2008////2009

Only in Dublin, A Heugenot graveyard
And beside it they build this bunker.
Gabriel Byrne nearly had a fit when he saw it and asked questions about peoples sanity.



A repeat from last year...Its a bit of Deja vu again.

Well its all over now. The next big thing is the new year then it will be "Herring days" until 14th Feb.(Be my Valantine)
The London cabbie used to only get herrings for his dinner when times were poor.
This year with the economy in poor shape and so many taxis around I would like to go to Australia until Easter at least.
Still who would look after the dog when I would be gone.

For me it was a good Christmas, no I did not make much money, but on the other hand I did not crash nor was I robbed or assaulted.

Yes driving a taxi can be a dangerous job.

Here is a thing from the Irish Times.By Olivia Kelly

November 2000 Number of taxis nationwide.13,637
New SPV licences issued
2001 16,547......Ie. more than doubling the fleet.
2002 18,252
2003 19,856
2004 20,744
2005 21,888
2006 21,707
2007 25,695
2008 27,311 to nov.31st

Current total 46,583 from 13,637.

That is incredible.

There is also a breakdown of prosecutions for 2008 which were NINETY TWO.
I could get 192 prosecutions in 24 hours given the Garda.
Cloned cars, unlicenced drivers you name it.
Standards are slipping so badly here that many new drivers do not even know the towns of Dublin (Rathmines, Rathgar, Terenure, Ranelagh)never mind knowing the streets.

Here is something which will give you food for thought.
The London knowledge which makes the London cabbie among the best in the world.



Here is a clip of the play "The knowledge".
Its a great play look out for the DVD when you are shopping.



We all know that the French drivers can be fast. But can the taxi driver make the kick off and save the team?

Christmas shop windows

3 great photos from Sabrina



















The lord mayor of Dublin




Wren boys in Sandymount

Heading home

I saw loads of people heading off to Poland by bus from Sean McDermott st the other day. I hope they come back when things improve again.
That is some trip by coach 30/40 hours.
Well I am still going strong and as Christmas approaches fast I will have a few memories to add to my storeroom of images.
One was when I was up at the Northside shopping center the other day. A taxi driver came out with his daughter in a wheelchair, she was blind as well. As they reached the car the wind which was very strong caught her long hair and blew it straight up. Oh to hear the whoops of delight from her and the surprise in her voice was an utter delight.
We take so much for granted.
Kinda reminds you of the song”what color is the wind daddy?”

The other was of a couple who got into the taxi and we had a 2 stop journey.They were kissing like heck and when we stopped at her place I said “here we are”The smooching got louder and we waited and waited, “do you want to go on?”No response I let down the windows as it was getting steamed up.
e2 clicked up on the meter at 34cent a minute, it seemed like forever. Then she piped up “these lights are very slow” “Threes no lights, we are outside your front door”
She was really shocked and hopped out like a scared rabbit. Russians!
He saw the funny side of it and was glad to be rid of her, he rang his girlfriend and she was waiting at his front door when we arrived home.

There were a few pedestrians knocked down, one in Fairview where the pedestrian bridge is, every few years someone is killed crossing the 5 lanes of fast moving traffic there.
The other one was fatal, on the Oscar Traynor road in Coolock.
I am sure there were others.

I saw in the papers that the head of the Anglo Irish Bank took a “loan”from the bank of e87 million, he was doing a bit of property speculation, every year he would borrow a few bob from another bank to cover up his loan until the accounts were done. The word is that he did nothing illegal, but I wonder how well the capital was secured, anyhow he has resigned. Though the institute of chartered accountants say it was illegal and are holding an inquiry to see why such a hole in the books went undetected.

A guy who was in my taxi once before re-appeared. He was with 3 others. Conversation was all about a row they had had earlier in the night. When he got out one of the guys told me about him.
Up to 2 years ago that guy had never bought an airline ticket, never cooked an egg, never went shopping. He had a private jet at his disposal a cheaufer driven car, a maid and a Gardner.
You name it he had it.
Until his father was arrested for theft.
He stole Billions just like the guy in the papers this week, whose name was "Madoff"(made off with the money you might say).
The father got life in prison, the longest in corporate history.
The sins of the father are visited on the children as the bible says, the son could not get any work until someone built him a new identity and he found a job, he is doing well enough now.
Every day he rebuilds his life, each day is a victory as he said when he was leaving the car.
The last time he was in the car he eluded to some dark secret, now I know some of it.

Its funny how you begin to build up a profile of some people, others you never hear anything about until you see them on the news.

On that theme there are a few Irish who have been raiding the till lately.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the blog over the past year, the business is getting harder every days as more taxis come on to the streets.

The situation can only be like some kind of pyramid scheme which is about to collapse.

Christmas 1915

My 250th posting.

Well we must count our blessings and remember Christmases long ago.
Thanking our Gods for what we have,


Happy Christmas to all.
I am sure if you look on the net you will find the tune

WW1 is over 60 years.

1915 on Christmas Day

On the western front the guns all died away
And lying in the mud on bags of sand
We heard a German sing from no man's land
He had tenor voice so pure and true
The words were strange but every note we knew
Soaring or the the living dead and dammed
The German sang of peace from no man's land

They left their trenches and we left ours
Beneath tin hats smiles bloomed like wild flowers
With photos, cigarettes, and pots of wine
We built a soldier's truce on the front line
Their singer was a lad of 21
We begged another song before the dawn
And sitting in the mud and blood and fear
He sang again the song all longed to hear

Silent night, no cannons roar
A king is born of peace for evermore
All's calm, all's bright
All brothers hand in hand
In 19 and 15 in no man's land

And in the morning all guns boomed in the rain
And we killed them and they killed us again
At night they charged we fought them hand to hand
And I killed the boy that sang in no man's land

Silent night no cannons roar
A king is born of peace for evermore
All's calm, all's bright
All brothers hand in hand
And that young soldier sings
And the song of peace still rings
Though the captains and all the kings
Built no man's land

Wherever you are in the world have a peaceful Christmas.

Coming Closer

A fine house on Tritonville Rd

The Met. office a large pyramid building

"Tattooed Lady" a New York bus doing a Rock and Roll tour of the city.

The computer is on the blink and my computer whiz kids don't want to help me. So I have to type and cut and paste. Perhaps next year I will read the”idiots guide to computers”if there is such a book. Then I will be able to help myself.
I have been tidying up and I found my PSV driving license.
It is the size of a credit card and was under a pile of letters in my room. Well that will save me a massive e250 fine if I get stopped. The fines that they have introduced are very high in relation to the offense.

I found a copy of the Taxi Times magazine from last year.
A piece was printed from the Evening Herald 13/09/07.
A drunk got into a taxi so drunk he could not speak(Sounds familiar)
He directed the taxi driver through grunts and ran up a bill of e62.00 and then refused to pay.
He came up with a cock and bull story about how the taxi driver got lost!
Judge McMahon said “I don't know how taxi drivers go out at night and put up with some of the treatment they get around the city”.The passenger Clive Naughton had previous convictions and was ordered to pay compensation to the taxi driver and told that if he came up before the judge again he would do time in prison. He must have been watching Judge Judy, the law is often blindly on the passengers side.
I had a guy in the car last week who just grunted the same way but we found our way to Ringsend where he declared “too much drink” and he trotted off.
As they say “He was so full of drink that if he stooped over he would spill”
Party time is the time for amateur drinkers and I dread to some of the sights which are coming up.
2 or 3 girls going home together 2 get out leaving the third on to go on, her completely wrecked. Drink is one thing but some are drugged out of their minds. I have spent manys an hour at Garda stations while they try to slap them back to conciseness. It is very important that you do not shake or touch them where they pass out. Sexual assault charges would surely follow.
There was a case a while back where a taxi driver brought a woman home in a very drunk state.
He carried her into her house and put her groceries into the porch.
She collapsed behind the door and got sick, choked and died.
The judge told the taxi driver that he had a duty of care towards his passenger!
I would have said that the bar owner would have been more at fault than the taxi driver.

In America there was a similar case where a woman froze to death outside her apartment building.
In that case,after deep investigation it was found that she had been given the wrong coat as she was leaving the night club. Her keys were in the pocket of her own coat and it was a fur coat, so if she had her own coat she would have been OK on 2 counts.
I try to go that extra mile.
I will direct the car headlights up the path to the front door and wait until a lady passenger makes it through the front door, time was that they would wave goodbye and thank you, but I notice that that aspect of good manners is mostly gone.
Perhaps now that the Celtic Tiger is gone away common courtesy will return.

A Judge was saying that in divorce cases he would often be dividing up the assets of the couple.
Now he is being asked to divide the debts, one couple had debts of 2 million euro.
That is a tough one! Some couples decided to buy out their partners share of the house, the price was fixed at last years prices and now the same house has devalued by 40%
I have never lived beyond my means by much, some people just don't know when to stop spending.

While I am on the subject of houses.
Remember the beautiful 6 bedroom house in Oakley Rd. Ranelagh for e12 million?.
Posted on the blog Mon 30 June.
It has been sold!!!!
Now this is how the deal was done.
The Canadian government had a house on 9 acres on Strathmore Rd.Killiney beside Bono's house, the house was hard to keep, needed 2 gardeners etc. but it has development potential for sure. The house had been for sale for e17 million, but there were no buyers, so e3 million changed hands and a swap of the two houses was made.
Now the Canadian ambassador can now jump on the Luas and head into town in a few minutes.

I picked up 2 guys outside the Merrion Hotel a while back, they were buying high priced property.
I was asked by an estate agent to take them down Clyde Rd, Raglin Rd. Aylesbury and Shrewsbury Rd. All high priced roads.
After that the estate agent paid me and asked me to drop them at the hotel.
Much talk between them about the houses they had seen.
Then they asked me to wait and drive them to the airport, which I did.
On the way the discussed the merits of different properties, they agreed that the market was right to make a killing!
Around the point where we passed Christchurch cathedral they fell asleep.
When they woke up driving up to departures (You open the windows for a few seconds) one of the guys said,
”You seem to have taken a very long route to get here”
I forget what the exact fare was, but I said “Since when did you get two people to the airport for less than e25”
They took their exact change and receipt. And sure why not?

An estate agent told me a couple of weeks ago that the top end of the market has done very badly in all this.

SERVES THEM BLOODY RIGHT.

I know tipping is a sore point, I was told today just to give back 5 cents giving me a 5cent tip.
Now I know my worth.
That old git Tommy Cooper used to push something into the cabbies top pocket and say “Ave a drink on me mate” When the driver looked in his pocket he found a tea bag.

An actor was being given advice by his father who had been an actor all his life.
“Introduce yourself to your driver, call him by name and tip him well, he will think well of you in return. Speak to the stage hands and the doorman and they will share their knowledge with you.”
To illustrate the point the son once told the doorman that he had a lot of learning to do as his lines had been changed. The doorman told him not to bother, as the play had been pulled and another show was coming in on Monday. The theater manager had been afraid to tell him the truth.

Or as my daddy told me “Be kind to the people on the way up, and they will be nice to you on the way back down”Good old dad.

I spoke to Santa Claus the other day and he said that he would bring me a video camera as long as I am being a good boy. He said he enjoys looking at the blog up there in the North Pole and would like to see more of Dublin..

Speaking of which!
A customer in the taxi who works in international trade told me about COLD.
I had a guy in the car who works in Minsk, he spoke of how the police round up drunk people and deal with them very severely. You see when it gets cold they would freeze to death in a matter of minutes.
He told me he was very far north, Murmansk and a colleague walked another business college to his hotel a journey of 10 minutes. He was well wrapped up but had no gloves on. He came back to his hotel, went to bed and was woken up with a burning pain in his hand.
One of his fingers was black and it had to be taken off.

Now that is cold.

Frosty Sunday morning

The door of the nurses home Hume St.

Hume St. cancer hospital

The heads around the church door Dublin Castle

Well now I am legal I have had my meter sealed.
After all the fuss about Ballymun test center not doing automatics, I had to go all the way over to Fonthill beside Liffey Valley shopping center.
They didn't keep me long, then the guy said.
"This is a hybrid we have to road test it, you will have to drive" It passed with flying colors so now I am sealed for another 2 years.
On the way home I stopped at Heuston as there no taxis and a few people, believe it or not I got Leixlip. A lady who was visiting her newly born grandchild. She had lived in Barcelona for years and spoke in a very clear voice,allmost an accent. This was so that people who might have problems with English would be able to better understand her. She deals with foreign students who are over here learning Emglish you see.

Then on the way back home again I met a girl on crutches heading to Bray, she is a voice coach and vocalist. A Polish girl with florescent red hair.
She slipped on the ice outside her front door and broke her leg.
She will not be singing with the gospel choir this Christmas.
Think of what she will be missing all the get togethers with wine and mince pies.
She has been here a long time and only has a slight Polish accent, she like many Polish people who live here she thinks that there are too many Polish people here.
She had some interesting observations,such as young girls stealing clothes when they have good jobs here, so they should pay for the clothes.She was a great talker.
She had a very nice business card so If you ask me for her number you could buy your loved one some singing lessons for Christmas.
Once again the failures of the Irish health service came to the fore,5 hours in accident and emergency without seeing a doctor who then put an elastic bandage on her leg to reduce the swelling.She went to the Blackhall clinic where there was a Polish doctor who drained off the blood and fixed her up. "Can you imagine after 6 hours in hospital they couldn't give me a drink of water, no I could drink it but after asking loads of times no one came back with it"

Irish health service is a third a world or even a worse service.

While we are on the subject of Irish health service.
A lady yesterday told me of an Indian family who were living here.
The Indian lady had been complaining of abdominal pains and the doctors kept telling her that this was normal .
She went back to India and in Bengal after a short examination a doctor told her she had cancer in a very advanced state. Her husband is a porter in a Dublin hospital, they came here for a better life. Perhaps the better life was to be found in the slums of India.
Life can be so cruel to some of the nicest people.

I don't like Christmas anyhow, perhaps for small kids its great,but it puts many people under pressure.
Another girl told me that she dreads Christmas as her dad drinks a lot, he drinks alone at home and she is dreading finding him dead as a result, her mum is dead but at least she has her own home to go to.
Ah the pressures of Christmas "Humbug"

Anna Nolan a favorate personality of mine stopped me the other day on the south circular road heading for RTE our national broadcaster..
She is great,an ex nun,winnwer of “Big Brother”, broadcaster and entertainer.
I met her a few times before.
She came out (as a lesbian) a few years ago, it was all the talk of the town at the time.
At that time I said to her “You are a really great person, its such a pity you are a lesbian”
She shot back with “ You are really nice man too, it's a pity your not a girl”
Come to think of it I wouldn't fancy kissing a man either, so perhaps she is right.

All of that has become commonplace now, I hope they introduce full marriage for gay couples soon, why should only the hetrosexuals suffer.

Sunday morning now. Wow what a frosty night!
I saw around 10 wrecked cars, the tow truck industry were doing great business.
I can't understand why people don't slow down when you can see the frost on the road. It would be great to have the tyres with the studs, still we get so little frost here that you might just get 8 days wear out of them in the year.
On the other hand it is so hot in Queensland you would die.

I was falling asleep yesterday when just at the moment between sleep and being awake I felt that I had fallen asleep and had just woken up driving my car the split second before impact. Wow did I jump? Just a dream thank God.
If you are tired, pull over , let the seat back and take a few minutes sleep ZZZZZZZ
They reckon more crashes are caused by fategue than drink.
Yet I never see the police waiting at the roadside with a pillow to test you to sleepy you are.

Another girl told me that she dreads Christmas as her dad drinks a lot, he drinks alone at home and she is dreading finding him dead as a result,her mum is dead but at least she has her own home.
Ah the pressures of Christmas "Humbug"

One thing which I almost missed was the big anti prostitution raids. A joint operation with the British and Irish police. This time they followed the money so it will be interesting!People trafficking is an awful crime.
Some one once almost attacked me for having advertisements for prostitutes on the blog, so I told them to have a look for themselves.

I don't know if you have been following the funny ads but look here
Look for the Audi ad with the bottles.

All roads lead to Garys shop

"Well Gary are you going to do a special for the taxi drivers this Christmas?"
"Yes I will John.
You know the safety kit which all taxis will need to have on January I ?
I am selling them for e39 each or 2 for e70."

"That's the best value yet."

So all roads lead to Gary's accessory shop behind Guinness 01 4531631.
Its on Bond St.


Now nature is wonderful, here is how a mouse sorted out my tax receipts at the back of the freezer.
Clever little things, they made a nice little nest beside the compressor where it would be a nice and warm place to live.
If you ever have cash money to hide put it into a tin box to keep it safe from the mice!.


The Christmas lights and tree at the bottom of Grafton St. Where a girl waits..”.I'll see you at the Molly Malone statue"

(Click on any of the photos to enlarge them)


The Top gear motor show was a big hit and coming back into town on Saturday morning I saw the police car outside the Boot inn, a raid I thought.
The punter who got in told me that the crew from the Top Gear show had come over to the pub by bus. They were inside having a ball.
They were so happy to find that the Irish were so friendly and the Garda raid ....autographs and photographs.

I had a good old weekend kept the ball hopping all night, parties have kicked off and people are putting away their troubles for the duration so to round off the shift I went down to the port where the ships come in and got a lift to Blancherdstown.
I decided to head over through Finglas and past Cappagh Hospital.
Well they have built hundreds of houses since I was up there last and they have closed the road to Blanchardstown, so we had to make a big detour.

In cases like this I turn off the meter, its no ones fault so why make the punter unhappy. It was very foggy too, but they were very happy with me for turning off the meter and tipped me a few extra euro.
They were just after a weekend in “the other capital of Ireland “Liverpool.
A great spot and its European capital of culture for 2008.
Very witty people and dead sharp thinkers,must go back there.
When I was a young lad all the comedians came from Liverpool, Ken Dodd,Jimmy Tarbuck etc.

Today I did an hour on my day off and I picked up a fare from Heuston going to the LRC on Haddington Rd. I was thinking what is that? Then I remembered its the Labour court at Beggars Bush (so called because the highway men found it a popular spot to hold up people, so the name stuck) They had come from Galway where they were about to loose their jobs. They work in a cash and carry which is closing down and were fighting for more money so off to the labor court.
Its tough loosing your job at any time,but loosing your job coming up to Christmas must be the pits.

As they were getting out a woman with a folder got in going to Sth.Great Georges St.
She had been at law and her client had not bothered to turn up!
A really big waste of time, it was a case come to appeal so now he will not be able to take it up again in the future.

The old tidy up continues, I found a great book I had lost "Cheats at work" by Gerald Mars. I saw it on Amazon for $109.50 but second hand on the UK site for a fiver but the copy I have cost 3 quid.Look for it in your local library. He goes into fiddles and cheating like you never knew.I will treasure it now I have it again.
They also have a new book A year in the life of a London cabby.

Try this does it work?
You lock your keys in the boot of your car, the spare keys are at home.
You phone your wife.
"Darling be a honey get my spare keys from the knife drawer, then hold it to the mouthpiece of the phone and press the button" You turn your phone on to speaker and hold it to the lock of the car and hey presto ! the car unlocks

or no hey presto !

I will have to keep a note book as I remember the things I wanted to say just when I publish

Happy Thanksgiving

I think this was called the National Irish bank in Foster place.
Its owned by Trinity college now.


I noticed this sign at the port 3 weeks ago.
A long wait for sure


A really well mentained house in Sandymount.

Happy Thanksgiving!
One thing Americans who come to live here find strange is that we don't have thanksgiving, our turkey is for Christmas !

You know its a funny world.
One of Belfast's longest serving staff members has re mortgaged her house to fund the rape crisis center.
The council has not sent funds for 3 years.
Selling her house was a last resort.

Perhaps it is not needed you might think?

Well no,they get 100 calls a week!
Rape has increased in NI by 50% since 2002.
In the first 6 months of 2007 there were 73 child rapes in Northern Ireland.

Makes you think.

Sometimes I feel that we should storm the Basteele and drag out our useless leaders and cut off their benefits.

"At a time when the members of the Northern Ireland assembly draw a wage and do not sit in Stormount an angel in heaven must be crying" (My quote)......Taken from the Sunday Times 23/11.

Perhaps its just me thats going crazey, but when you read things like that in the paper you just don't know what to think.

The MD of our national work strategy group known as FAS has at last resigned because of his lavish spending.$900 rounds of golf and $400 hairdoos Florida must be a very nice place.
They had been gunning for him for months.

I am glad that I am pulling the contents of my garage out,it keeps me busy,If I was driving anything like full time I would be pulling out my hair in fistfuls.

You just can't get on to a rank in Dublin now because there are so many taxis on the road.

Some guys must be in a very bad way now.

I was looking at the Tampa taxi blog perhaps things are not any better anywhere else I don't know.
Supply and demand, well we have supply.



I the UK they are cutting VAT (sales tax) while they are increasing it here.
We have a land border with the UK so cars are driving up to Newry causing traffic jams.
While in Dundalk, the republic side, shops are empty.

But the news is not all bad petrol is to be had at e.99.9....that's under a euro!!

Just back from the night shift it was good Geremy Clarkson and co held the Top Gear show the punters were very happy coming out.
What do you mean you don't know who he is?


They were on TV last week driving the new Beugatti on a test track 250 MPH!!!!!!
Fast by any reckoning.

Anyhoo I got a run down to Manooth and got e50 for my trouble.

Cold start to the week

a27 year old Aston Martin in Hume St

The National gallery Merrion Sq

Our newest monument to remember Irish armed service people who died.

Tempratures have fallen and winter has come, there is a mean wind blowing
A fare at Heuston today going to the Mater public.
They were an English couple he was in a wheelchair,came to settle here 5 years ago, he then had perfect health.
Now he is on the waiting list for a lung transplant.
He was heroic about it,the government has waisted so much money that this will just never happen.Now he is just a guinea pig, they are not going to fix him for sure ,so why waste his time dragging him all the way to Dublin.
His day started at 5.15am
He was well until a couple of years ago and this came on him suddenly.
I had a hard time getting the guy at the hospital to lift the barrier and allow me to drop him at the door.(Jobs worth)I just got firm with him and said "do mean to stand there and prevent a taxi from dropping off a wheelchair patient who needs a lung transplant? Think of what the hospital manager will say."
That did the trick and he let us in.He was Irish too.
I have never ever been prevented from passing through the barrier before.
Makes you glad of your own good health for sure.

A bad weekend for traffic deaths,this will give the police an excuse to put speed cameras om wide straight stretches of road where accidents never happen to gather more revenue.
Most of the deaths happen on quiet country roads.
Even taxi drivers falling asleep cause crashes.

On Pierse St at the weekend I was driving in the r/h lane when a taxi which had signalled to turn left in the bus lane spotted a passenger who was 10 yards in front of me and he crossed 4 lanes of traffic with his left indicator still flashing. I should have plowed straight into him broadside. But he was probably not kosher anyhow, no insurance or driving licence etc.

Later on at around midnight a car passed me near Barrow St with no lights on.
I flashed my lights and blew the horn, no reaction, so I turned on my trusty Aldi torch and shone it in her rear view mirror,nothing.
When she stopped at the lights I jumped out but the lights changed. Further down Pierse St she almost creamed another car which pulled out without giving a signal. We were at the lights after the fire station when I managed to run up and tap on her window.
She just stared at me without expression.
I spoke and shouted about no lights a Nigerian lady she was in a complete daze, staring blankly at me. After 3 attempts, her front seat passenger leaned over and turned on the lights for her and then she said thanks.
I never saw anyone drive like that before, I believe she was under the influence of drugs a 00 Galway car with a 3 digit number,, look out for it.


Well after I threatening to quit the blog a nice chap from Bukino Fassa contacted me and he is sending me loads of money. The other offer I had was a million dollar grant from some Italian philanthropical society, today a banker from Japan has stepped up .

When all that come in I will be so rich!(I don't think so)

Some nurse paid $40,000 dollars into that Nigerian scam,she was wondering when her money was coming (Or was it $400,000)
I used to get the readers digest and they kept telling me I had won millions every month, I would just ask them just to send on the money!
They never did.

I don't know if you follow veryfunnyads.com have a lookclick here
The VW one with the singing dog is great,you can search for it by catagory, its a corker!.
They change every few weeks so bookmark it.

Here is something completely different.

A guy called Kieran Boylan from Ardee was importing drugs and when someone noticed some drugs concealed in his yard they informed the Garda.
The Garda did nothing about it and in fact Mr Boylan threatened the informer, still no action was taken.
They turned a blind eye to his operation until he was caught with €1.7 million of cocaine and heroin.
Charges against him were then dropped and he was released without charge when he threatened to tell about the extent of his "relationship" with the force.

It seems that he would sell drug deals to small time dealers and inform the Garda who would then catch them, they would in turn allow him to distribute the larger quantaties without hindrance.

Well the Garda ombudsman has the file now.

You know I am not surprised to hear about this.

Friday, where did the week go?

A boat from the RHA

A hawk at the RHA This looks super.

New trollys waiting for the airport Christmas rush

Forgive me for springing the last post on you my dear reader.
But I believe that perhaps someone may now seek out help or rethink their plans as a result.
I hope so.
Many people are in trouble with money (MABS give great free advices) though don't leave it too late.

A well known property developer who owes the banks in excess of e500 million.
He was called in to tell them how he was going to deal with the current problem.
He arrived into the board room without accountants etc all he had was a briefcase.
They spoke to him at length about how his assets had fallen in value etc. and asked what he was going to do about the situation.

When they all had their say he just opened the case and took out a bunch of bananas.
He gave them one each.
Then turning round to face them he said.

"Well now are all monkeys"

Then he stood up and walked out.

The guy in question would do this kind of thing. I saw him coming out of the high court with his plastic lunch box. If you go into the high court it is costing e10,000 a day at least, so you had better save a few bob by bringing your own lunch.
They say if you owe the bank a small amount of money you have a problem, but if you owe them millions they have the problem.

Yesterday I had a run to the airport from a lady who informed me that she may require an emergency stop. She had food poisoning and had been up all night.
Nice to have the warning, but she managed to go all the way without mishap.

Remember when I got sick a few weeks ago?
The Chinese restaurant where I had the meal is still closed,
If you look back in the blog you can see the photo of the state of the toilets which tells you a lot.
Sticky menus and dirty tables should have given me enough clues.
I will be a bit wiser in future no more e8 lunches for me !

I am busy with my garage, my new neighbor wants to build an extension which involves knocking down my garage and putting in a better foundation.
The advantage for me is that I will have a good wall already built if I decide to extend at some time in the future.
The problem is emptying the garage!!!!!
I keep everything, broken chairs, locks without keys, keys without locks,screws, plugs washers etc,etc.
The builder sent me 2 guys from Transalvania to help me.
First the language lesson.
Skip and Shed(storage container)
I had to watch them all the time.
I paused to show them a mascot for a car, a brass pixie with a pointed hat.
They looked at it and threw it into the ship. Well a few well chosen words had them into the skip to find it.” What kind of a place do you come from?
Did you never hear of the antiques roadshow?”
The reply was “Shed”
Later on in the day I climbed up on a ladder to take down a box when a big spider fell onto my shoulder.
It was around ½ the size of a mouse, wow did that make the boys jump! I didn't see it, but they knocked it off my coat before it had me by the throat.
I didn't know those guys could move so fast.

We were finishing off for the day when one of the lads came in a bit excited, a lady had stepped off the bus and left her handbag behind her.
I jumped into the taxi and caught up with her as she had walked on down the road.
She had 2 kids with her and no English, I managed to get her into the car and dashed off to the terminus where there was 3 buses waiting, no bag.

Then after another 5 minutes her bus came along and the driver had the bag.

Much great joy and on the way home she told me she was Swedish her son was working in Dublin.
Her grandchildren had the fairest blond hair I ever saw almost white.
There was a bit of a fight when I got her home as she tried to press money on me..
“No! No! buy a present for the kids”

Now I have extra brownie points stored up for a rainy day..

1850 60 90 90

Thats the number of the samaritans here in Ireland.
Put it on you phone memory now.
2 weeks ago I met an old friend in our local supermarket.We shook hands and talked for a while. He had just retired and had bought a taxi.
My heart skipped a beat, Sean that was an awful mistake.
So I called around to his apartment with the taxi drivers handbook a present for his 60th birthday which was coming in a few days.
During my visit he told me that he had had a nervous breakdown and had just come out of hospital,for those not in the know depression comes in many forms,the lows are like influenza you are really not well at all.

He was glad of the visit but he wanted to lie down, so I promised to call back when he was an older wiser man. I called back to the apartment as his phone did not answer.
I had a didget wrong in the number and I corrected that.
On Tuesday I dropped in a few taxi driver magazenes in his post box, but still got no reply from the doorbell.

Well to cut a long story short they found his body on Friday evening and he was buried today.

A great person who will be sadly missed by many.

I do not attribute his death directly to buying the taxi but there many drivers who are at the end of their patience as I write.

Please please ring the Samaritans or speak to your doctor if you are depressed.

The pain your death inflicts on the ones you leave behind is so severe that it can not be measured.

It is a constant pain that the regulators office governs our trade through comities and public relations companies while the quality of the service to the public gets worse by the day, she is wasting vast amounts of money with useless surveys.
Guinness never asked me if it would be OK to stick 10c on the pint,mu local garage man ditto. Yet the regulator WAISTED thousands of Euro asking the public if the thought it might be a good idea.

Rugby weekend

A detail from the Bank of Ireland.
British lions wearing crowns are on many buildings here in Dublin.



On the 11th hour 11th day of the 11th month 90 years ago the guns fell silent as WW1 ended. Sad part was that many Irish were not remembered for many years as they were seen as traitors who fought for the British.The only other option for many was to starve at home as there was no work here.

Have a read of "Strumpet City" by James Plunkett.


Garden of remembrance at Islandbridge.


Well it was very nice to see so many people coming forward to encourage me to continue.
It takes time and I felt like no one was reading it.

When I was at the Eastbourne magic convention Juan Tamariz that star of Spanish magic told us that he was trained as a film director, the problem he had was that you made a movie,then it was cut and edited while you were working on your next project. By the time people saw it you had almost forgotten about it. He needed to have feedback instantly...he really gets that with his brand of magic..Look for him on you tube.

So if you get no feedback on a blog you thing there is no one there.

Friday night! what a night. A rugby weekend.

I was off to bed for a sleep when a neighbor called to bring his wife to the lady golf captains dinner in Forrest Little out near Swords, at the appointed time I headed off to the dinner collecting 3 other ladies en route, e45 fare "Keep the e50" plus come and collect us again please.
When I collected them the lady captains were doing a Mamma MIa routene and having a hoot

camera fones are crap
On the way back into town the first time I got a lift in Santry down to the docks, off to see football in England he was.
Back home for my dinner after that I just kept hitting the ball on that sweet spot all night long.
Unlike most times on the open road I harldy put a foot wrong.
I even set a new record for a single taxi fare.
Just a few miles outside Wicklow town e88.
I had a nasty moment where it seemed that I was not going to get paid, but with all their pockets turned inside out and her handbag emptied out We nearly made it.
Then I found e10 on the back seat when I got back in.
So it was happy days as I drove back to Dublin.

I got a bit of a jolt as we waited for her boyfriend to come back out of the house with the money.
She had been having oral sex with him on the back seat and had not been exactly holding back..then she said "I hope he dosen't think I am a bit of a slapper"

Not at all says I, why would he think that?.

"His friends have loads of money" she said as she went in and them with not 20c left between them
.
They did not know each other 4 hours ago judging by their conversation thats for sure.

I got a few more fares and went down to see the boats coming in.
Around 6 am 3 Roll On ferries dock at the same time and they spew out 6 miles of trucks, its a sight to see as everyone shoots down the dock roads.

My passenger came from London a Romanian whose wife is living in Portmarnock he comes over from London by ferrry where he now works in construction. He had to go when work collapsed here.
Over here every weekend then back to London on Sunday night. I was so tired at that point that I forgot to give her a e10 note which I was holding in my hand, by luck she checked her change..I really would have felt bad if I had noticed it later,for some people things are great,others are living on the margins of society, just managing to hold on nothing more.
This couple are paying 2 rents and spending every weekend going form London to Dublin.
Life I hope will only get better for them.

Just as I was making my now very weary way home A girl from Latvia stopped me for directions to the Malahide Rd. I was so whacked I nearly couldn't think where it was, then I remembered so I said its just down here jump in.
I have no money for taxi.
You don't need it I have had a good night so I brought her to the Statoil garage, she thanked me and insisted that I gave her my number, even though I said that I worked very odd hours.
No I would like to give you my business, you are a good man.
A nice thought.

I just went on 400 meters when I was flagged down by a group who asked me to take a Polish girl into the IFSC. She was so happy,from Gdansk,she had worked here for Lufthansa in a call center for 3 years, she has gone back to Poland and now was back on a visit.

All my memories of Ireland are happy ones she said. I made so many friends and had such a great time.

Once we got to the IFSC she told me to bring her to the airport, so I listened to her happy stories all the way there. I would have loved to have gone with her,her joy was like electricity.

I know I got another 5 or 6 jobs just then but the memories are just a blur.
One other fare tonight which sticks out is a girl who does legal publishing.
Better not have any misprints there said I.
Our most famous one was Pubic instead of Public" Everyone saw it.

The final curtain ?

The formal garden at the gallery of modern art Killmainham.
The new offices of steel and glass rise up.


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocAnUEKSDuREG_sz22rK7VUhUNX_VpG0AdXyPzE-B4Y-_fOUOW24vFVvKqO3FMwVFkvON7FmnTvbVbzbb9t1oUDsRnM7yb8zXYpyVwnWvahOOl3ddjsQcw6FqMcMC5f1tQU7Y/s1600-h/IMG_4811.JPG">
A church in Jones Rd, a listed building which was allmost demolished by a developer


Adamstown a new town recently built. Notice the sat nav showing open fields.



First and last fares were memorable in a different way.
First one was a tall lady who got in and asked me to take her to her car, she directed me the long way round back to her car and with almost e10 on the meter we arrived.
As we were going there she told me that she had taken a walk with her friends and as she was going back to her car alone a man started to follow her driving a car, if she walked slower he did the same, so she crossed over the road and then he drove away.
She was a bit shaken. She could not remember any details of the car or the driver.
Then she told me to follow her to the bank as she had no cash and her bank link card is in the car.
So then we drove to the bank in our cars, she then said that she didn't have the card but would I come to her house for the money.
Time is money so I just gave her my address and told her to drop it in the mailbox.

The money has not arrived as I write.

A bit strange!

The last one was from Heuston train station where I could not get on to the queue without blocking the traffic, so I headed up the quays where I picked up a young Chinese couple with a baby, she was well turned out he had jeans and jacket on, we are going to..... say the street again.... no what is the name of the place??
Do you mean the marriage registry office?

Yes!! Are you getting married ? Yes we are. Today? Yes.

Congratulations...
That is the second time I have driven a bride and groom together there.
No parents or relations,just friends

I am sure they will have big celebrations when they get back to China.
Their whole lives in front of them.

I wish them well.

Well after all this time I have decided to hang up my keyboard and give the blog a rest.

There are so few comments lately that I must accept that very few people are taking a real interest in it.

Anyhow it takes up a lot of time. Time which I don't have to spare.

I wish you all well in your travels, I will stop by at another time when I am feeling up to the mark again.

I hope some of you enjoyed my slice of life while driving a taxi in Dublin.

If you need to contact me send the e mail to dublin2taxi@yahoo.com

Perhaps I could slot in a regular column in your magazine or newspaper!
I can do radio slots, or answer the odd question or 2.
All for cash.

Until we meet again Merry Christmas and a happy 2009.




Here is my party piece. Yes I can hit the high note.

Christmas tree

Our new Christmas tree. I was told it came from France it cost e350,000,but it can be used again.
The old tree used to be a gift from the people of Norway(free)and it was chopped up afterwards so there would be no storage charges either.

On Sunday I ventured out and saw the new Christmas tree.
They closed one side of O'Connell St to erect a platform so that the lord mayor of Dublin could turn on the lights.
She decided in her wisdom that Christmas would start early this year to help the stores through this difficult trading time.
Pardon me Mam but if you are broke you could start the shopping spree anytime, if you have no dough you can't make bread.

But the tree is very nice it changes color Green Red White and Blue it is quite something.

Note to myself if they plan to do that next year. Come down into O'Connell St from Parnell Sq. then on to the rank on O'Commell St where the masses were waiting for buses which could not come down the street.

Some of the guys made a packet, Sackville place was hopping too.

Wow we have a new record for a single drugs haul in Ireland. This time its 1.87 tonnes of cocaine, looks like someone is not going to have a white Christmas after all.
The value they reckon is around e500 million. that is a lot of money if you want to see more look here
You know that's only $207 so that haul would be worth more than twice that amount.

It has started people talking about how badly our seas are patrolled.
This was a tip off from Interpol, how much is getting through?

I spoke to a guy from customs and excise on Sunday about the sniffer dog I saw in action at the port. The dog needs a lot of exercise and his handler brought him up to the Dublin mountains and let him off for a run, as luck would have it the dog caught the scent of a hare and took off, the dog was missing for 2 days with army and the police helicopter looking for the dog, they found it in the end and the handler nearly died of shame, the dog has a tracker device now in case he decides to head for new ground again.

I had a rotten week I caught this cold thing that's going, swollen glands coughing sneezing, couldn't work and I hate sitting around. Still I caught up on Columbo on the TV. You can get too much TV, it bores me silly after a few days.

But as we say "Needs must when the devil drives"
IE. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, no use fighting it.
Had a lucky day today had people jump in just as the other person was getting out three times.
Got a run to the airport and as they were getting a lady hopped in, she had to be on the Cork bus at 6 PM it was then 5.30 could I make it?
25 Min's via the port tunnel.(yes she gave me the Euro change from the fare)

I must get back into the swing of things as there are so many taxis now I need to work out a plan to find more work.

On the rank at Heuston I saw a 08 BMW 520d. One of the guys told me that the car alone would cost over e80,000 though I think it would cost a lot more.
Could be a tax dodge, I don't know.

Perhaps he believed all about the millionaire taxi drivers.
The reality must be a shock to his system.

Congratulations

I must add my voice to the millions who congratulate Barack Obama on his great feat on being elected president of the USA.

This is a giant step for mankind and I hope that he will gather a good team around him to advise and lead us all out of the mess we are in.

This is such an important moment in history, I wish him and his country well.

I feel that he is in touch with the pain of the workers and the oppressed.

Perhaps he will do something about the undocumented people (including the Irish) who are scattered through every city in the USA.

A new day has come.

Well done.

God bless Barack Obama

Weird moment

This photo is of a Dutch style house which is on Kevin St, the spire of St Patricks Cathedral is in the background.


Monument for the hunger strikers on the roadside outside Armagh.
New film out called Hunger which explains it if you don't know.

Sorry if these photos are repeated, I must get out more and all my Drougheda photos did not take on the computer.


Well after Saturday night my finances have recovered somewhat.
It was very busy and the new taxi fares kicked in at midnight, I don't know what all the fuss is about its 80c rise on a e10 fare, that's nothing.
The costumes were fantastic but it was cold and heavy rain showers all night.
People were mostly good natured, got in paid when they got home and got out.

One guy in particular still has me perplexed, he was on his own but looked sober and was going to Reubin st in Rialto. Conversation was normal until we stopped.
The street is a very narrow road and when I stopped the meter he turned sideways in the seat and faced me and said that there was a very important march taking place in Northern Ireland tomorrow,the British army who had killed thousands of Irish people were going to march through the streets in a procession to celebrate their success in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You knew I was from Antrim why did you not talk to me about that instead of all the other things you spoke about.

This guy was squaring up for violent conflict with me, I never discuss politics, religion or sport I said. If you feel offended by this march I suggest you take the train to Belfast tomorrow to protest.
As luck would have it another taxi wanted past us just then and I was blocking the road so I just said a few words to him in Irish,which threw him for an instant and took him out of the trance he was in.

He paid me and I said thanks and sleep well in Irish and off he went.

It throws up more questions than I can handle.
How disturbed was he ?
Had he a gun or a knife?
He struck me as a guy who would be a wife beater,he was very disturbed.
(You would have to be in the situation to know what I mean)

The guy needs help that's for sure..Note to myself I must buy a gun.


It was a scary moment perhaps because nothing happened
But the situation had a lot of potential for big trouble.

You can never tell thats for sure, still its never boring driving a taxi.

Last week after my visit to Drougheda I started work on Wednesday morning.
The bus passes my house and I am near the start of its route, so when the bus was going past I rushed to the car, backed out and overtook it at the bottom of the road.
Straight down the bus lane with people waiting at the bus stops, people were looking for taxis, but strange to say none waved me down.
They did wave at the other taxis in front and behind me. The old brain was in a stew when I passed the fire station at Annsley bridge.

Then the penny dropped, my taxi roof sign was in the boot!!!
I had taken it off to reduce wind resistance on the long trip.
The taxi signs are just held in place by magnets.

We have an expression here in Ireland.
"If you had brains you would be dangerous"

I felt a right twit for sure.

One other thing I noticed though.
A taxi stopped and the driver asked me for a hotel which is in Smithfield, he didn't know where that was and he didn't know any of the streets by name so he could not take directions either.
Then it dawned on me that he was a taxi driver from miles outside the city who had come up to take out work for the night. It is very hard on the tourist who was in the taxi, being driven around in circles, meter clicking away.

Next time this happens I will ask his passenger to get into my car if there is an empty seat and I will drop her home if my passengers are near their destination and I will do it free too..the quality of service is in free fall.

Every area used to have their own district marked on their roof sign so you couldn't go to another area you didn't know and work there.

I wish we had a regulator instead of a publisher!
The amount of junk we get through the post from her.

The dead walk tonight

A high speed ferry belonging to Stenna line with a Welsh dragon on the side. It has been parked down at the Point depot for a few weeks.
These boats are not cheap and need to be working 24/7 to pay the bills.


A new skyline down near Sir John Rogersons quay



Remember the conference center on which the work had stopped?

The latest news I hear is that it was built without planning permission being granted,so they can't insure it so the work has stopped.

Wow....perhaps they will blame the new Polish guy,who will be innocent.

This week I took the bull by the horns and tackled a job which I had been putting off, after the income tax I felt that it was important to have the seats covered in best leatherette.
Christmas is coming and the people with full bladders will be getting into the car. No nasty surprises this year, just a quick wipe and a dash of Dettol and on I will go working.

I was told of a guy in Drogheda who does a good job,so on Tuesday I drove over and got it done.

They did a really good job and a lot cheaper than in Dublin.

Do you want the number? 041 9841302.

He takes the seats out of the car and makes the covers to measure really tight,I am told that they will not stretch and get loose,time will tell.
I had to wait around for most of the day for them to do their magic but I was close to the dole office and it is the busiest place in town.
It is hard to say if it the recession or if too many shopping centers have opened up in the town but a lot of shops in the town are closed up and even in the Laurence shopping center there was lots of vacant units. To add pain to the situation they are building a new shopping center around 2 miles out the Dublin road.
This is to be open for Christmas.
I pity anyone trying to make a living there.

One of the guys who made the covers told me a tale of how peoples attitudes changed for the worse during the Celtic Tiger boom years.
He bought a new suite of furniture from a guy he knew and trusted in Navan.
But after a few months it collapsed, so he took a look at the frame and found it to be of a very inferior quality.
His pal did not want to hear about a refund and dismissed him.
So he brought the suite of furniture back, when he demanded a refund he was refused.
So he decided to take the shop to court,the shopkeeper just said.

"You don't have enough money to sue me,don't waste your time"

It took 3 years the guy said but I got my money back...With costs...the publicity helped put his furniture shop out of business too.
Just goes to show you how you can't be too arrogant.

More people who rode in the taxi who have been given their notice to quit.
Jobs gone.
A girl this morning came home from London in January, she works in advertising she told me that the revenue just dried up. She has 4 weeks notice to work before she goes. Flying to London on Monday to do interviews, good luck.

Lets hope she doesn't decide to start driving a taxi!

Dell in Limerick are laying off workers and another place is laying off 400.

Well that's nearly all from the lazy acre, where all customers are happy and well behaved, In a place where you only have to point to the sky and 20 taxis stop.
Where at 2.AM taxis wait in line to bring home the happy party people..

Well from midnight fares have gone up 8%
And the cost of getting sick in the car has gone up as well.

Have a nice Halloween



Here is the link to the drivers survival handbookNow the book is full of "padding" but I suppose if it gets you off one speeding ticket it would be well worth it.