl walked behind her right sholder stepping over the tape. If the gard had stepped back they would have bumped into each other.
Guess she has a new set of footprints to follow now in the murder hunt.
I would reckon that evry Chinese business has to pay protection to the Triads or Snake Head gangs. The violence has not spilled out onto the streeets for a while now.

Found a new hotel and on the route home I found the correct route to it (With regrets to my passenger) Its the Castleknock golf and sport hotel. It has more stars than the milkey way.

Go up Knockmaroon hill as far as the new appartments, hang a left at Castleknock college then down the hill , keeping left at the next fork its less than a mile up there. We went through Clonsilla and Porterstown. But I stopped the meter to keep it fair.
It is the night of the Kerrymans ball,there should be plenty of footballers there.
Great looking girls too. Mine was a cracker, hope you had a great night!.

Another Guy I picked up was a man on a mission. To start a radio station in Australia. Green and Gold he is calling it you might get it here but its not opned yet, he is in the process of training 12 Auzzie DJs Sounds like a lot of work to me .
Still if these things were easy everyone would be at it .Good luck Richie.
I hope he remembers me when he needs live updates on the state of the nation.G'day mate.

I found out that there are 2 Vernon Courts in Clontarf. One on Vernon ave beside the shops the other beside the Yacht club on the seafront.

There was a great programme on BBC radio 4 on Thurs or Fri. about company debt. Private equaty groups are buying profitable companies then stripping out the finance, sacking the workers and leaving the companies in massive debt.Birds eye was one,the AA was another example quoted. Often this massive debt is 80% of the companies profits.

For Beatles fans here is George Martin. A blast from the past. Before the Beaatles came allong he was making comedy records for Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren.(Goodness gracious me and give us a bash at the bangers mash me mother used to make)

If you want happy punters play the Beatles, they get really elated with the music.
Good tips follow.

Just got a call from a mate he suggests drinking warm milk. Does it work for you ? I said. No milk keeps me awake all morning.

I'm a milkman !

To all the immigrants

A special thank you to all the wonderful people who have come here to Ireland in the last 10 Years. They have made Ireland the success that it is today.
People like Winnie form the Philippines who looks fantastic, when she told me her age and that she is mother of five children I nearly fell off my seat. Carla came from Sardenia and worked in the coffee shop, she never served cool cappachino and was allways happy.
There are thousands of immigrants here from China to Brazil.Estonia to Mauritius.
Our supermarkets,hotels, petrol stations and hospitals would all have to close without them.

I wish you all a happy Valintines day.
I hope your letterboxes are full of cards when you get home.
And for all my Chinese cab riders HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Ireland is not the most welcoming place, I have seen children in the inner city taunting Chinese and Blacks,this comes from their parents sad but true.
Polish men among others have arrived in their thousands to share the Celtic dream. They came without English, contacts and spicific skills.So many have become homeless. There is a friary down on Bow St where they provide meals for 200, mostly homeless Polish men on a daily basis.
Others find work and are promised to be paid only to get half the money or none at all, they have no one to complain to.
You know the Irish had to flee poverty from the 1920's, up unitl a very short time ago.

I hate to go back to that Brazilian girl I spoke about a few weks ago BUT.
Ruhama the charity which helps prostitutes back to normal life are starting a fund rasing drive to collect money and unlock the sex slavery in Ireland,Its a key ring! Support it.
Look out for the collection boxes!

For myself I have only rescued 2 girls who were unfortunate to have landed here with the promise of a new life.

The first was an African girl who had no english at all the first time we met. I was doing electrics at the time and I met her three times in the next three or four years.

Then one night after working all Saturday night taxing I saw her at a phone box on Mount Prospect Ave.
She was distressed so I brought her home. She told me her story over a cup of tea.

Her "aunt" had brought her over to look after the kids just in the evening. In return she would be fed and her education would be paid for. She would have Sundays off..Sounded so good.
She came over with no english, her job,in reality was to be a slave.
Get the kids up fed and off to school.Clean the house, get the lunch, make the kids do the homework. Get the dinner. Bath the kids and put them to bed..
No days off. No money and worst of all no school.

She wanted to get to London where she had relations. she wanted to be a nurse. She had been trying to get a plane in the days before Ryanair it would have cose an arm and a leg. I had spottted an advert for London 12 quid, by bus and ferry. I rang the number and within the hour she was on her way fair paid 5 Irish punts and 20 Sterling spending money(all my money). I gave her my number and she said she would ring..She did not ring...Not even to say thanks. Quids down if I was done out of the money it was in all honesty not my fault. I did feel that I had done the right thing and felt a bit hard done by.

4 or 5 years later the front doorbell rang and there was this highly excited Niaomi Campbell lookalike screaming my name and hugging me. I didn't know her and she had to explain herself to my startled wife and kids. Black girls when they dress up with war paint and beautiful colourful dresses will knock you for six.
Wow factor!
She had arrived safely but had lost the piece of paper.
She had qualified as a nurse in London so.
Now she had come back with her boyfrend to talk to the "Aunt".
Her aunt was gone (came to a sad end) and it had taken her hours to find my house.

Boy, I for one am glad she found her way back,I had lost my faith in human kind by then .It made me happy that 40 or so quid had made a difference.
I guess I can take those pins out of the Voodo doll now.

The second girl was sitting on a suitcase at Heuston station, crying so I did not want to approach her in case she thought I was a pervert. An hour later I was back on the rank and things had slackned off. So I stuck my neck out.
Are you OK?
She got pretty excited and was talking away in what I figured was Phillipino..She trusted me to get into the taxi and take her off.
Luckily the week before in a guy had hired me to bring gallons of paint to his new company Phish. It was to help Philipinos in Ireland. It was in Sackville place.
They started talking away when we went in. I said I would call back later.
Around 4 oclock I called back where the guy told me how how she had been brought over and been held prisoner in a house in the midlands...Same thing no money or days off. Not even allowed to eat with the family,passport taken.
The Garda got involved bigtime and arrests were made that day.
A week earlier I would not have known about Phish.
I guess we were both lucky to have met each other that day.


Nothing much to report apart from that,except for the other day a steel salesman was in the car to pick up another guy then off to the red cow(another word for traffic congestion) the fair came to e28.
I took out the bags and he was a real pro..Here you are mate. Just give me a fiver back, you can keep the rest.

Now all cabbies know what happned next.

I jammed the wad of notes in to my pocket and moved away quickly unblocking the traffic only to later find that he had given me e30.

Well its a lesson I will learn until the next time, when I will be caught again.

I am not that slow usually. Once I remember one guy saying there's a fiver extra there for you. But I felt the wad and tipped the door locks. when I pointed out he was a tenner short his wife made him give me a 20. She was a bit pissed off with him.Her parents were with her at the time.
Grounds for divorce I reckon!

But I guess thats people for you.
Mind that was in Punts too.
Drive safely Look

Oh yes Winnie! she is 46 not a wrinkle or a grey hair and no makeup!
She looks fantastic.
Hope you all get loads of love today.

Bless them all, the long and the short and the tall.

Men of Harlech

I should have saved this photo to share with on St Davids day. But I was so impressed with them that it could not wait. The gates are to Harlech house which is a gallery ,studio and house. They are made of stainless steel.
if you click on the photo you can enlarge it.

Do you remember the rant I had at the Garda last week? Well an example of what I was giving out about came to light yesterday. The police in Austria broke up a child pornography ring and informed them on the 22 August that 2 computers in Ireland had been linked to the case.
They denied that any such information had been received. Only to later state that the information had been received but was put on file and not acted on.
Well the trail will be nice and cold now.
They are very fast with the speed camers on the roads around the airport where the limits are lower than they should be, easy money. Not like something you have to put a bit of effort into.

Anyhow I must tell you of a dental nurse from Co.Wicklow going to Mater private consulting rooms.
Stay away from them fellas I said.
Then she gave me her story.
She has an aneurysm in her brain which was causing some slight deafness, it had been picked up by an ENT doctor and confirmed by a scan. She took the scan to the Blackrock clinic. The doctor put the xray on the projector and started to say... What have we hear ? What are we looking at?
She got a bit peeved at this and walked over to the screen..Well Doctor you won't understand much because its upside down and back to front!.That R means its my right so it has to be on your left!.
Well you seem to have some medical training, what are we looking at?

I just took the x ray down. I am sorry you waisted my time. If you dare to send me a bill I will sue you.
He didn't bill her.
The operation to correct it is riskey, she could be in a wheelchair, she is getting another opinion, but she has decided to leave it and live a fuller life instead,I wish her the very best of luck, say a prayer to your God for her.
It is good to live every day fully,like it might be your last.

I picked up a Frenchman at the Westbury the other day. He is a historian of Irish history and has just published a 700 page book on our history. He knew his stuff allright its a thing when you live in a country you don't know your own history. Thke a look at the exabition which is on in Collins barricks, the Frenchman had given some artifacts for the displays.

Tomorrow France play Ireland in Croke Park which is the home of the GAA. First time rugby has been played there. Landsdowne Rd stadeium is being knocked down so the rules not allowing foreign games into Croke Park has been kicked into touch.
Better get to work.I will add a PS later if I can.

Prostitution

Here is a beautiful house in Wellington Place Donnybrook. It has nothing whatever to do with the subject matter, which follows.

The oldest profession in the world, or so they say.
Before Christmas I was in Sandymount when I was flagged down by a cloured girl (from Brazil) who was looking for St. Johns Rd..The road is not on the Dublin map..According to the map it is known as St. Johns Rd East. But not so.
Anyhow I digress, when we arrived she told me that she was so excited that she was going for a modeling shoot. I was taken aback because this is not the way modeling begins.
It starts with a scout, an agency a stylist, a photographic studio and then to a portfolio.
This it seems to me, is how innocent girls are introduced into a life of prostitution.
The introductions the grooming the partys and the drugs.

Look here's my phone number ring to tell me how you got on, she never rang.

She was on my mind still for a few days so I rang Irishtown garda...No No we don't deal with anything like that. Ring immigration.. I was not ratting on her but I rang immigration. No Reply, the phone rang away until it rang off.
So I rang Garda headquarters Pheonix park and , Harcourt St..No reply
Crimestoppers.. no answer, Garda confedential line no awnser.
I rang Store St garda station as I thought I remembered something..No there is no department dealing with prostitution here.
I rang the rape chrisis centre..Yes they thought that the charity which helps prostitutes might know.
Later on that day a lady rang me from Ruhama and told me the guy I should speak to was Insp. Pat Lordin. Who was head of operation Quest which was dealing with trafficking and prostitution they are located in Store St garda station,they target the organisers not the girls..
After dinner I rang up and gave the details of my suspicions. The guy who spoke to me was eating and talking to someone else across the room at the same time, I really felt like hanging up. He took all the details and rang me back later to tell me there was no St. Johns Rd in Sandymount!. I had told him that on the map its called***east at the beginning of our conversation. Later he told me that there was no house with that number on the street. I told him it has a big black wooden gate and the number is plain to see.

I heard nothing since.
Its hard to believe that all the numbers rang our no reply. Switchboards to offices where hundreds work, no operators to awnser the phones.
Imagine being a forigner without access to help language and money. It is frightening how loose the law enforcement is.
Girls are sold between brothel owners and few people seem to care.

I would like that if someone rings up the police you are given a log number, so that if later 7 bodies turn up someone could ring the press give the reference number to the time and date that they first noticed something was going on. The police in Belgium had been called to the house of Defreau (mass child killer) sevral times. They knocked on the door got no reply and went away again. But they had no records kept of how many times they had been there until the bodies were finally uncovered.

She was a nice enough girl If she was my daughter or yours I would like to think that someone would look out for her.. But if the police couldn't even find the road in 2 weeks what hope do we have.

There are levels and types of people involved as you go down through the sorry mess.
The key to modern prostitution is drugs, nearly all the girls who work are addicts.
When the Shah fled Iran the eleite were forced to turn their assets in to a highly portaple form, they chose gold bars and heroin.

Heroin has become the driving force behind crime since.

Time for tea

Here's something you don't see very often. Come to think it has been quite a while since I saw her!
1959 classic


The other I going off for a cup of tea close to the Westbury hotel, one of the few places where you can pull up for a mo. But the porter came out as I arrived " Are you free? Good take this man to the airport"
Happy to forget the tea, the biz gent walked into the coffie shop and asked for a muffin and tea.
Fair enough , in 2 mins we are on the way, straight out for Ballymun. He is telling me how he overslept and has missed his meeting! 2 Hours late.. Then he is on to his frends...Bla bla bla ..
When he pauses for breath I say " Your meeting is it in the airport complex or one of the hotels close by?"
He rings off and rings up someone to find out where the meeting is being held..East Point Clontarf !
All the way back in to town! e22 on the clock. Seeing as how if we had gone directly it would have been a tenner I let him off with e20 .

So the moral is don't assume the driver is psychic.

Today I had one of thos days which started off well then died the death. I came home with e30 after driving around for over 3 hours. I will cut my losses and perhaps I will work into the night, The people on the payroll have been paid now so they are bound to be going out tonight to celebrate.
By the way I got a mention on another website and I got more hits on thursday than a hedgehog on the M50.
Have a good weekend.