A chance meeting

 A misty morning on the Clontarf seafront

 This is the house where e200,000was hidden under the floor

 The Polish embassy


Today was a beautiful morning in Dublin.
Our electric kettle is blowing the fuse, so when I went to bed my clock was flashing to be reset.
So I just gave it one click to stop it flashing and fell asleep. I woke up at 8.15 which is not like me to get up so late.
I went downstairs and remembered not to plug in the kettle, filling a saucepan with water I noticed that the kitchen clock was at 5.15...Then I noticed that it was dark.
Then I remembered the flashing clock.
But I was up, so off to work.
My ramblings brought me up through the Dublin mountains and down to the foggy Clontarf seafront.
I often wish I could take better photographs to show you..but it was a massive dawn when it did happen I was up in the Dublin mountains.
I follow routes through the city which have irregular buses and where people can afford taxis.
Clontarf, Ballsbridge, Sandymount and Castleknock are my best hunting grounds.
Going back through Dublin 4 on the Merrion Rd I turned left on to to Ailesbury Rd. to do a U turn at the Polish embassy.
There was some guys fixing a gate and I asked them if they were lifting a few floor boards to call me.
The house just down the road was sold by NAMA and when the new owners lifted the floor boards they found €200,000 hidden there.
The house was owned by the guy who developed Priory Hall the apartment development that had to be abandoned as a fire hazard.
This was money he had forgotten he even had.
So I offered to help them if they were lifting any floor boards.
Then as I pulled in closer and told them about how much I admired the wonderful job that had been done on the Polish embassy across the road. One of the guys said thank you and then asked me if I would like to see inside his house.
I was delighted to accept but I didn't see the sign on the railings as I went in.
But WOW The interior was finished to such a high standard. Beautiful furniture "All Polish" he said. I told him how wonderful the house was and the quality of the finish was totally superb. "You are a very lucky man, I feel like the little boy who fell asleep and woke up in a toy shop"
It was only  when I came into the library did I see his picture on a magazine.
Then I realised that he was the Polish ambassador to Ireland Marcin Nawrot click here to read more.

It was a total pleasure for me to tell him in person about the fantastic work they had done in Ailesbury Rd.
A lot of modern buildings which were put up in the 60s and 70s were very bad design.hen so many buildings from the Georgian era had fallen into ruin. this building is like a Jewel in the crown.
A polish customer of mine later told me about what a great man he was, the other ambassador had caused the Polish people living here many problems.
But this guy made everything right.

The feeling I got inside must have been equal to winning a few €1,000 on the lotto.

I just thought that I would share that with you.

Inspire you

Every year I contact the Dublin business site and have around 1,000 maps delivered to my house.
I drop a few hundred out to the taxi holding area, a few boxes to some of my mates.
The rest go to my customers.
I used to give them to other drivers, they often refused to take them.
Why would you not want to go that extra mile to help your customers?
So say you arrive in New York and your driver gives you a map of Manhattan. What would you think?
"Wow that's great! Tomorrow I can start my day knowing where I am"
Many Dublin taxi drivers did not want to offer that extra something that may have give them an extra €2 tip.
Sometimes people say"Can we ring you later on? and we would like you to bring us back to the airport on Sunday night.?"

But other drivers do not see past their front bumper.

So I went my own way, I try to think positive thoughts.

Most of all I let my negativity towards them go.

Now for a word from the little man.

If he can be positive ...whats wrong with you? 

Happy birthday Corinne

 The "pop-up park in Domnick St.

 

This church in Booterstown was supposed to be built in Alexandria but the plans got mixed up

It was a funny kind of a day really. I was in traffic in O'Connell Street whe a French couple hopped in.
They were going to Howth and the conversation flowed like Champaigne.
Her perfume filled the car and then she told me that tomorrow she would turn 50 and that she had come to Dublin to celebrate with her son.
She must eat very well and have great  genes because I thought they were husband and wife.
She didn't even look 30, really, no bullshit.
Sometimes you learn nothing about people, at other times they bring you right into their lives, which is really wonderful.
She told me that she had a really good job and she was made redundant a few years ago and then she found that she was too old for any other employer.
The strain on her emotions affected her heart badly.
But now she has reinvented herself and is self employed.

They were going to Howth so I turned off the meter at the summit car park and showed them the beautiful vista of Dublin,the weather is fantastic in Dublin today.

I think I cheered her up a bit and I got a wonderful warm hug and kisses on both cheeks.
God that beautiful  perfume was from heaven.
So Corinne this is for you

Think positively you are truly wonderful and only 20 inside
Happy birthday XX
So from today you have to banish negative thoughts from your life and start to believe again, ditch negative friends and learn to live your new life to the fullest.
There are many people who are experts in this field try Robin Sharma the man who wrote the book "The monk who sold his Ferrari"It is published in French I checked.






Today I also met a Phillopena couple who were on their way to photograph a friends baby.
What do you know? She is a blogger as well.
Click here to see.

My poor old dog died, we have had her for more than 12 years.
So I am remembering the good times we all had together.
When you get married and have kids it is very important to buy yourself a small dog (2 mile dog twice a day). The reason to have a dog is that when you come after a long day you have someone to welcome you back. If she is up in Heaven as a young puppy again God will have to watch his slippers, she loved to rip slippers up.
So I get a holiday from picking up the crap in the garden and trying to clean up the dog hair all over the house..But we all have fond memories of her.

A New york lady had a small poodle and one day when she went to take him out she found him dead.
You can't dig a hole and bury your dog when you live in an apartment so she looked up "Pet crematoriums in the Golden Pages. 
But they didn't collect so she had to deliver.
She couldn't put poor Fluffy into a carrier bag, so she found one of those small overnight bags which are just right for Ryanair flights,
Shev wrapped up Fluffy in a white pillow case and closed the bag.
A bus to the station, then a train followed by a short ride in a taxi were on the cards.
As she got off the train a guy came up "Can I help you off the train? Hand me your bag"
With that he stole the bag and ran off..
So she had a cup of tea at the station and went home..


I wonder where fluffy is now?




 Dis you ever meet a taxi driver like this?




By the way Google didn't open their doors  the other night, they did however allow some people in on the night of the big opening.of the new building.

A wake up call

It is really good news that France is banning all child beauty pageants.
I have been horrified by them for some time, its like a showroom for pedophiles.

I think that parents and schools will have to be more attentive to all this subtle cyber stalking and bullying that happens in this brave new world where perverts and deviants stroll unchecked.

Or is this just in the taxi drivers mind.?

One pageant was scheduled to happen in Ireland and the hotel has now cancelled the event,

Sometimes you fall asleep and waken up just before you hit the wall

Sometimes you just don't know what hit you

Go To Google

Tonight is culture night and I nearly missed it.

Loads of buildings through the city will open their doors to the public including GOOGLE in Barrow St.

Now click here and get your skates on.

Strange or typically I Goggled the Google open night and I tried to find it in the index with no luck

It is a big night,so go, it's all free

New book

I just thought I would share this with you.

I got a HailO job today from Rialto to Dundrum shopping center.
A very bubbly blond lady, slim and fit looking.
On the way there we exchanged Ideas,she told me how her husband had died very young leaving her with  2 young babies.
She had been totally wiped out emotionally, but she had to struggle on alone.

She searched for an answer and as she came through it all she began to make sense of things.

She has written a book about her search and it is called.....

"The illusion of mortality"

By Philis M.Walsh.

And you can buy it  if you click here

  She said that she would love to get on the Late Late show to promote her book

Now she has gone one better...Oprah! give her a call

Good luck with the project.

Guinness and laptops

Well today I got the  laptop back.
I spilled a pint of Guinness into it. It now has a new keypad.
 It will be Aurthur's day soon, perhaps he will send me a grant towards the laptop repair costs.
There will be a lot of things going on that day.
Mike Scott of the Waterboys wrote a song against the drinking culture in Ireland even though he is starring at the event.





I tried to work every morning and do the income tax later on, the strange thing is that I found that work is much busier than usual..
Not just because the schools are back,
I felt it that there was something else going on.
Today I found out that indeed there was something else going on.

If you are renting a taxi it is up to the owner of the rented taxi to inform the taxi regulator who the person renting the taxi is...and to pass over their PPS number..
This information will be shared with the social welfare and the revenue.
I was told that if someone else drives the taxi who is not the registered driver the taxi it will be confiscated.
I am told that there are 2,000 rental taxis lying idle.

A robber throws away the cases from his stole goods, someone will get an awful shock.

A girl got into my taxi today going to Inchacore and she said she was going to Balgaddy one time to see a fortune teller and as they came around the corner there was a Garda checkpoint straight in front of them. The driver was very nervous and he grabbed a few things from the taxi including his ID and jumped out, then he ran away.
The police gave her a hard time until they found out that she was a victim in this case.
He was illegal and really didn't want to be caught.
I bet the fortune teller she went to was not able to forecast that event.
Every year coming up to Christmas I pray that the powers who can do something act quickly to put a proper stop to illegal taxis.
After all how can the Garda find a taxi that doesn't exist?
A tight clamp down for a few weeks with checkpoints popping up all over the place would soon make the nights safer for our kids coming home.
It is well past time that they acted on the illegal taxis.

Nyree Yergainharsain is not a name that flys off the tongue, but I met her yesterday.
She has Produced a play in the Project art center called
The Churching of Happy Cullen
Booking at 1850 374643 or at the box office.
She also acts and has formed a travelling theater group with her fellow actors.
I told her about my time with John Hubbard who is now very big in the film and theater casting.
When we were delivering scripts years ago we were waking up sleepers with hangovers who used to shout
"What the hell are you banging on my door for?"
Then you would place the script in their hands and then you you would hear a very apologetic voice.
"I'm terribly sorry, Would you like a cup of tea?"
The sad thing was that those people were very well known people on TV and the silver screen.
John told me that when actors were between jobs they did not work as painters or taxi drivers between engagements they "Rested"

Back then it was all done by hand, now its email and all that jazz, gone is the personal touch.

Nyree has the most beautiful dark eyes, they will hypnotise any man.
Her father is from Armenia with an Irish mother she has great beauty and charm.

She has booked me to drive her to the Oscars on the big night when her star rises

Just so that you know Armenia borders Iran Turkey and Georgia it is the first Christian country in the world.

So it is back to the taxi tax.

Flight fest

Last Sunday we had a big free fly past of aeroplanes along the river Liffey.



I think we should get the people who organised it to run the country, it went really well.
I didn't see many of the aircraft myself as the HailO system was hopping.
Sometimes you get on a roll and you just keep going.

The secret of my success.



Funny one this morning.
I got a Chinese HailO job this morning on the Clontarf Road to the British Embassy in Ballsbridge.
"Will we make it there in 15 minutes?"
For once an answer came straight to me.
"Yes you will ......In your dreams"

Speeding for taxi drivers is a real No No... one guy told me how he was stopped by the Garda and given a ticket with 2 penalty points for going through a red light. His passenger never even said "sorry for pushing you back there"
Then to add acid to the brew he waited for 20c change and his receipt....

I sinned badly myself to bring a French lady from Ringsend to the airport in 20 minutes.
Between the jigs and the reels I had forgotten to start the meter, when I did start it I was over 1/2 way through the journey...
So I really went fast.....(God I am much wiser now)
There was only something like €15 on the meter when we got there...which she paid and waited for her change.
I was fuming as I walked back to the car.
As I put on my seat belt I realised that I hadn't added the €10 for the port tunnel...
The total cost of the journey should have been around ............€35

Thinking of my folly I swore to God that if I had not been given tickets for the trip I would sin no more.
S I hav'nt

So a lovely Italian girl got the answer  last week.
"Will we be there by 9.30?"
"Sure no problem if you were 1/2 an hour earlier".
She got out at the Sam Beckett bridge to run across, just as we had beaten the traffic.
Then  BANG straight away!
I got another HailO job

The difference between the 2 people was amazing, the other lady was so friendly just gushing about the wonders of the HailO system.

I find people are so completely different from each other that you sometimes wonder if they are the same species of animal..This one is a Lion   this one is a Chimp and this one is a Lamb.

One guy told me once to "stick up for yourself, no one has to put up with bad manners"
So a man gets into the taxi and uses bad language, then he hits the excess button.
"Why the fuck did you come this way you stupid moron?
I pulled over stop the taxi and said the magic word.

"Get out"

Wow! that guy had that coming for a long time.
He was dumbfounded... "You have to bring me"

No sunshine you are an bad mannered ignorent fool who has to go some other way, good manners come with breeding and education..You have neither.

Hus scarlet face and screaming did no good.

But I still feel better for taking control of the situation.

The guy who gave me that advice back then was a Billionaire, as it transpired and the other things he told  me have kept me in good stead through the years.

Life is as good as the effort you are prepared to put into it.

Go on make a bit of an effort today.

Friday the 13th

I am not supersticous but today I am stayng in.


I am taking the whole day off. I had a toothache last night and Tara the dentist fixed me up this morning.
I need to service my car anyhow and do that dammed income tax.

Well here I am with my laptop in the hospital...Guinness is not good for it.
Andrew told me that he would put a new keypad on it..So no photos until it comes back.

I know a guy from Austria. "Every week I do my totals, I check them and tot them up WEEKLY,..MONTHLY...QUARTERLY..HALF YEARLY AND THEN I CAN JUST PRESS A KEY ON MY COMPUTER AND ITS DONE" 
I know he is right, it would save me an awful lot of worry.

I met a very petite lady with an unusual and very real problem.
She bought an apartment 7 years ago with her husband. It was a one bedroom apartment.
They would sell it later on and trade up, why waste money on rent?
When they went to insure it they were told by the insurance company that they would not insure it as there was an office above it which they did not own.
The went back to the estate agent to get out of the sale.
The estate agent made a few phone calls and got them cover.
After a few years the insurance company came back to them when they found out about the office above them and they refused to deal with them any further.
The estate agent had not disclosed to them about the office.

"So there we are the 5 of us in a one bedroom flat, its worth 1/2 what we paid for it and we can't insure it, or can we sell it and this is only a small part of our problems"

I never load my own problems on to my passengers, more than likely they have troubles too.

Minicabs in London are a source of worry for the people there who travel.
Over here we have unlimited taxis, over there the illegal taxis are putting the legal taxis out of business.
At the ferry yesterday a guy from Galway was telling me what happened to his girlfriend.
She took a minicab to Euston the agreed fare was £12 with her luggage the the driver took her along the scenic route even though she was screaming at him to go the other way,
She arrived at the station late and he demanded £40.
He had her luggage and would not give it to her until she paid him.
Over the delay she missed the high speed train and had to get a slower one, but she got on the Swift sailing later and would arrive in Dublin 3 hours late.
Boys and girls try to remember this.
Without making a fuss turn on your video on your phone.(try it now when you are not under pressure)
Film everything that is going on.
Keep it candid....Now its not your word against his.





I just had to include this one..



I brought an American couple to the airport from the ferry, they are renting a car to go to a wedding  in Crossmaglen Co Armagh..
As one does I asked him what he worked at. As it turned out he was an engineer in the building of Nuclear Power Plants...So the talk soon went to the tsunami in Japan.
Yes he had been sent there as soon as they could get a flight and he stayed in the American embessy for the duration of his stay..The people really worked well at the time...They had built defences to withstand any known wave that they knew of at that time. It was not enough.
But strange to say scientists have since discovered a marker with carvings..The carvings tell of a giant wave which struck Japan over 1,000 years ago...and the inscription said.

"Do not build lower than this point"

Still you calculte on what you know then God decides to show you what He can do.

So right now today put your life in gear and move up..

9/11

 TODAY SHOULD NOT END WITHOUT REMEMBERING 9/11

TO THOSE WHO PASSED OVER...YOU ARE REMEMBERED ALWAYS.

FOR THOSE WHO REMAIN MAY THE PAIN LESSEN EVERY YEAR UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN.

GOD BLESS THE BRAVE AND THE INNOCENTS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.
       
                         RIP



One must remember the passing of time..



A few months ago I had a lady in the car who looked a lot like Emilou Harris, I told her that she reminded me of her.
"Is she is as good looking as me?"

I never expected that awnser..But Emmylou is a great singer.
Its Ok to be Gray.



The other day I picked up a girl in Sandymount Leanne Woodfull was her name, she had gone into the shop to get change and she missed the bus...Such is life.
Our fortune is often made at the expense of other peoples misfortune.
So we set sail, perhaps it was fate that drew us together? Who knows.
She told me that she writes a blog..Not any old blog  But Thunder and threads
Her blog was the "Blog of the year 2012"

Well done, she is off to London soon.
I wish you the very best,
Just as I was writing this I moved my hand over to pick up the mouse and tumbled a Pint of Guinness over the other laptop !

Now laptops do not like that.

WHAT TO DO?
First of all turn it upside down and unplug it.
While shaking it undo the battery.
Now when it is dead, dry it off with tissues and put in the airing cubbord.

If it is milk you spilled over it you need to get it cleaned off because the milk will curdle and really cause problems.
Sodas and lemonade are full of sugar, so it will have to be washed off.
At the bottom of Capel St (Fruit market end) there is a shop which will do on the spot repairs, this is what you need.
Or try the guys in Fairview in the internet cafe at the bottom of Phillipsburgh Ave.

I have been working hard at the moment so I am off to bed.

Good night

May Your God keep you safe in the plam of her hand.

Time to be insolvent.

What a weekend!
I met loads of passengers who had come from Canada, Cyprus,America,England and Australia who had come over for the all Ireland hurling final..A great match and it was a draw, so there will be a replay.

A few years ago I picked up an Italian man with his son.His local client treated him to 2 seats at the all Ireland Hurling final...He was ecstatic nearly peeing in his pants with excitement,
"Such speed, What skill"
His son was jumping up and down like a Jack in the box..
I am sure he will do business with that Irishman for many years to come.

It has been 2 years since Priory Hall has been evacuated.
A housing development up in Donaghmede which has many many faults.
So the people were moved out. 24 hour security was put in place and the owners have had to live in rented accommodation.
As I say they are 2 years living in limbo.
The stress on the people is immense. After all you cannot get a loan unless you can produce a list of certificates, remember if anything is wrong your insurance should cover problems like this.
A lady lost her husband to suicide a few weeks ago and the banks started putting pressure on his widow.
Thank God she went to the media and the bank now states that the debt will be written off.

2/3 of the loans taken out between 2005 to 2012 are in negative equity.
That means that the house is worth less than the price paid for the house./
In Dublin 70% of the house loans taken out in that period are in negative equity.

Once more listen to this man
.


And remember the people who caused all this are living all over the world on massive pensions.

Apart from this you many have thought that being a taxi driver might be for you.

This can happen, believe me.


Don't watch it if you are of a nervous  type.

Taxi (2013) Director Kevin Sharkey Producer Colm Sexton from Kevin Sharkey on Vimeo.

2013 All Ireland Hurling final...ClaireVCork

This weekend in Dublin we host the "Clash of the Ash" As the All Ireland Hurling finals take place.

Here is a one sided video  But where is Cork?





If you can take a look at the game.
Hundreds of Irish people have come home for the finals,

Come fly with me..

Ryanair, look it up on YouTube, Mr O'Leary  has made a right bags of the airline.
At some point people are beginning to think this is all a load of crap


.



 How to reduce your baggage charges






Where are the passengers balls!
Why did they not stand up and refuse to sit down again until she was allowed to bring her poster on the flight?
Spanish people have no bravery inside.


Sorry I couldn't delete the duplicate



Just in case you were thinking of becoming a robber.

Look at this first.





Have a great weekend

Colombo once said "There's just one more thing"

So I will share this with you.

HailO everywhere

 A group of kittens.called a Kindle or a litter !

    Cruise ships discharging their cargo of passengers

When I was in London I did a HailO.
3 minutes it said and I saw my taxi approach on the App.
So I hopped in when a HailO taxi pulled in...Right on time as it happened.
We were 5 or 6 minutes into our journey when my phone rang.
"Were is Ya"
"Sorry mate I must have jumped into the wrong cab"
While the driver was talking I could hear his passenger telling the driver where she wanted to get out.
So anyhow I cancelled the other taxi.
Then I got another e mail from HailO that I had been charged £5 for cancelling the taxi.
I had to wait for around an hour where I was going so I penned a reply to HailO
First that I was sorry that I had taken the wrong taxi which had not arrived on time, that the taxi that was supposed to pick me up was only looking for me 9 minutes after the call was placed. Plus even at that the had a passenger on board when he called me up to find out where I was..

HailO can trace the paths of taxis as they go around on the system, next thing you know
I had £5 credited back into my account.
My HailO driver whose taxi I had jumped into was very good, the address I had was wrong, but he figured out my destination and told me what to ask for the next time...
He also told me that scores of drivers are knocked off the HailO system every week, one thing about this HailO company is that they listen to their customers.


When I finally nailed down my problem in London I headed for home,flying last minute is not an option it is too expensive.   So I found my way to Euston station and bought a train and boat ticket £43 I think.
I was late for the high speed ferry so it would be the overnight boat from Holyhead.
So there I was sitting down to wait for a few hours when the Tannoy announced "The train on platform 6 is going to Holyhead and Manchester" A guy a few seats away said to his wife "Lets go" He said that the ticket would be good on this train too.
And so It came to pass.
This train went like a bat out of well well over 100 MPH, the curves were banked as she thrashed along.
The tracks are continuous now none of that "Clicketty clack" from the old days
The train we were supposed to be on was to arrive around 23.30 and here were resting in Holyhead at 21.30 with a few restaurants and the pubs open.
So we had time to eat and rest.
If you are in Holyhead with time to kill just cross over that very fancy bridge into the town, turn left and 3 doors down on the left there is an Indian restaurant which had just opened a few days earlier.
Good food, at a good price too.

So I slept through the night on the ship and a few hours in my bed then off to work again.

If you have a Prius car, here is a tip for you. Get a trickle charger(old type) a long lead and a timer.
Put the charger to charge the battery for 3 hours every day while you are away.The battery is so small that it goes flat after a while...Look for the "Jump" spot in the fuse box to get her going again it it does go flat.

I worked for 1/2 the day and got 5 HailO jobs, plus 3 on the street.
Things are back to normal.

Its just a pity that I am out of step at the moment.

A really happy group in the taxi last week, one guy in Green glasses told me that he will be using taxis a lot more for a while. He was caught speeding.

150 on the M1 motorway.

Still thats not too bad, the limit is 120.

But that's Kph, I was doing Mph

All I could say was

Ah yes big fella I see your point.

150 MPH converts to 241 Kph  which is quit a bit over.

It reminds me of Pablo Montoya who was caught speeding on the freeway outside Frejus in the South Of France.

You were driving at over 250 Kph to which he replied I am capable of driving at over 400 Kph.

His wife got out of the car and stood between him and the policeman and said.

"Its like living with a big child, If you will allow me to drive him home you can deal with him later"

He was later well fined and the only place he can drive now is on the race track.

A life in a bottle

 Heading for Tower Bridge, they didn't lock me up

 Where did you want to go? Just follow the line.

       Last resting place of ?

 This one I knew.

   Votes for women !

A sign on a Virgin express toilet seat..Good one


One minute you are having your dinner and the phone rings.
3 hours later you are in London.
That's where I was for the last 3 days.
Taking care of business.
Whatever else you might say about the British they really know how to shift people around, a great place. to travel to whatever your reasons are for going there.

I knew a guy who died last week, not best mates by any means.
He had a great job and he just started drinking heavily.
Turning up drunk for work he found himself suspended from his job.
His wife and daughter walked out.
He still kept drinking.
Divorce followed and the family  home was sold, still he did not stop.
In the middle of all this his ex wife needed some papers signed and she tracked him down to a bar.
She got the shock of her life when she found out that he didn't even know who she was.
At that point she turned on his drinking pals and she asked them why they would do nothing to help him rather than just encourage him to drink himself to death.

So last week he joins a long list of talented Irishmen who died from drink.

No it wasn't him who was buried in London

The schools are back and the leaves are turning, soon we will have to turn on the central heating again.

The clock moves on...one click means nothing to one ..Yet to others it is the end of everything.