2013 the gathering.

2013 is to be the year of "the gathering"
The idea is that you invite friends and folks from abroad to come and visit.
It is to kick off click here with a big concert and fireworks on New Years Eve.

Scotland will have to take a back seat this year..

The idea of the gathering is all well and good, but the prices in Dublin are a complete rip off.
In the UK you can get a Sunday roast with all the trimmings and a pint of beer all for around £6in Weatherspoons

A pint of the black stuff alone in Temple bar is over €6 and the meal will cost around €15.

But Dublin is a great place if you don't spend any money.


So there I was stuck with no keys for the car and the time ticking away.
Enough I thought I will buy another key. €180 said the garage man !
So I found one on Ebay for €70 which seems like the right one.

Then can I program it?

Internet to the rescue.
Click here


I noticed this in London a few years ago, how odd I thought

I think this says it all?

  ( This has happned again)
The picturesb were of young people doing different things in company while glued to their mobile phones. 

The day that Albert Einstein feared may have finally arrived. Having coffee with friends. A day at the beach. Cheering on your team. Having dinner out with your friends. Out on an intimate date. Having a conversation with your BFF A visit to the museum Enjoying the sights

--

- I fear the day will come that technology will

surpass our human interaction.

The world will have a generation of idiots

 Happy new year to you all  !!!!!!!!!

Christmas 1915

 Something of a tradition this, 
Times could not have been worse in 1915 lying in the muck of Flanders fields with your gun at the ready.

Then for a breif moment a miracle happened.

The horror of war is well sung by Gerry Lynch

In neneteen fifteen on Christmas Day

On western front the guns all died a(A)way

And (G)lying in the mud on bags of (Bm)sand

We (G)heard a German (A)sing from no man's (D)land

He had a tenor voice so pure and true

The words were strange but every note we knew

Soaring ore the living dead and dammed

A German sang of peace from no man's land

They left their trenches and we left ours

Beneath tin hats the smiles bloomed like wild flowers

With photos cigarettes and bottles of wine

We built a soldier's truce on the front line

Their singer was a lad of twenty-one

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

Chorus:

(D)Silent night, no cannons roar

A king is born of peace for ever(A)more

All's (G)calm, all's (Bm)bright

All brothers hand in (D)hand

In (G)nineteen and fif(A)teen in no man's (D)land

And in the morning all the guns boomed in the rain

And we killed them and they killed us again

At night they charged we fought them hand in 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 (G)that young soldier (A)sings

And the (G)song of peace still (A)rings

Though the (G)captains and all the (A)kings

Built (G)no man's (D)land

(D)Sleep in (A)heavenly (D)peace

So peace and good health to you all.

I hope to meet you all again in 2013  

 

Depart Ballina 1am

         Imagine that. Getting on the early morning bus to the airport

           The first thing the passingers see on arrival at the Dublin ferry port

       Recently re thatched this house from the year 1754 in Lusk

        A bit blurred but..A dog with a scarf !

         This house near the Malahide Rd. is lit up every year....Fantastic

        A foggy day on Lenox St Portabello

It so sad to see another massacre of innocents in America,
You can get your first gun at 11 years old in some states.
I know that a good few years ago there was a great documentary made about it by that well filled out American guy  Michael Moore.

Perhaps this time the laws will be changed and the guns will be taken out of the hands of the maniacs who now hold them.

Hard as it might seem we have to block out the horror that modern media throws at us every minute of every night and day. We cannot reverse the troubles in Gaza, the famines in Africa the corruption that goes on around the world.
Inform yourself about whats happening them then try to help in any way possible, but don't keep looking at the images over and over again.

Things are hotting up for the big holidays last Friday one of the other drivers told me he took in over €400 that night, queues of people all looking for taxis he said.

HailO has now over 2,600 taxis in Dublin and there has been a huge uptake in the customer app.
Speaking for myself I would be out of the taxi business without it.

I will post again when I get the Christmas tree up

Where is Santa

This is a big hit in Germany and Norway where it shown every Christmas day



Yhis is how the Cavan man gets outbof Christmas

A Fairy tale

A bit of nostalgia.
This somg came out 25 years ago today,its hard to believe it

Not long now

Wow over the last few days there has been some tragic news.

The death of the "Celtic tiger"has brought tragedy to many peoples lives.
People in negative equity,
People loosing their jobs and businesses.
Most taxi drivers are feeling the pinch also and with no relief in sight any time soon.

The funeral took place of Hugh O'Regan
He was once a partner in the Thomas Read  Group which controlled the best pubs, restaurants and hotels in Dublin.Pravda,The Bailey,Searsons, The Budda bar Blanchardstown, The 40ft in DunLaoighre, Plus the bars at Dublin airport. Then there was the Morrison hotel
At the height he employed 900 people. They were the dearest pubs and he was the first to say that the minimum wage was too high, he wanted to pay less money.
Though he sold many of his pubs he finished owing €800 million to Anglo Irish bank and €172 Million to the Irish Nationwide
Everything came crashing to the ground, he was a young man, only 49

When you fly high sometimes your fall can be very hard.

He had a nervous breakdown and was in hospital, he wandered out one day and his body was found near to a busy road, it is said he had died from natural causes..
It is so tragic with a young family 4 sons and a wife left behind to cope with the future alone.

If you have problems with depression, go to your doctor, talk to your bank manager and try to get your finances back on track.
Money And Budgeting Services are great.(MABS)

Talk to the professionals.

You are not alone.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This week I had 2 victories.

I stopped a pedophile ! (at least I hope so)

I had a customer going to the doctor and I said I would turn off the meter and wait for her.
I let back the seat and listned to the radio.
On the end of the road thare was a man around 50 talking to a 7/8 year old girl.

So I just observed and after a while by observing body language I noted that he was not her dad.

When you or I meet a small girl we would not engage her in conversation for longer than one minute.
Just before my passinger returned he went back into his house and came back with sweets. At that point I  noticed a man passing by. I stopped him. and asked if he was local, he said he was.

"What is the relationship between that man and that child?"
He knew what I was implying and told me that parents turn out their kids and leave them unsupervised all day in this area and it was none of his business.

I thought about it all night. If I aproach the mother of the child I might start a panic over nothing.
On the other hand, if I did nothing I would suffer as I had not done the correct and moral thing.

So I phoned a friend

He is a retired Garda.  Problem sorted "Community leason officer"
A discreet observation will be taking place.

The other victory was in the Chinese woman being trafficked.

I finally through a press reporter have managed to get the powers that be to act on my information.

2 Big victories I think.

I think it was on Thursday in rush hour traffic everything came to a full stop.
There was no warnings but the traffic heading towards St.Stephens green was diverted away.

What in fact had happened was that there was a row and one guy either was punched or was running away when he fell under the back wheels of the bus on the corner of Dawson St and Nassau St.
The wheel of the bus and the edge of the footpath acted like a scissors and the mans heat flew on to the middle of the footpath.
.
As you can imagine with hundreds of people milling around it was a scene of absolute horror.

A man has been arrested and charged.

December 8

 After you say "where are you going?"
I often ask
"Where are you from, with that lovely accent?"
Palestine , Israel and Lebanon always gets the response.
"Such a precious place for so many of the worlds religions, its such a pity there is no peace and harmony"

War,war and more war always.

Where would we be if I forgot what happened on Dec 8 1980



God bless you John

2 interesting people today, first an American guy. A second generation Russian from America who is a musician, he was heading for the radio studio to lay down a few tracks with Julie Feeney.
Dontknow her?
When you hear her sing you will know her.
So for him its airport, hotel, studio, hotel,show, hotel, then taxi to the next airport and countrycountry..
She is Irish, I didn't know that.

So you do want to hear Julie sing?

A seasonal video.



The second one was a lady heading home from Gooogle.(yes Google HQ is in Dublin)
Irish accent for sure but behind it there was something interesting.and different
Like a soup with the lightest touch of nutmeg, just enough to make an interesting change but not overpowering.
"I'm French, I moved here when I was 11.Though very few people notice my French accent"
Ahappy person, so I asked
"Any plans for Christmas?"

"Yes I'm off to Rio until the 6 th of Jan with my boyfriend, he comes from there"

Don't you wish you were going too?????????????

Photo shoot

                   Awards for best App for HailO

                               This beautiful Irish model is 6 ft 4 ins in her high heels

So boys and girls the story is take a taxi home and never ever drink and drive.

"So the other night we went to the pub to bless the season, after a few pints we went to the night club .
After a good skinfull we decided to take a taxi home.

Then we came upon a roadblock and the police waved the taxi through.

I've never done that before. I will ring the number in the roof sign to let Mr Ebbs know where we parked the car"

Thanks Gene

Scum !

Ho Ho Ho How frightfully British.

Well I have paid my dues to the criminal scum in Dublin for a nother while.
It happened in Rialto yesterday. The taxi in front of me stopped a full cars length in front of me.
Unfortunately his passinger was at my door and she opened it. I told her the other taxi had stopped for her but she just said he should have stopped sooner. The door was left open and she called for her partner to get in, and hurry up.
They said they were going to Drimnagh and they were very much the worst from drink and drugs.
Then through the short journey the girl was saying "Keep right here, now go left" so we finished up in St Micheals estate.
Now if I was working less,or if I was not as tired the whole thing would have been avoided but theese scumbags know what they are doing .
They are like a running sore living on the back of society leeches sucking our blood.
So a stand off came.
But I had stopped close to a security guard who was minding a nearby building site.
So they walked off without any violence but with plenty of menace.
On the way she said his full name, but I had not gout my pen so I couldn't write it down.
Anyhow the security guard came over and he told me to phone the police.
So as they say in the manual its 112 from a mobile not 999.
The operator took the details, description etc.
I told them that the scum were heading over to cross the canal at the Luas station then over to Drimnagh.
And where are you? St Micheals estate, I need to know what road you are on.
I said that it did not matter what road I was on, surley it would be important to head off the crimanals.
So I hung up.
So I thanked the security guard and headed off, he told me never to come in here its a rathole.
A good 1/2 hour later I was on Parnell Rd. when I got a call,"The Garda here we are looking for you, I offered to meet them but no one knew where they were, so I went to Blackhorse Luas station, rang them back and waited for 20 minutes, as the police car came along. When it did I was on the footparh as the drove past me. I ran up to the window which was open and blew the horn., they stopped and turned  and came back.
They listned to my story again, Took my name, date of birth, address.
Then a full description... They didn't even have that when they headed out ..
He read it back, "He had a brown hoodie" No I said it was gray..."And he said he was just out of Mountjoy prison" No I said it was Wheatfield prison.
They drove off and as I was going back down the road behind them they nearly drove past the turn where my fugatives had gone. I followed and did a scout around myself.
One thing the Guard did say,
"You shouldn't have rung us you should have contacted the nearest Garda station, Sundrive Rd."
Neadless to say I drew a blank, but I picked up a lady on Cork St. and at the traffic lights the boys in blue pulled up beside me. "Any luck?" No ..
They drove into Kevin St. Garda station.

The people who are involved in crime have a huge advantage.
There was a young German stabbed to death in Rialto only a few hours before this happened, so on a scale of 1 to 10 my troubles are nothing.

I would love to see an audit of performance and routine assessments made.

3 weeks ago I tried to ring the new anti trafficking number, no reply, then I sent an e mail still no reply.
I just spent 1/2 an hour looking for the van number to give to you but I can't find it.

Oh Yes Santa!!!!


You are all mad.

Protest March Monday 3rd

On Monday December 3rd 10.30 AM the T.T.H.C are having a march and drive from Parnell Sq. to Dept of transport in Kildare St,

"What do we want?"
Well a raft of new rules are coming in, 9 year rule for taxis, stickers on the doors and a new reduced starting rate for the meters.
As things stand all the taxi merers will have to be calibrated because the memory that controls the calender has only got a 5 year cycle. It will cost around €250 to have the meter done and with higher fuel costs the money will never be recouped.

Now the consultation precess seems to be a discussion in a darkened room then they ask the public.
"ARE TAXI FARES A BIT TOO HIGH ?" So they are going with that.

The TTHC wants a few things dealt with first.

Double jobbing,
when I started I had to be available to work 40 hours a week and provide my  P45 to show I had no other job.

Oversupply......You did notice that I suppose

Vetting procedures 
 In Spain you must be resident in the country for 2 or 3 years, be able to speak Spanish and hold a full Spanish driving license before you are tested for a taxi license..   

Discount fares and illegal taxi ranks.
Speaks for itself, radio companies are offering discounts and the  drivers have to give them. 


Lack of appeals process.
The dept of transport is judge jury and executioner in disputes.

There is no proper negotiation process.

Students here on stamp 2 visas which forbids them from being self employed.

to read more go to www.ttnh.ie

             10.30 Monday