Good customer Mad customer

Sign of the times an electric car charging point at Bewleys Hotel



A sign over a bicycle shop



On Cork St. The floral display place are opening a gardening center



Ithe cruise ship AIDA passes the Baily lighthouse


This posting should have kicked off with a photo of a young couple from the Turks and Cocos Islands. The girl took the photo on the Ifone, without flash at night.
The street lighting makes them look like they have been sprayed orange.
But I didn't use it because for some reason it didn't load on to the computer properly.
Later perhaps


Loads of action at the weekend with the tall ships.

It was really a very thoughtless thing taking the statue of admiral Brown (Irish founder of the Argentine navy) and moving him to the Lord Nelson,then covering the inscription to imply that it was Nelsons statue.

After all the Argies and the Brits are not the best of friends

The Argentine sailors laid a wreath at the statue to thank that Irishman for the work he did.
But it was a really stupid move on behalf of the festival organizers.

Here is a strange one.

I brought a guy to the Phoenix park, as he got the HailO system goes "Ching Ching" a job on Chesterfield Ave. Now I did know that that is the name of the road that runs through the park. So I tipped the address and saw that he was standing down at the entrance, then he rang me and we exchanged mutual greetings from a distance.
Him waving me,I flashing my headlights.
Person on board to Lime St. He was French and full of the joys of the HailO system.
I dropped him off.
On Monday I picked up a lady from South Africa going to Lime St.
She had waved me down and started to tell me how her partner loved the HailO system, "Would he be French by any chance?"
Yes it was her partner.
Then around the corner from her restaurant I stopped to adjust the drivers HailO app.
A lady going to Stoneybatter tapped on the window. A yoga teacher, very fit and supple looking.
When I dropped her off I picked up one of the most annoying people ever, Parkgate St to the Luas on the Green. I said that Harcourt St stop would be closer. But she insisted.
Then she started about how she was going to be late, and hen how I was going the wrong way.
So I slowed away down and took a deep breath.
"You were late when you got in. So if I had not stopped for you you would be even later than you are now." Then she said that she only ever paid €8 for that trip not €10.
So I told her that the receipt would show the time and the distance yravelled and she could have it checked out. But the fare is €10
Then I told her if I saw her again she would be getting the next empty taxi coming behind mine, because if I recognized her I would not stop for her again.

You know, people like her are attracting bad Karma on themselves all the time.
Though when I think about it perhaps I picked up a bit of bad Karma from her myself.
Did she really think after all the bitching she did that anyone would give her a reduced fare?


Then 10 minutes later on Dame street the HailO app sounds and I make a quick detour It is the French guy again! So I told him I had his partner in the car just 25 minutes ago.
Dublin is a small place, but what are the chances of that happening again?.

It often seems to me that time seems to jump in massive leaps.
You blink and time has shifted.
50 years ago Marlyn Monroe died, it seems like yesterday.
Then the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong died last week aged 82.
You can remember what you were doing when you saw the event or heard the news and time seems to have no effect on that section of your memory, its like yesterday.

They say that smell evokes the strongest memory recalls,(The smell of a puppy perhaps).

Neil Armstrong was brought to Dublin for the launch of Microsoft Vista which was done in Croke Park convention center. I found out later when it was over that it was he.
They were as mad as hell that he did not say the famous words
"Vista" "A giant leap for mankind".

Just as well as it turned out.

Talking of time the schools are back and the leaves are turning brown.

Where did the summer go?.

The sands of time are flowing.
The sand is gone from the Dublin castle yard for another year, better luck to see it next year.


I met Joe Daly today, he is a really good magician and a friendly guy.
A magician with a personality.

Tall Ships

Admiral Brown founder of the Argentine navy has been moved and re named as Nelson, without an eye patch







Make an effort to come into the city to see the tall ships.
All the fun of the fair.
The ships are leaving around 13.00 on Sunday.
Quite a sight from the port walls as they pass out to sea.

Taxis On Strike

Taxis at Dublin airport on strike.

No pick ups for 2 days.

At the busiest time of the year the boil of discontent has burst at Dublin Airport.

As a taxi driver if you want to pick up someone at the airport you have to pay more than €400 per year to the DAA.
You join a queue and wait to be called to terminal 1 or 2.
The wait can be longer than 2 hours.

Then things start to go wrong, people are arriving at the arrivals at 1 while taxis are sent to 2 where they wait. While at 1 passengers are waiting with no taxis coming.

Then drivers busy playing cards in the canteen forget that they are blocking up the entire system.

The holding area was enlarged to hold the backlog of taxis.
Then a few days ago the DAA removed 70 or so places for the taxis who are waiting to collect.
The overflow went back to the road and the police were called.
They issued tickets and at one point a Garda drew pepper spray and his baton.
(not a great decision)
This was the spark which finally ignited the powder keg.

7.30 they say that there is settlement

Happy Birthday Philo

Phil Lynotts statue bedecked in flowers for his birthday 63 he would have been


The glass house once the home of the Billion euro house.


Pep talk outside Karen Millen shop. Staff are so well dressed.


Graffiti becomes art


Leaving cert results are out and boys and girls, it doesn't really matter what marks you got.
It comes down to how you can live your lives for the future that counts,

The youth of today are brave, they drive without fear, some take chances,then they meet the unexpected.*************
Last week a Mother in Crumlin buried her 3 sons killed in the same car crash.
Whatever happened who was wrong or in the right you have to feel for the family.

A trip through a scrap yard should be compulsory for all learner drivers, just to let them see that a moments lapse of thought could do. Perhaps it would save lives.

Slow down boys and girls, you will die soon enough.

Yesterday on the Clontarf road a car hit the back of another, which tipped the taxi in front of that.
What a mess!
They must have been there for the best part of an hour taking details from each other.
Hurt or not we will all be paying for that
But there was little or no damage done.

I picked up a lady the other day and I remembered her. Dr Jo from the Caribbean.
She had told me about a strange thing that happens on her island.

Drugs are a problem everywhere,even on a small Paradise like Island.
There are many holiday homes on the island which are empty most of the time.
The houses are looked after by agents and checked over from time to time.
Now the drug dealers hide drugs in the houses or in the grounds of these houses.
The problem comes when the houses are rented and the new people throw out the drugs.
Then the dealers arrive and want their goods back.

Storms at sea has forced in the first of the tall ships, the rest will be arriving early for the big festival of the tall ships in Dublin port this weekend.

Sand sculptures.

When Mabel was 99 I brought her out to see the sand sculptures in the courtyard of Dublin Castle.
So it was when she was 100 years old.
Then again when she is 101 years old.
This year she is 102 1/2 so we went back again.

"They are not as good as last year, I hope they will be better the next time"

She is as sharp as a tack mentally but since she broke her hip she is slowing down.

Three cheers for Mabel...


The leaving Certificate results came out and loads of young people headed out to celebrate and to drown their sorrows.

My passenger from Clontarf told me that a group of them went out and her friend went home early without telling the others.
She got into a taxi (one of those illegal taxi drivers that I keep telling you about)

The driver kept going the wrong way and refused to take the correct road. He had locked the doors and terrified her by driving round and around. Terrified she started to cry and told the taxi driver that she didn't have enough money to pay him.
So he drove to a bank link machine and drove onto the footpath blocking her exit until she drew out money. Then he drove her home and she got no change.
She had the roof sign number but if he did that the roof sign is a duplicate or a stolen one and even if you had his ID you could bet it would be fake as well.

What a bad experience for any young person to have.

Learn how the video works on your mobile and quietly film as much as you can.
(Turn off the flash)

Once I saw an illegal driver challenged at the Westbury Hotel.
The driver handed over his ID and the garda asked him his date of birth. The date of birth given did not tally with the date held on record.

What happened?

Was he wrestled to the ground and taken away?
Was his car confiscated and towed away?

Well no ! They took away his roof sign and then allowed him to drive away.
He was back 1/2 an hour later with a different sign on his car.

This problem will not go away until it is policed properly, perhaps someone will be killed first.
I hope not. But perhaps hoping is not good enough.

If you have a modern phone download the HailO app, failing that ring a raido cab company and ask them to come and collect you. Ask to be told what the drivers name will be and ask the driver their name when they come.

Now if you don't know how to video from your phone, find out now.
Film as much as you can or even an audio account of the proceedings would be great.
Don't go home alone if you can.
There once was an all female taxi company called "Angels" A great idea but you cannot discriminate by gender.
Yet I never saw a female sperm doner.....Or a man as a surrogate mother.

I would love to see this business policed properly and when someone who is driving on forged papers is caught that their cars be crushed, then prosecuted to the letter of the law. How the hell can someone be allowed to drive away once you establish he has forged papers? Just 100 days of instant pouncing and hemming in of taxis would solve this problem.

By the way Mr taxi regulator if you think I exaggerate give me the man power and you will find out, I would work at it for free.

15 th Dublin horse Show opens

Ancient fire pump


New venture on Georges St


Sandymount


What killed the cat?


Tee shirt print, any chance to make a bob

Well the Dublin Horse Show opens today.
This occasion is a big date in the social calender of a lot of people.
Then on the 25th the "Tall Ships" will be sailing into our fair city.
I was told to stand on the Bull Wall to see them coming in.
There are things happening all the time, but I won't compete with the "Whats on websites"

Some people are saying that HailO is not for them, fair enough now there will be more work for me. I looked at my bank statement at all the credit card jobs that have been paid I am more than €400 up. That is credit card work I wouldn't have had but for HailO.

I have been painting. Not landscapes or portraits but walls ceilings and doors.
Every muscle in my body is sore, but when it is finished it will be great.

I needed work done to my castle, I rang around for tradesmen, I had 4 who came to assess the job. (Hard times and all that)

One came back with a price, cash job 4 figures.

No one would provide me with a written quotation with tax and VAT.

Still that's how the world works, everyone pays as little tax as they can.

It seems like no one wants to work even for cash !

Has a plumber ever said to you "That's €360 for cash or €480 with a receipt"
Perhaps it was an insurance claim and with the excess that they charge from the insurance company you might as well have not had insurance in the first place.

So what has this got to do with taxi driving?

Nothing really ! Perhaps I have too much time on my hands.

I was in a few second hand shops today. CDs for €1 each.
There is great value in clothes as well.
Pictures for the wall are very cheap.

Still in little over 2 weeks the schools go back.
Normal life might return.

At least we are above the sod for another day !

Did I tell you I had a fantastic looking "girl" in the car the other day it turned out SHE was a He but was working towards obtaining the full "S".
This is the second transvestite I have picked up in a while.
It throws me when it happens. I picked up 6 girls once, they were the lady boys of Bangkok and they were fantastic, laughing and so beautiful.I can't remember where we finished up.
I should have never sold the Fiat Scudo.

Six seats of fun.

Perhaps I am going Grey or Gay.

So tomorrow is another different day.

Lets hope it will be a special day for you.

DublinHorse show coming soon

Welcome to Dublin Clara and Laura from Switzerland.First time in Ireland


This is a cloud burst that looked like the end of the world.


Just a thought for your future,





Another photo of that dream boat which would be yours to rent if you won the Euromillions

The Dublin taxi driver must be the ultimate pessimist.
Any good idea will be shot down by them.

What good is that old HailO system? Did they ever send you any work?

I tel them I got 4 jobs in 2 weeks from it.
There you are, its useless!

Then I tell them I had 6 credit card transactions, one was a job to Navan which netted me €100.
I can't remember the last time I had a €100 taxi fare.
Th important thing is that when the public start to use the app that there are taxis around to respond, so first of all we have to be ready for when the work comes.

Girls out for the night are delighted with the system.
"So you are telling me that I will know what the taxi driver looks like?
I will know his roof sign number?
Plus I can see how many minutes away he is?
And I can see him coming to me on my Ifone on a map?

Oh Yes I want that.

So I agree with the guys who moan and think to myself. Go on and pay €120 per week rental to your radio company, and don't forget to give 20% discount or more, at your own expense.

There is a radio cab company in this town who rents out taxis. The rent is €360 per week.
This gives you an insured car, repairs and maintenance plus the business you will get via the radio. Then you have to buy fuel, give 20 to 30 % discount on fares.
So for 6 days it costs you €60 per day
That means that you will have to take in between €70 to €80 just to break even.
Then if you have a bit of a bang ! You are liable for the first €800 of any damage.

My friends when you are down on your luck there are people ready to help you.
The money lender with a rate of interest that is immoral.
The slum landlord who will give you a cockroach and mice infested apartment for a sky high subsidised rent.

But the bank manager will only give you a loan when he has established that you don't need it at all.

Such is life.

National night....

To all you folks who thought you had seen it all.

What big thing is happening in Singapore ?

Well the population is falling so there is going to be a "National night".

What a good opportunity to sell MENTOS !!!!!




Now with Ifones and youtube our moments of madness are there for the world to see



The nutcase driving the bus got 6 months in jail, lucky for him he didn't kill the man.

Sand scuptures in Dublin Castle

How do you like the new look?
Its all go with HailO.















These are so good it is hard to believe that they are just made from wet sand.



Underneath Dublin Castle there is a maize of tunnells. The other night 2 men with a ladder went down into the drainage system. This alerted a full emergency response with dogs, divers and armed police entering the network of tunnels.



Some people say nothing at all as they ride along in a taxi others will amuse and inform you with the depth insight and scope of their knowledge.
The business man who hopped into the taxi in Donnycarney was definitely the latter.
He had been working in the construction business before the big bang.
He employed up to 15 men working on different projects.
He discussed the problems with keeping a fleet of vehicles on the road, tools and chasing contracts.
But from Wednesday until Friday morning there was big pressure.
I had to have at least €15,000 in cash to pay the men.
Then there were other bills coming through all the time.

But I was making good money.

My wife is fantastic, I wanted to buy a boat and a better car but she made me pay off the loans I had first.

Then one day a guy who had given me a few of my biggest jobs met up with me and told me that there was trouble coming down the line, there would be no more work coming my way and the jobs I was working on now would be reduced, I went from 9 vans and 4 trucks to 1 van and 1 truck 15 men lost their jobs, 15 homes with no incomes.

But I got up from my knees and after a wobble I got going again.

I am working in external wall insulation now.

Business is growing and we are doing good work,

Good work gets you more work I always say.

My brother in law drives a taxi and my sister rang me to lend her some money to pay their mortgage.
I know it was really hard for her to ask me for that money and I feel bad that she had to ask me. But I wouldn't let her down.

So I drove out to the airport to meet my brother in law who was playing cards in the taxi holding area. He sits there for 2 or 3 hours in that canteen playing cards between jobs.

My sister in law is working at 2 jobs and she can't make up the bank payments,yet he dosen't seem to care.

I feel bad for her and I am angry at him, at least you are out on the road chasing work, he is just sitting around getting fatter by the day.

But if you don't keep chasing the work it won't come to you.

Do you ask them if they need a taxi back to the airport when they are going home again?
Did you give them a map?.I hope you carried in their bags and held the door open for them.
Here's my number if you get stuck or if need to know something just call me up.

I myself have a load of people who ring me up when they need a taxi, or a plumber, or an electrician. They know if I don't have one I will know where a good one will be found.

I wouldn't call my customers friends, but they become more than customers as time passes.

I met the same beauty therapist from Poland yesterday that I had met a few weeks ago, the one with the beautiful sun tan, well she owns the salon and a healthy tanned look is all part of the experience, she had her baby son with her.
Polish children have a wonderful blond hair just like Irish kids.
She is a wonderful happy person.

I also met a gentleman from Ethiopia, Mr Tebgshaw Mengistu. He works for Diageo and he told me that he would put me up if I ever came to Addis Ababa. He told me that it was part of their custom to make travelers welcome in their homes. The people from that country are quire tall and are great long distance runners. The women are also very tall and graceful.
Have a look here then you have to be a good runner yourself to catch one of them.

You have to remember that visitors are like fish soup.
If they are there for more than 2 days they stink and need to be thrown out.

So there you are Enjoy this magic feature.

Magic is one of my great loves.

For magic to work it must have pauses, mystery and wonderful sense of occasion.

Here is Simon Drake to illustrate my point very well.

What is going on in your taxi today?

I must go through the links on the right hand side, many have stopped posting, some have died...RIP.


Different drivers sometimes write great stories, "cabs are for kissing" and Brazil taxi "taxitramas"for example

Now I could never reaad Portugese until a girl from Brazil just told me the magic words


"GOOGLE TRANSLATE"

I re posted one of his postings once,
Here is another.

Em cada táxi uma trama

Neste momento, um táxi está carregando um menino que se tornará alguém importante, uma mãe preocupada com o futuro do filho, uma jovem que acaba de conhecer seu marido, um avô que chora de saudades do neto, uma mulher que espera por um milagre, um médico que sonha curar uma paciente desenganada.

A bordo de um táxi, por ai, há uma idosa desencantada com o mundo, um jovem querendo mudar o mundo, um empreendedor em dificuldades financeiras, uma secretária atrasada, um homem desempregado, um estagiário sonhando em crescer na vida.

Um passageiro criticando o governo, um passageiro elogiando o governo, um passageiro pedindo ao taxista que pare de falar em política. Namorados trocando carícias no banco traseiro. Uma esposa desiludida, um marido fiel, um adúltero incorrigível, uma prostituta indo para o trabalho de táxi.

Alguém está tentando enfiar uma TV 50 polegadas em um táxi para economizar no frete, um cachorro está vomitando no estofamento, um crente está pregando a palavra, uma mulher está parindo, um umbandista está levando seu despacho, um assaltante está puxando sua arma. Deus há de estar em todos os táxis, nesse momento.

Neste exato instante, um táxi está levando alguém para o aeroporto, um taxista está dando uma dica de hotel para um turista que chegou à cidade. Em milhares de táxis estão sendo feitos comentários a respeito do clima, centenas de confissões, muitas análises futebolísticas. Em pouquíssimos táxis estão sendo dadas gorjetas, nesse momento.

Um criminoso arrependido, a vítima de uma injustiça, um oficial levando uma intimação. Alguém está fugindo, alguém está tentando chegar a tempo, alguém está voltando, outros estão indo de táxi.

Jovens bêbados, uma garota suicida, um estudante e sua maquete, um pedreiro sujo de cimento, um jogador cabeça de bagre, um torcedor rasgando sua bandeira, um travesti espancado, um velho frustrado, que sonhou ser alguém importante...

Não perca! Em um táxi perto de você.


Google says

In each taxi there is a plot

At this time, a taxi is carrying a boy who will become someone important, a mother worried about the future of the child, a girl who just met her husband, a grandfather who cries miss grandson, a woman waiting for a miracle, a doctor who dreams of curing a patient given up.

On board a taxi around, there is a disenchanted with the old world, a young man wanting to change the world, an entrepreneur in financial difficulties, a late secretary, an unemployed man, dreaming of an intern grow in life.

A passenger criticizing the government, praising the government a passenger, a passenger asked the taxi driver to stop talking about politics. Valentine exchanging caresses the back seat. A disillusioned wife, a faithful husband, an incorrigible adulterer, a prostitute going to work by taxi.

Someone is trying to shove a 50 inch TV in a taxi to save on freight, a dog is vomiting on the upholstery, a believer is preaching the word, a woman is giving birth, an Umbanda is taking its order, a burglar is pulling his gun. God will be in all taxis at that time.

Right now, someone is taking a taxi to the airport, a taxi driver is taking a tip from a hotel for tourists who came to town. In thousands of taxis being made comments about the weather, hundreds of confessions, many analyzes football. In very few taxis are being given tips at this time.

A repentant criminal, the victim of an injustice, an officer leading a subpoena. Someone is running away, someone is trying to get the time, someone is coming, others are going by taxi.

Young drunk, a suicidal girl, a student and his model, a dirty cement mason, a player's head catfish, a fan tearing their flag, beating a transvestite, a frustrated old man, who dreamed of being someone important ...

Do not missit ! In a taxi near you.