As you might know I am writing a Kindle book.
So today I have decided to share a story from it with you..
Two taxi drivers had built up a small pot of money between them and they decided that they would go to the Galway races, on the last day they had two hot outsider tips....Sure winners...They would make a killing and take the bookies for broke.
All the way there there they laughed at how they would buy with the money.
But above all else they would have a great time in Galway.
and up to a point they did.
But their horses, those hot tips were "Also ran" So they joined the procession of traffic back to Dublin.
They were as mad as hell, The money for the rent and more besides were lost on those stupid horses.
As they were beginning to settle down their fate they saw a happy smiling face thumbing a lift.
They stopped and he to was going to Dublin as well..
Unlike them he had a fantastic week at the races.
He was great sport, full of stories which would have put the tales of the Arabian nights into the shade.
Life was good after all until they reached Kilbeggan in the dark.
There was a Garda there directing traffic and when he saw the car he stopped them.
"You only have one headlight working
Your tax is two months out of date
Taking out his note book he wrote down their details.
You have a bald tyre as well
He finished writing, and then the hitch-hiker got out.
"Garda these guys are not criminals! They lost their shirts at the races could not cut them a bit of slack?" ,
He put his arms around the Garda and hugged him, tapping him on the chest.
The guys in the car were going mad in case they were all going to be locked up because of his antics.
Then he stopped, shook hands with the Garda. hugged him again and got back into the car.
"Lads this traffic is crap, I will show you a quicker way back to Dublin."
So the narrowest of minor roads were followed back to the big smoke.
On arrival in Crumlin the hitch hiker turned to the lads.
This is my stop
You are a great pair of lads, don't worry about that copper you will hear nothing more about him unless he has a fantastic memory.
Then the turned to the lads and handed them the Gardas note book.
Have you any idea what I do for a living?
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015
I took a break
So I went down to Cork to see a friend of mine in Youghal, spent a day there and drove to Killarney to see a relative, back to Youghal and then off to Dublin in the morning again.
We really have a great country here, loads of crops ripening in the fields and an air of recovery about the place.Though I wouldn't want the EU central bank know that.
You hear loads of interesting things when you drive a taxi, an English man was telling me how the new Garmin SatNav is so much better than before,it is connected to a control center "Heavy traffic ahead, would you like to divert?""You are changing lane, please move to left hand lane"
Etc.. He hit a hell of a bump coming off a motorway doing 70 mph and the satnav sent in a report.
He saw an overturned car down the bank and thought that some poor sod had lost control and crashed.
Indeed they had..
The crash was reported and the police didn't investigate until 3 days later!
The male driver was dead and his passenger died in hospital after being rescued.
There will be more than a few questions to be answered there.
We had 5 cruise ships into Dublin port last Friday, 15,000 people they say when you count the crew.
If the sun was shining we could have sold tons of ice cream..
Do you know of D'Lite studio?
It was set up by a Polish girl called Agata, she has a studio over a few garages in which to do fashion photography, she also rents space. Then she makes movies and documentaries add to this her photo magazine called Blow, then she has a school of photography.
She is a qualified architect as well.
She was awarded Irish business woman of the year a few years ago.
In every way she is incredible!
I have been bumping into her for around 5 years now and she goes on from strength to strength.
Give her a Gooogle.
I wish I had been a police man today, a learner driver with her phone stuck on to the center of the windscreen of the car talking on Skype while driving alone. I can only hope that we don't share the same insurance company.
I picked up an odd one from Czech republic in Fairview today, I couldn't understand which destination she was giving,
Go up the Malahide Rd. She said the name of the place again...no go..
I asked her if she had it written down and she just stuck a mobile phone right into my face.
I stopped the car "Baldoyle industrial estate".
How can you drive a taxi when you don't know where you are going?
If I had known your destination I would have never driven up the Malahide Rd like you asked.
Its the Howth Rd or the coast rd. Foreign people are really good at helping you with their destination, after all we have a common goal in getting there. I knocked 50c off the fare and she just said.
"I will leave this empty yoghurt drink bottle here"
and off she went, out of my life hopefully for ever .
I got a job with 2 lady's from Liverpool today and they told me that they used to stay at the Clarance hotel (Bono's place) and that Bono has sold his interest in it now and it has really become run down, it used to be great and it is sad to see it so badly managed..
Did you ever hear of a "Parcel Motel?"
They are all over Dublin.
If you are looking for something from Amazon and they don't deliver to S.Ireland you register with parcelmotel.com and when you place your order with Amazon and it is delivered to the N Ireland and the Nightline people bring it down to Dublin and put it into a locker near you.
Then they text you with the code to unlock the locker.
For a normal packet the charge is €5.
Now I have a son in Northern Ireland and he obliges me, but it is a good back up.
Why don't Amazon oblige us by delivering electrical goods to the Republic?
Simply our returns policy dictates that the price includes the cost of recycling, and they must take back the faulty TV or kettle.Which they couldn't do.
There was a big concert here at the weekend Ed Sheeran, a great show enjoyed by 160,000 people over 2 nights.
This is not a rehearsal Live your life today
I didn't know him until I looked him up.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Fasting ends Feasting begins
Very soon the sand will arrive in the grounds of Dublin castle and once more the sculptures will appear. The picture above shows the location where Sir William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for quaternions on October 16, 1843, which is to this day commemorated by a stone plaque on the northwest corner of the underside of the bridge.
Ramadan is over the feasting begins Eio Al Fitr and on Friday last there was great rejoicing around the Mosque, everyone dressed up and smiling from ear to ear..
Irish society is changing quickly for sure.
By the way the Rose festival is on in St.Annes park Clontarf 130 bus fro Abbey St.
Fun and games for everyone and its free..
Things are moving on and thousands of tourists are flooding into the Emerald Isle, lets hope they enjoy it.
Its a pity the weather is so wet at the moment.
I went to a place where people arrive into the country. A selection of drivers were being selective, all they wanted was a long run. (Totally illegal)
I doubled up with 2 people going the same direction which turned the journey into a decent one.
Our taxi regulator is a big joke. They take out fees and do nothing when it comes to sharp practice.
I made a complaint around 8 months ago and got a notification recently that they were looking into it.
"The words not fit for purpose" come to mind
I noticed 2 people arriving at a city hotel and the guy paid with a €50 note, as the driver stepped back to the car and the passenger said "Its OK keep the change"So the charge must have been over €40.
When he is being brought back to the airport he will be sick to find out that it only costs €25.
This robbery effects everyone's business, little or nothing is done about it by the officials.
In New York it is a fixed charge, its written right in front of your face.
In Greece airport you follow the taxi sign to an office and you state you destination and pay.
You give the driver the receipt on arrival.
HailO has done a lot in returning the trust between driver and customer, they track my progress all day long and if a customer has a problem I can be called in and even loose the right to work for them. I saw it happen one day in the office a €25 journey turned into €60 and the customer was pleading with him to go back the other way.
When the driver was struck off he was very upset.
HailO made a refund to the customer.
To the customer whose son had his phone stolen by an Uber driver
Have a look below
The Garda should also be notified as he did steal the fone.
See comments on last post.
https://www.uber.com/cities/dublin I think Uber are in the book as they have an office.
They will also have photos of drivers.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Last Sundays vintage car show
Perhaps you will go next year ?
Friday, July 10, 2015
Sunny days in Dublin town
 |
| Fine dining in the National hotel |
No! Cigars are not rolled on a dusky maidens thighs, more likely rolled on a wooden block with moist hands
Hooray its Friday !
Not that it makes much difference to me.
So I was outside a well known Dublin hotel when an extended American family who engaged 2 taxis to take them to Blackrock.
So off we both went in search of the address..
I thought the other guy had a handle on it and he thought the same about me, after looking around a bit they said that they had a phone number so we tried to ring 00 353 1 xxxxxx no ring tone.
We tried again, the same thing.
The granny of the group was getting very sharp, I have rung that number a thousand times,
Its the right number.
"But it only has 6 digits, Dublin numbers have been 7 digits for more than 20 years !!"
Then we tried to Google the address, "Albert terrace upper" and into the sat nav
NO GO.
Then we asked a few people, then a lady who was passing said "You are looking for Prince Albert Terrace upper."
The puzzle had been solved !
"We are dreadfully late said the granny and it is all your fault."
So with a wrong address and a wrong phone number it was after all our fault that they were late,
The other day I had a job to Stillorgan from a very smartly dressed lady.
As I asked the usual questions, then she told me that she worked in the Royal household in Saudi Arabia,
Your skin is fantastic I said...Good God man I don't go out in the sun.
She told me how the Royals treated her with great kindness and respect and how if you can manage the lifestyle for 5 years or more you become one of them,after a fashion.
It is a very strange part of the world where a woman can be put into prison for driving a car alone.
On the other hand I was looking at this beautiful girl walking past me then she asked me if I was available? You bet I said.
I asked if she was Brazilian?
No !
Ah Saudi Arabia !
How did you know?
Old men know about beautiful women..
She had a great laugh and told me I had made her very happy and she thanked me.
Then I remembered "Shochran Habibi" translated Goodby honey.
God she would have made a wonderful model, but she has brains.
Sometime the job as a few perks.
I asked a girl from Argentina if she danced Tango?
No you don't understand Tango dancing is for old people !!!
Saturday, July 04, 2015
Happy 4th of July
Then at the end of the month they write a check to the charitys.
The shop gets the use of the small change.
Happy 4th of July
Just had to note it, as you know it is just another day here.
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