Octoberfest

The first Santa

Dundrum cycle club gets a pep talk before setting out.

You go back to the future and your car breaks down

I don't know about you lot out there.

But I am just fed up with the way society over here in Ireland is going.

Violence is everywhere or so it seems.

Where will I start ?

Well in Longford a group of thugs surrounded a house belonging to a traveller family and threw fire bombs into it. A young girl aged 11 years is in Crumlin Children's hospital with burns to her face arms and chest.

A road rage incident in Sandymount where a guy battered another guy over the head with a hurley stick. The guy who was beaten went home and then went to hospital where he later died..Madness.

On Monday I picked up a girl on the SCR at Camden St., She was going to Jams es St. Hospital. She had been stabbed in the leg as she walked on the board walk the day before.
No,she had not been mugged, the guy just walked past her and stabbed her in the leg as he passed.
She didn't even get a look at him.
Now one problem I have with that is that suppose she was pregnant and he stabbed her in the womb?

Then there is another murder suicide in Northern Ireland.

Today I hear that a young Polish guy was found unconscious in Coolock, It is not known at present if it was a hit and run or an assault, he was on his way to work.
Garda in Limerick responded to a call where they found a guy with head injuries, he has died today.
Last week a taxi driver was murdered, not in the line of duty though.

There was no gang shootings this weekend,for a change.

If Al Capone came back he would feel right at home in Dublin.

I don't know where we are going.

Perhaps I should get the bumper sticker.

Make love not war.
Ask driver for details

I really can't solve any of those big problems, so I will just get on with my life.



Bill Biley was at the O2 and he helped us make a few bob.

Of the people I met?

I have to say I met loads of interesting and fantastic people this week!

Well one guy and his daughter who was starting her medical degree in the college of surgeons.
They came from Trinidad.
She had to buy a whole new winter wardrobe, its summertime at home.
He asked me if I knew where it was. "West Indies" I said.

Well it off the coast of Venezuela and it has gas and oil!
He asked me a strange question.
"Will you retire soon or keep going?"
I said no, because this is a job you can do without much effort and you can work just a few hours if you wish, you meet loads of interesting people, but you don't get rich.

Wow a place Trinidad,with good weather and mineral wealth.
So I boasted about my internet radio and when I got home I tuned in ....Reggie music.

Like the Australian special forces guy who told me about attempted muggings he has had to endure.
"Sure if you know what you are doing the whole thing becomes something else.
The attacker suddenly thinks this whole thing was a very bad idea"
When I told him he might have been watching too much Crocodile Dundee movies he told me he had been trained as "special forces "in the Australian army.
He has been in my taxi two or more times.
The lady who runs the Gaity school of acting, she is also involved in the Smock Ally theater.
This is a busy week with the Dublin theater festival

I must keep a note book because I only skim the surface here giving you small samples.Forgetting so much.

One thing I would like to say is that for many of the other taxi drivers times have become very very hard. I would not pay the €400+ to have an airport pass.
This pass allows you to pick up passengers at the airport.
The waiting time between fares is between 2 and 3 hours.
The guys who work the Aport have aged so much. It is like one year has cost them four. Young guys a few years ago are now old men.
Not that am a young sex symol myself.
One big problem we are having is that we have no say in what is happening in the industry. From the smallest thing to the biggest thing, we have no input.

The 10 year rule is coming in. Super S class Mercs with air con etc. must now be put off the road.They have all the bells and whistles that you could dream of.
They are road worthy, would pass the NCT..
Leather seats etc.

Over 10 years...OUT

If I sell you my taxi licence you must put it on a car less than 3 years old and then it becomes non-transferable. So in effect my "asset" is devalued.

Banks etc will not lend money to buy new taxis, they reckon that it is a dead duck and they will not give any money.

Sadly a lot of taxi drivers have been killing themselves.

In the name of God, its not worth it, it is no solution as your kids and friends will be so scarred for all time.