Off again

This the cooker in the restaurant of the volcanic reagon in Lanzarote the heat coming up cooks the meat.

This is a volcanic rock which has broken open to reveal the crystals inside.

Well I have washed my socks and I am off to Wales in the morning, land of tone coal miners,deaf baratones,dragons and rugby players. Holyhead to Aberstwith.
If I can I will get a photo of the longest place name in the UK..

I will be quick but.

Before I went on hols a taxi stopped in front of the taxi rank in Dawson St. The car backed up blocking the leading taxi, the driver locked his car and off he went.

We had to back up to get off the rank.

When I had dropped off my fare over 1/2 hour later he was still there with the clampers in attendance.

Some people have no brains at all. the car should have been taken to the pound.

Look after yourselves.

Back for a few days

Unusual flora.

Flat roofs and white houses.
Welcome to Lanzarote.
Well I was there and back for a week of sunshine. All the rain was getting me down and after we left the weather picked up.
Dublin in sunny weather is the best place in the world, never too hot and few mosquito's.
When I travel the mozzies come for miles to feed on my blood, this is good for them but bad for me.
In Lanzarote there is a constant wind from the Atlantic which blows the mosquito's off the island, I was not bitten once a big plus for me.
One thing about holidays is the food, it's not great.
Cold food on cold plates,you ask them to stick it in the oven for 5 minutes...20 minutes you get it back colder than when you sent it back.Or if you say this chicken is raw they take it away and try and make you pay for it even though it never came back again."You got the chicken!"

Its no use complaining but to add insult to injury they have sales people hijacking people on the footpath to come in.

That money would be better spent on finding out that not everyone likes cold chips or cold deep fried roast potatoes, or even raw chicken. If the did a little bit of research they would fill the place every night 3 sittings per table easily.

Well there's me back only a day.
I got home around 2am and when I went to get milk in the local garage I found out I had a flat battery. I am lucky in that my car has a keyhole so I could get in and plug in the charger, a flat battery in some modern cars is a real problem, even so I had problems getting access to the boot where the battery is housed.

Still when I hit the button in the morning we were firing on all cannons.The wonder of modern science.

Through my broken day one posh lady from Mount Merrion sticks in my mind.. spoke about this and that then when we were getting out e12.60....Sorry I only have a e50 I hope thats not a problem for you.... No problem and I was handing her the change from e50 when she hands me e50 with some change, look driver you should (Every taxi driver knows what came next)
have given me e40 change...so I gave her another e20 and I would SWEAR she never gave me back the e10.. so a free ride home and a few bob in her pocket as well.

I saw a piece of paper on the back seat after she got out, so I picked it up. A receipt,it was from her hairdressers...e135 Stone the crows! her makeover was not worth anything like that.

A guy walks into a barber, "I'll tell you what I want, I will give you $1,000 if you could make my hair look like yours"

So the barber shaved off his own hair!!!!!

The drugs war has been going on I believe there was 3 shootings last weekend.

There was a sentence handed down in that big cocaine smuggling case e440 million,3 guys got a total of 85 years jail..The old judge had loads to say...You were not addicts, just in it for the money, etc. etc.

To me the strange part was that it only came to light when some twit put Diesel into the outboard motors of one of the landing craft,she was overloaded and capsized,,,only then did anyone suspect that one of the biggest drug seizures in Irish history was going to happen.

I said it at the time the Colombian cartel don't do 30 day credit, all that money was cash up front to buy the drugs.

How could so much cash move without being seen?

I would love to allow my nephew to go through their computers for a week...He is a forensic computer analyst.

He makes a good living.(Hello David)

So I'm back and rearing to go.

Gone walkabout

You just need to think things through sometimes.

These are great movies

This would be the route 66 I think (get your kicks)



Behave yourselves 'till I'm back

Google yourself

Street entertainment on the trapeze.

Good HQ to rent, sign of recession?

I went back to see what the people were looking for when they found my site,
Hookers, Polish hookers, street walkers,How much from city to Malahide?, to Crumlin?
How to become a taxi driver and so on.

Must be the link to prostitution over there on the right.
One punter told me I was a pervert for carrying advertising for prostitutes, I just said she should read it and the one on slavery while she is at it.

Never saw her again.So many people jump in with both feet.

Everyone here have been glued to the radio here for the last few weeks searching for news of the Las Vegas hit man, the wife "Lying eyes 69"who took out a contract to have her boyfriend and his 2 sons whacked "Whacked".
The hit man (hitmanforhire.com) then tried to have his victims "buy back the contract"

There was also an informer,who had a full "get out of jail free card from the FBI".

Well The wife is locked up in Mountjoy prison now.
She had to get a doctor in to give her something to calm her nerves for the first night.
Lets hope she doesn't have Internet connection though!
The Las Vegas poker dealer/hit man/blackmailer also went down.

One thing of great interest was how every e mail, every search on the net. every phone cal to the hit man was on their computers, going back months,their records were presented to the jury.
.
I had better wipe my hard drive.

Remember the story of the taxi with the cardboard sign on his taxi?

Well I found the story.




The poor old school children can't get summer jobs.
Well perhaps their attitude to work might have something to do with it. So few bosses will call round to get them up out of bed and bring them in (around 2 PM would be OK).
Then they need all the other things like 45 min break every hour and someone else to do the job that they were asked to do.
Add to that, they need to be paid whether they turn up or not.The boss should not get cross if they take Mondays off all the time.

This is why the jobs went to the Polish people in the first place.

Some people collect things,stamps,matchboxes,vintage cars, wine,magic props etc.
On e collector of magic Jay Marshall died and his collection was sold off on 2 lots the first half made $346,650.
I have copies of 2 of his lots.
Harry Houdini, "King of cards"Poster which sold for $11,000
And the "Traveling magician: by John Rogers a Statuette....$6,500


You can have the 2 photos, click on them to enlarge.
I really don't see the point in paying top dollar for something when you can buy a memento copy for only a few bucks...less of a headache when it comes to insurance too.

I may not know much about art but I know what I like.

Had a customer who bought a replica Rolex watch in Hong Kong, he gave it to a buyer in a store that he was friendly with.
But he didn't say it was a replica!.
The other guy was so grateful until a while later he asked him for the guarantee card as he was having a problem with the watch.
Now the guy had a real problem,he had to get the watch back and buy a real Rolex watch..He couldn't come clean at that point as it would be a real insult.
This cost him dearly.

So you must be careful when you try to fool people, you could be fooling yourself.

Didn't work all weekend, guess I will be broke for my holidays.

Summer festival time

Fundraising for the Nial Mellon Township Fund


All the glamor of a traveler wedding.

The smallest twigs build a mighty nest my dad used to say.
Here we have volunteers raising money for the Niall Mellon township fund
In the late summer an army of Irish people will build a few streets of houses for the poorest of the poor.
This will change their lives forever.
Its a very positive thing, practical help.

You can donate or volunteer on the website.

My home decorations are moving on at great speed and my wife tells me if I stay at home all week next week it will all be done.
I hope so.
I cleared out a bedroom this week and found 8 mobile fone boxes, you know the cardboard boxes with all the instructions etc,8 boxes.

I got in a few 1/2 days here and there driving the taxi.
Great thing about the job is that you don't have to be in at a certain time.
But you do still have to work, if you want to eat.

All the youth are off to oxygen the biggest music festival of the summer. Its cold and wet and if you can remember last year...their mammy's and daddy's will have to come and bring them home.
Caked in mud from head to foot.

Their was a mountain of discarded clothes and wellington boots outside Heuston for a week or more last time.

The folks at the airport had a bit of a surprise when the radar system went down, no information given out and thousands of travelers were stranded.
I would have thought that you would have needed to put in a duplicate system for something as important as that.
I mean its not like a traffic light where a cop can wave his arms around while its being fixed!
No,indeed people who were going on holidays and further were left with no information at all, time marched on,all day long they waited then they were sent home!
I ask you is that any way to run a business.
Next problem is that airlines work to maximum capacity now,this means that they can't put you on an empty seat for the next flight....and if you were flying on to Cape Town via London Oopss,guess you missed that flight too.

Oh the joys of modern life. If people knew they couldn't fly early on they could have taken a taxi to Belfast or have taken the high speed ferry then an express train down to London and arrived on time...But they tell you Nothing... then they wonder why people get upset.. Good job Niomi Cambell wasn't around.

On the charm of the Irish I had 2 girls from Edinburgh on board and they told me of horrific treatment they got from door staff here in Ireland.
These are respectable middle class ladies, nothing rough about them.

Its about time some females from the tourist board or RTE went under cover to see what goes on first hand. Its all very well putting up posters telling people to come here and doing all that they do just to have their night out and everything ruined by lowlife door staff.

Story about a taxi driver and his wife... went to the pictures then decided to go for a pint."You can't come in here your not a regular"The taxi driver explained that he had been coming into this pub for 20 years ...all to no avail.
So they went elsewhere.

2 weeks later,rain coming down like stair rods,taxis a bit scarce, queues everywhere.he picks up a fair on the busy Stephens Green rank...Fairview it is then..."Where do I know your face from?"
"I do the doors"
A quick u turn. "Get out you!,its only regulars tonight."
He kicks him out at the back of the queue

"Next please and don't let that parasite jump the queue".

If only...

The Polish Exodus has begun the building trade here has taken a nose dive. Completed houses are unsold and the banks are refusing to advance money to new buyers,this has caused the problem to become much worse.
Most of the Polish tradesmen are going to London to build the Olympic stadiums for 2012.

Last week a builder went bust(one of many)and brought an electrical contractor with him...He in turn went under and left a wholesaler with a bill for e800,000 Ouch.

Another guy in refrigeration lost his maintenance contracts from a large supermarket chain,he had to sack 4 engineers, he has 4 vans idle. He has a top of the range BMW car,his wife drives a big BMW jeep his overdraft is impossible.
He banked his entire business on one large supermarket chain...His contract was put out to tender and he lost it.
A guy who was his apprentice 3 years before has given him a 9/5 job.
He is just holding for now. But not for long.
His apprentice never went for the big contracts, but then he drives a 04 Toyota which he owns,unlike his x boss who owns nothing.

I implore anyone who is finding it tough to contact MABS or any other professional, before things get out of hand. You can come to other arrangements.
No harm to ask the good office of the Taxi Regulator if she has any plans to help you.
Perhaps a row of taxis parked on Fitzwilliam Sq. with for sale signs on the windows
might at least alert the public as to what is going on.
This might stop the thousands of drivers who are waiting to become taxi drivers.

The regulator is like the 3 monkeys. Hears, sees and says nothing.

At least in our job I don't have staff,or much overheads, or rates...or advertising...or stock, but diesel was 60c a liter when the present rate was set. Something like e1.40 now

Wonder whats coming next, oh yes my income tax!.

Smile

This is getting a bit hard.
So I thought I would lighten up things with this.
It reflects a time before mobile phones and e mail.
A simpler time.
It wouldn't embed so you will have to click here.

Foster Place

This is the office of the taxi regulator,a double fronted Georgian building.
Drivers have protested till they are blue in the face.
She is "unavalable"

Garda demonstrate how to park in Pearse St.

Nuns story Baggott St


Well on Monday I was at a loose end having overslept I missed the morning rush.
I did a bit at Heuston station and then headed into Foster Place just beside Trinity College.This rank is one of the oldest in the city of Dublin and for some reason the powers that be are planning on closing it.

Apart from that I soon found a space at the rank,then the talk started."Did you get done"?. All in all quite a few of them had been "done".

The topic of the conversation then turned up on her motorbike and blocked all the cars trying to get in and out of Foster Place.
Note book in hand she proceeded to issue tickets.
One taxi with no roof sign came up from the back and was stopped from driving out.
He said he was parked up the back and was off duty,she shouted with a roar like a cow in heat directly into the drivers face, quite disturbing really.
"Well I'll give you a ticket anyhow and you can explain it to the Judge",after a bit of argy bargy more taxis were issued with tickets.

Then a black driver with no roof sign on was allowed to drive past. Now the taunts of racism came into the equation.
It makes no sense to me,we are on the streets 24/7, we have a lot of information,if the force for law and order is seen as the enemy all will not fair well.

There are guys selling drugs quite openly on the streets, these drug dealers deal in death,their customers rob for cash to buy drugs.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM.

Yet an honest person trying to earn a bad days pay is treated like a criminal.

I suppose it is very easy to write a ticket for a taxi which stops at a bus stop for a few seconds than to have to deal with a proper crime.
Why does it take 36 hours or longer to get a Garda response to a domestic break in?

I remember reporting 2 cars driving at over 120 MPH once.
The guy who took the 999 call said he could do nothing if I couldn't give him the registration numbers.
Number? I said. Man they are driving at over 120 MPH I could barley get the color.

His reply was a classic.

Are you driving while you are talking on that phone?.

The conversation ended and I never saw a police car on the motorway,I wouldn't like to have the guilt on my mind knowing I had done nothing to prevent a death from happening.

Anyhow thank God no one reads this or I would find myself locked up like the McBrearty family in Donegal.
(locked up for murder even though they since found out it was a hit and run)

Another turn of the screw for taxi drivers is the new fines which are drastic because they cover minor offenses. e250 fine for waiting outside a club or pub which doesn't have a rank,
A few drivers were done in Camden st last weekend.

I did say it and the dogs on the streets know it now.
The Garda are investigating 2 serious sexual crimes one rape and one sexual assault by taxi drivers.
They happened in a short time of each other.

It was only a matter of time before the practice of multiple un licenced drivers driving the same car would result in rape or murder.

Now all drivers will be treated as criminals.

The real criminal is in the taxi regulators office.
She knew this would happen,I told her enough times.

While I am at it why does she have such a big office, its not an embassy for Gods sake. That place should be out in the sticks on 1/10th of the rent.

Looks like its going to be a long hard summer.



Talking about hard times there was a program on bbc radio 4 on debt and bad debt in particular. look here there will be a lot of taxi drivers facing the crunch around now and its no harm to know your rights. The debt collectors are really bully boys and have driven many people to suicide. You do have rights though,so listen to the show now,7th July it might be gone in a few days.The piece near the end is the best bit.

Its not all doom and gloom....theres......theres always the chance that the sun might come out, that's the optimistic side though.
Still the rain forces people into the taxis so its an ill wind that blows no good.

Go have a read of the new bolg from San Antonio Texas

Vintage motor show

Just thought I would give you a taste.

English language students shelter from the rain at Daniel O'Connells statue

Aer Lingus office O'Connell St Closed for business.Gone to the net.

Well I went to the vintage car show in Terenure college.
Really great to see the great cars of yesterday,cars that you never hear of now. Morris,Dodge,Cortina, Anglia, NSU.
I took photos until my battery ran out after around 80 photos.
I wonder if you could see some of the photos here
(There are loads more which will come later)

I have been looking for a new battery for my camera for a while so when I came home I looked on Amazon, found it in 5 minutes.
Next time I will be able to take photos in the hundreds!
I am waiting for Flicker to load up my photos..after 15 mins its only 10%complete.
I have seen these attached to the blogs so you can look at some of the photos.
Hopefully
After an hour it told me that none of my files made it so.
Then it said I had not got enough memory!
Tomorrow is another day.

4th July

This structure covers a gas structure along the quays,does nothing for me.

This will be what our next newest bridge will look like.
It is designed by that famous Catalan architect Calatrava.Sam Beckett bridge.


I almost ran out of petrol the other day, but after dropping off my passenger I made it to the station,just about .
There was a fantastic BMW parked beside me and we had a bit of banter.
It was a diplomatic car(cd plates) and it was bullet proof and bomb proof I think this is the car, if the driver was to be believed the cost of a set of tires would buy my car.
He told me that when the car came in from Germany and it was being prepared for delivery a worker at the garage pressed the "do not press this button" and blew the windows out of the car!!!!!!!!!
Its a safety feature in case you can't get out in an emergency situation.

It weighs over 4 tonnes.I shudder to think what the mpg would be like.

Man but its wet tonight and I am typing this at home.
the ranks are swelling with taxis more every day and its getting harder to get on the ranks.
One good thing about the Prius is that it is not so painful to cruise around looking for work.

Got a run out to the airport from a guy who is in poletics in Nigeria, he told me a lot about the corruption which went on over the years in his country, but now they are cleaning up things and soon he hopes life will be better.

Nigeria is rich in oil and many minerals and it should be a rich country,somehow the revenue is getting diverted..

On the way home there was a big funeral in the graveyard beside the airport but I got a fare from Santry which eased the pain of driving back empty, she was going to the dentist ouch.

The powers that be have decided that the drinking establishments should all close at the same time so instead of people coming on to the streets over a 3 hour period everyone will decend on the ranks together.

They won't be too happy on hearing the full time whistle either.

If God didn't want us to drink he wouldn't have made us alcaholics!

If you are in Dublin don't forget the vintage car show in Terenure college on Sunday.
Hope this rain stops though.

Happy 4th of July to my American readers.
They are kinda shocked that we treat this as a normal day when they come here, I was in Boston this day last year, its a real big celebration.