May Day

Its the first of May.
There was a cruise liner in the port on Monday, the first of the season.
The swallows are here and I even saw a butterfly a few weeks ago.



May you all have a wonderful Summer.

Poland says thank you

I met this man a few months ago.

Now he wants to say "Thank You"to you all

Visitors and happyness

           Spring when the boats cross over the road in Clontarf

                      A great name for a tea shop

                     Now that is what I call a truck..Poles for wind turbines.

                        Facing you as you come down Dawson St. I like it.


Word has come through a 3 day blitz on mobile phone use in cars.
Then on1st May a e1,000 fine comes into force.

Here we are April almost gone and May will soon be here.
I have seen a few swallows around so glorious Summer will soon arrive.
We have had visitors so I had to spend loads of time going through loads of crap.
My house is not as untidy as the ones in the TV program but given time I am getting there. You have to go through clothes, papers, books and shoes or one day you will find that they have taken over your world.

But you would not believe what I found in the middle of a bundle of papers !
Hard work has its rewards.

                             Old Punts                   50s on the left and 20s on the right

I picked up a lady going to the Ordinance Survey office in the Phoenix Park the other day, I had her before and she is an absolute pessimist, moaning all the time. She was worse than any taxi driver !
"Lovely day" was met with its very very cold Bitter it is.
Then everything is wrong in the world..In her life, in my life, and in her nieces life as well.
I regretted picking her up for sure.

I remember bringing a woman home from a hospital whose husband had just died.
She had just said goodbye to him and then stepped into my taxi,
I thought it was a bit odd that she had no one to bring her home.
I am so lucky to have had such a wonderful husband, he gave me 3 wonderful children and we had a great life together. She talked all the way home to Teranure.
When she was getting out I felt wonderful.

Have a look at the book "regrets I've had a few"written by a hospice nurse in Australia.
Click here for a taste
Very few people wished they had worked harder!

Yet other people rant and rave about all the great things in the world.
Others are forever moaning about everything.
One Polish girl in Lidl was always happy, her job is not great, she is far from home and friends yet she asks me about my grandson and is upbeat every day and as sure as hell she must have bad days like us all.
I said to her that she was a fantastic person, far too good for this job, you should look for something better.
She said "Such is life"
Then a month later she met me on the bus and sat beside me.
" I have to thank you for telling me to quit my job! I found a new job when I looked the next day. Now I am a dental nurse, I worked at this job before in Poland"
Our worlds move in different orbits now so I don't see her any more.

Sometimes we need to have a bit of faith in ourselves.

There is a belief that a positive attitude attracts positive things

Have a look at this.


A lady told me about how her life was going downhill rapidly and she read his book "The monk who sold his Ferrari" She just flipped her life around in a month and became the new person she was when I met her.

Though when the shit is hitting the fan it is hard to be positive.

1014 to 2014 The battle of Clontarf

A first sign of Summer

     Vikings set up camp for the battle of Clontarf this weekend

       A leak in the night leads to a new toilet,with metered water a dual flush system is installed.

A few years ago the hot tap in the bath started to drip, much later on a plumber was working next door and was invited in to take a look.
His story was something like this.
"Those taps are obsolete and the pipes are old imperial ones. If I started to change things over the old copper pipes would split,So I will have to fit new copper for a few feet back.
But you would be better to put in a new bath while you are at it".

Before he had reached the new bath point he had crossed the €200 mark.
Just then I arrived home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What are you talking about I said.
All it needs is a new washer.
You won't get one the tap is obsolete.

Just fuck off ! Obsolete my arse.

So whe I had the water turned off I removed the valve from the tap to find a shaving of plastic from the new plastic tank fitted in the attic a few years ago.
It was stuck in the valve, hence the drip.
Then I covered the tap with a cloth and turned on the water and ejected loads more plastic shavings.

Job done, tiling to do now!!!!

Joke,,,
A doctors plumbing is giving problems and he calls in the expert....25 minutes later all is well and the plumber asks for €200..
Christ man says the doctor even I don't earn that much !

Well neither did I when I was a doctor...says the plumber..

On Sunday morning I did a bit of cruising around and got 2 HailO  runs to the airport, people are on the move for Easter.
Later on in Milltown I was flagged down by a pretty young girl who had been on the razz all night long.

She had had a row with her boyfriend and had no money or credit card but she had her mobile.
She was heading off to Clondalkin a good long trip.
She was a fairly wild kid and she was "Dying" all the way home.. When we arrived at her house she picked up the WiFy from home pressed the HailO app I picked up the job and took the payment, just like that!
I was adjusting my fone and turned to say goodbye to her when I noticed that she had a slit in her skirt nearly to her hip. "Thats a lovely bit of leg" I said.
Thanks and she winked at me.

It is very very important that taxi drivers are well vetted it is one profession where you meet people in vulnerable situations all the time

So tonight take a look at the full moon around 19.30 in Dublin.

This weekend the Battle Of Clontarf 1,000 later.. 

One more thing from 1st May there will be a €1,000 fine for texting on your mobile while driving,
 

A tragedy beyond beleif.

On Monday a Chinese woman was killed by a car which had bounced off the Luas tram.
She was standing on the footpath when she was hit.

In the instant that she died she could not have been happier.
She was married to an Irish man and the couple had just had their first child.
They had bought their first home together.
After 10 years living in Ireland she was to fly home this Thursday to show her parents their new grandson.

One thing about this crash is that they are not at all clear what happened.
It may not be human error at all.

Every once in a while we are all guilty of taking our eye off the ball.
But habitual texters on mobile phones drives me mad..
Lets have a Blitz on people driving through red lights and people on phones all the time.

It only takes a moment to save a life.

This BMW struck the Luas right before my eyes,he went straight through the lights.No one was hurt.

 The joining up of this bridge was  a minor miracle of engineering.

 Sign on a Virgin train toilet.

I had a water moment today...The toilet cistern split, but I caught it in time before the house flooded.
A whole new unit...I had to fit it myself.
I don't earn as much as a plumber while driving a taxi.


How could I have missed it!!!!
My blog posts have passed the 1,000th posting mark almost without me noticing.

New Changes, Same clowns, different circus.!!

     Sometimes the clampers take it off, sometimes its the motorist. Naughty boy.

                                   St.Helens Radison Hotel

                     There is a bit of a fuss about this. Jim Larkin was a non drinker

and spoke on the evils of drink yet who gave them permission to use his image

This is a GATSO van parked on Cork Street for the past 2 days...No markings whatsoever.
Simply a money gathering exercise.


I had a barrister in the taxi the other day, she had been working on the new regulations which came into force on the first of the month.  She told me that there would be a raft of new offences and tough penalties.  I asked her if they would be enforcing things properly and I gave the example.
80 taxis are at the taxi rank at Heuston station on Sunday night.
A car pulls up 3 inspectors get out and put on HiViz jackets, they approach the rank and 20 cars drive away..
Will they be stopping those guys driving away? or will they just inspect the remaning taxis?
There are loads of illeggal taxis in Dublin but the powers that be continue to ignore the problem.

On Friday I had to get my car passed out. SGS Its called.
Checking for things like meter seals,tax clearence certand other legally binding things.
New rules state that you cannot advertise so they made me take down the Visa and other credit card signs from the roof sign. "Its  advertising" he said
He photographed the car front,back,  sideways and inside as well.  I am sure that they will be trying to get the advertising wrap for HailO off the car soon.

So now you cannot let passingers know you take credit cards unless they ask you!
I have paid tax on the advertising I get, the revenue will loose all that money .
I really hope the bus people put their foot down after all buses are public service vehicles. as well
The taxi regulator intends to make us take a machiene of their choosing next year.

Whatever happened to free trade and competition in the market place.

I had a young lady in the car a few weeks ago, I asked he if she was doing her Leaving Cert.
"No I am 24 I am a final year medical student"
I had to say that if she came in as the "Doctor" I would ask if your mother knew she was there.

It will be great when she is 50 and looks 30 for sure.



This was all over YouTube the other day. A car came out without looking and bang..
Had the Lambo been going at a slow speed this would not have happened.




Look at this clown, so much money he throws a €500,000 watch into the Scene.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when his God asks him how he helped the less fortunate.



The ultimate street racing film !!!!!!!!!!!Feel the speed

All the best of luck with the Grand National today