Great news

 Today my son passed the taxi test !

This means that I can rent the taxi plate to him and retire.

He has done the test around 6 times and failed by just a small percentage points a few times.

So now I look forward to a few days and weeks off at last.

Argos have packed up and gone home to the UK.

|A while ago I stopped for a Nigerian lady with a baby and a fridge. The fridge did not work and she was bringing it back to Argos. She had the baby was around 6 months old in a sling and the baby was singing its little heart out. I had to ask the mom if it was not Tina Turner having come back. The mom said that this baby is the happiest child in the world. 

In Argos the manager would not send out a trolley to bring the fridge back into the shop. She was some strong lady and she gave him a right rollicking, then they gave her the money and took it back from her. 

You never know who you are dealing with that was no way to deal with a customer even if you job is going.

This is the problem when you buy goods from shops which are closing down. No after sales service.

Any proper business would deliver and collect faulty goods.

Coved and Brexit and Amazon have hit a lot of businesses badly.

When was the last time you went into a shoe shop?

longest day/ The shortest night

 Today was the  longest day and from now on the days get shorter. It is a kinda mad how people study these things. Newgrange has a big mound which dates back to the times of the Pharos in Egypt. Its much older than Stone Henge People queue up to see the sunlight hit a marker stone inside the tomb.  As if after all the thousands of years it has been there that it might miss a beat.

I went to the recycling place and there was a woman in her 60s with a nice low slung Mercedes. As you do I congratulated her on the car. She said thank you and then she told me that she had a flat tyre and went to get it fixed and they fitted a new tyre. Then she said that she had the NCT, car test in a few days.

The tyre man must have thought that his birthday had come. He told me that the new tyre was a different size, though he had tried to get a match. Therefore he fitted 4 new matching tyres. She probably is a widow, but I do feel badly for her.

You know if you are honest in you dealings with customers they will come again and they will send friends to you as well.

Perhaps I am wrong. In the 1/2 hour or so that I met this man and talked to him he told me as much.

Did you ever hear of Arnold Clark? Well he started his empire on less than £100 and when I met him he had built up an empire of over 800 garages.

"How the hell can you manage more than 1 garage? " I asked. 

Son Son Son you don't understand. These people don't work for me they work WITH me and there is one hell of a difference. I told my son about him and we wanted to visit him in Glasgow. Flight out in the morning and home in the evening, all good. So I rang his HQ and his son came on the line... John I am so sorry to tell you that Daddy died last week. We are here like orphans without him, he has left a huge void in our lives.

Once I went to a garage to have a tyre fitted and the garage man refused to do the job until he fixed a major job with the steering rack. He would not let me take it out the garage. I went to the phone box and rang the Evening Press, I turned to him and said that a reporter and a photographer were on the way and they are bringing a Garda as well for a charge of blackmail. I got the car back in minutes, nothing wrong, they did print the story though.

So I will fight the battles that I can and "Save my breath to cool my porridge" 

Dodging bullets

 We get the Times of London newspaper, it is really good, finances cannot be beaten. But there is an awful lot of sad things happening. A soldier who was in the guard of honor for Lady Di was found dead from hypothermia. He served in Iraq and returned with PTSD, he had a letter which  would have guaranteed him a bed in a homeless shelter. But for some error all he was given was a blanket and he died of the cold. 

A 10 year old boy was put into a bath of cold water as a punishment, a great looking kid with dysfunctional parents. He also died from hypothermia, both parents in prison now. 

You just have to draw a line under it all and do the best you can in your own life.

Its fantastic to see all the Americans back over here in their droves.

I hope that the hotels and the car hire people are not overcharging.

I went into a local pub the other day €7 for a pint. Temple bar goes to €9.50. 

I buy 8 cans of Guinness for €14. That is 8 cans for the price of 2 pints in a pub

Here is a golden tip for you.

My wife's car was parked with a door ajar.When there is a door open the inside light comes on.

No one noticed and 2 days later the battery was as flat as a pancake.

I put it on the trickle charger (that I bought in the Dandelion Market many years ago)

Next morning it was still dead. Then I remembered this tip.

If a car battery has been totally discharged you need extra power to revive it, you connect a good battery to the flat battery with jump leads and the charger to the good battery. It will get a good flow of power and it will revive the battery.

This tip has saved me a lot of money.

Talking of things which have stopped working. 

My SumUp is a card reader.

Mine stopped working and I rang the helpline in India. 20 questions with no help.

I found out where their office was and I went in on Friday. It was closed. I went back again on Monday and I was told that they "Work from home on Fridays and Mondays" 

So I passed them my details. 

Now if I was in charge I would require that the office be manned 7 days and staff rotate at home days.

But I am a fool what would a taxi driver know?.

I gave in my details but I didn't get a call back yet.

The Bank of Ireland have a card reader and the word is that it is better 

There is an Irish helpline too.

A toxic man

 I picked him up on the North Strand going to Ballsbridge.

I asked if I should turn right at the 5 lamps and he said yes.

Just a tip for you, its better to go straight on and turn left on Shirreff St and left again to go back up to the bridge. But the man had spoken.

He had worked at construction in New York and he was really like a poisoned version of Danny DeVito.

"Why do all you drivers go on with this shite. Put it on a record and play it at home, kos no one wants to hear it" Then he would go back to normal again.

The ligts from the 5 lamps over the new bridge are crap. 1or 2 cars with each change of lights.

Then he fixated on the meter. "You needn't think that I am going to pay that."

But alas in the end I asked for €20 on a €22 journey.

Then he wanted a receipt. No worries all is Kosher.

That man is doing nothing but making problems for himself.

A driver had a job once and the passenger made a complaint that he was overcharged.

He complained to the carriage office who did the journey in a special car with a meter on board.

They got on to the driver and told him that he overcharged the man.

Please give me the date and I will have a think about it and see what it might be.

Ah yes said the taxi driver. That was a bank holiday Monday  Rate 2

Exam times are here.

 Exams begin today for all the students in the state.

Good luck to one and all, but it is not everything. The owner of Microsoft Bill Gates never qualified but as he says himself. "I employ lots of people who have degrees" 

Arnold Clarke who was in my taxi left school at 15 and when I met him he had 800 garages, he had one hell of a great mind.

I am not knocking education but you should never confuse it with intelligence.

Some people say "What would you know? You're only a taxi driver". 99% of the time I can prove them wrong.

Chuck Feeney the multi billionaire told me that if he was starting his life again he would love to be a taxi driver, you hear so much from so many sources. 

Remember it only takes one good idea to make money.

So no matter what level of exam you are sitting. 

Good luck.