The Contender - Tommy Fleming

 

There is a certain person here in Dublin who is fitting into the slot left by this man Jack Doyle.

Money and fame when it goes to someones head can cause awful destruction. I had a very famous Hollywood star in the taxi, ha was behaving very badly and I told him to be very careful or he would be kicked out. A few years later he was back in the taxi and I had to threaten him with violence. Then he said "You wouldn't talk to me like that if you knew what I am going through.

Another Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne told me about the other guys problems, You or I would not swap places with him. But perhaps a therapist would help a bit. 

 Fame and pressure can ruin the trajectory of the brightest star.

Jack Doyle was a top boxer, his flight was taking him to the stars, he had a beautiful S. American film star wife. He took to the bottle and he lost everything. When he died he was unknown and homeless on a London street. Years later his manager tracked him down and brought him home to Youghal  where he was buried in a proper grave.. 

So if you win the Lotto or you become famous think of what you are doing,you are standing on a slippery slope.

Death and Taxes

 Once upon a time a passenger told me that ongoing problems drain your energy and your priority should be dealing with these issues. My income tax was due in 2 weeks and he told me to go home now and deal with it.

He turned  out to be the most remarkable person I ever met. He made a fortune and gave away $8 billion of his own money, using it to help people. The Irish education system, the Northern Ireland piece process and best of all was building a 200 bed hospital in Vietnam, fitting it out, then he paid for the running of it for a good few years. Barrik Obama had brought out a law that you couldn't give away more than $2000 dollars anomalously. I brought him to the press briefing where he told the world. 

We hit it off really well and NO he never gave me any money, nor did I ask for it.

The billionaire who wasn't by Conor O Cleary is the book about Chuck Feeney and it fills in the gaps in this remarkable mans journey things about him that I did not know. 

Anyhow he died in January and half his ashes are in Glassnevin and the rest of his ashes in America.

So death and taxes there is nothing so certain.

 

A friend of mine who is a really good comedian rang me last week,,"I buried my wife yesterday"

I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't.

She was unwell and went to the doctor, eh examined her and she asked him if it was by any chance sepsis, no he assured her. That evening she collapsed in the kitchen and she was dead in the hospital 12 hours later from sepsis. (Blood poisoning)  

I had an eye infection and it was so bad  that I went to the doctor, but it was getting worse. So the next day I went to the eye and ear hospital. A colored doctor took a look. looking at my coin holder ha said. *You are a taxi driver and you are handling money and then you are rubbing your eye.Your good eye is infected and you are on the point of loosing it".

What followed I will never forget. Wipe your eye with a clean tissue from your eye towards your ear, then with the other clean side of the tissue clean the other eye. Then discard the tissue, wash your hands and face at least 6 times a day,use medicated wipes after you handle money. There was drops and ointments  but a week later I was fine. 

Good doctor for sure 

A star is born.

 There is a house here in Clontarf where I live and every time I pass it this remarkable story comes back into my mind.

The owner of the house was Doney Potter (Donald). he loved opera. He worked with the Rathmines Rathgar choral society and they needed a new voice to wow the audience. So Doney went to Italy and found what they hoped would win the hearts and minds of the Dublin people. The son of the house told me that the star loved football and he brought him down to Inshacore to kick the ball around.

The show was a huge hit and the manager of  Covent Garden operatic society in London brought him over to be an understudy for a show they were doing. 

On the second performance the leading singer was struck by something. 

The understudy stepped on to the stage and Pavarotti wowed them.

As a thank you to his beginning he came to Dublin and did 2 shows for no fee as a thank you to them all.

The house was sold around 15 years later and the new owners gutted the house and things were moving on. One of the kids wet the bed and the au pair  popped it into the tumble drier and they hopped off to mass. Someone passing noticed the smoke and the noise of a frantic dog barking. He called for the fire brigade and later the assessors arrived.

An electrical fault was the verdict and the electricians head was on the block. His insurer had a retired Garda working for them. He spoke to each person alone and took notes. When he spoke to the girl who had put the duvet into the tumble dryer his electrician was off the hook. The dryer filter had not been cleaned for months and it had overheated,

 

When I was on holiday in Spain I was talking to a guy who lives in California, the topic came around to the fires and the exotic homes that were all destroyed. 

He told me that the insurance companies will not be paying . The reason is that the home owners were warned long ago to remove all the scrub bushes around their homes, This was not done So they will not pay.

Big crime plot busted

 Twenty nine young Brazilian women were coerced into prostitution in Ireland.

The trial begins and I tell you that Brazilian special forces helped The Garda to crack the case.

Sadly the police here would not be able to solve a crossword puzzle in the paper.

A guy in the taxi told me years ago that he had 6 girls in his control who were strung on heroin, no pay and nor trouble from them. It was in Mountjoy Sq. Another time there was a brothel run by the Garda themselves.

Rember Rotherm in the Uk where scores of underage girls were schooled into prostitution.

The police in the UK it turns out were heavily involved in this disgraceful crime. 

There are books around the subject, mostly written by the young girls, find them on Amazon Any girl,Secret slave and Violated I hope that all the people involved can find a healing mind and hand to guide them back to normal lives. 

Where corruption begins is very hard to detect but once it takes a grip it can corrupt an entire nation. 

A huge hunt was on in the UK and a taxi driver who played golf with the chief of police. He told the chief 3 times who he thought was Jack the ripper and he did nothing, it turned out that the taxi driver was right after all.

I saw a girl who was mentally impaired being molested by her minder, I went to the people who were supposedly in charge only to be told that there was no one in charge. I wrote to 3 police stations only to be told "There is nothing we can do unless we see it happen" Then I wrote to the GARDA  COMMISSIONER, SAME STORY.

A big care home in Palmerstown had to be almost closed down in an effort to find the source of sexual impropriety with mentally impaired inmates.

Looks like they should have listened to me. 

When I worked  in the International telephone exchange in Marlbobo st one night there was a big crash. A car had rammed the shutters open  of an off licence and a gang were loading up the goods into another van. We called the boys in blue and they arrived just after the van drove away. The owner alerted by the alarm company went in to look at the damage. Now this was back in the stone age.

He looked at the CCTV footage and they saw the raiders loading up the loot. Then the police car arrived with flashlights and they loaded up whiskey and wine into the back of the police car!!

I bet when questioned they just said "we were keeping it safe" 

 I was meeting with a nurse for a chat and I told her about my car crash €2600 was the final figure, She told me that a girl in the hospital brought a Tesla and she had parked it and was now going home. She put the car in reverse and it shot back hitting a pole.

€7000 repair bill paid by the insurance. I would not like to see her renewal premium

A bow tie affair

 I was asked to attend a bow tie affair in the RHA Royal Hibernian Academy. There was to be an exhibition of photographs featuring works by Agata Stoinska, a wonderful Polish lady who came to Ireland years ago.

Agata arrived in Dublin and formed a photographic studio near the Five Lamps called D'Lite studios, it was really great and there was loads of things happening. She invited me to different things happening there, it was really great. Then the Dublin corporation went in at night and changed the locks and locked them out.

Such an awful pity as really great things were happening there. 

So I dressed up and popped in to see the pictures.

I have never been inside the doors of the place before and it is really a fantastic building.

Loads of arty types, Kiss Kiss Hug Hug, very posh. It has been quite a few years  since I saw Agata herself but I recognized her straight away, after a few words I headed off.

Going down the stairs a group of lady's suddenly recognized me..... Jim! (not me) she said gripping me in a huge embrace, kisses and more  hugs followed. Then I was introduced to the rest of the group as the wonderful Hollywood actor Jim Malone. Posed with them for photos.

He must be a great guy as an imposter of me and visa versa.

I headed off quickly before he came.

Fame is a strange thing and some people cannot handle it, I have met a few really great ones and a few bad ones as well. There was a thing on YouTube the other 5 toxic actors in Hollywood. The following one was number 1. I won't say his name, but this is what happened at the time. 

The Blackpool festival of magic is the very top of the best that magic can be. 

Great shows and demonstrations and it is just magic, I have seen the greatest of the great there. Preforming and giving lectures..

 Paul Daniels who was a fantastic showman told me that 

"Magic is the most fun you can have without taking your trousers off".

I met Paul around 6 times and he was a real gent, no airs and graces at all. 

 

So I was at the bar in Blackpool about to be served when the number one moron pushed right in front of me and started shouting at the barman. The barman ignored him and served me, then the other person to the side of me. Our big star shouted  "I am here first" The barman looked at him straight in the eye and said,"you have no respect and you can shout until tomorrow. but I will not be serving you".

By the way thanks for dropping in to look at the blog. I hope to see you again. 

 

 

 

Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave Documentary, July 17 - 18, 2023.

 

I found this video ages ago and I must say that the good old USA is going down the drain in a big way.

The drug in question is fentanol and it a horse tranquilizer.

There have been other drugs which were addictive and were sold over the counter for years. 

Look at Trump going to Russia and telling them that he will give them part of  Ukraine to stop the war. While he is chasing down poor Latinos who are just trying to improve all their lives.

In America the line between having a home and being homeless is very thin, get sick for a few weeks and now you are behind in rent then you loose your job and you are out on the road. Credit is a big thing in the USA and they flash the plastic like there is no tomorrow Cars are all bought on credit.

Whatever happens in America today is a sign that it will be here tomorrow. 

 

Back from Calpe in southern Spain

 The holiday was booked although I was not ready to enjoy it.

Why ?

Well I was reversing the car out of the drive and there was a break in traffic going both ways and I flew out  there was an unmerciful bang.A car had been parked at an angle that I hadn't noticed it. My bumper caught it dead center and the floor of the car was bent. The other car just had 2 back lights broken.

So my car cost €1,250, New bumper and paint and fixing the floor.

The other car 2 back lights believe it or not €1,150.

The toughest thing of the lot was to listen to my son giving out, it was bad enough to have to suffer the pain of what happened. At least there was no injuries which would be a complete different situation.

When you have an accident report it to the police. When I was very young a car hit me and he said it was OK and he would pick up the tab, no need to report it to the police.

The next day I rang him with the price and he said "You didn't report the accident and I will not be paying you" I said that in fact I did report the accident. His face fell.

He changed his tune and paid for the damage that day, The police rang me a few days later the car that hit me had no insurance and would I like to testify in court? Lucky me.

Do you have a dash cam? If not why not ? The quality has improved so much. take a look at the dash cam footage on YouTube if you want to be convinced.

The staff at our hotel were great, from Romania, Colombia, Brazil and Poland as well as other places. There was a girl on reception who was speaking Dutch. I asked her how many languages she spoke and she said.English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Russian.

She goes to university when the season is over. I told her that I once worked in the International telephone exchange and a guy who worked there had 23 languages And he was fluent at them all. The way he could switch between different countries Chinese to Arabic and back to French. It was like watching a verbal juggler. As I said he was fluent with no pauses as he spoke. I left the exchange and I met him again years later. I asked him why with his skill he never joined the UN as a high functioning worker ? There was no pressure on me where I was.

Never a dull moment. 

Part 2 !!!!!!!!!!!!

 The story starts below.

 So the story was unwinding and I knew in the back of my mind that it was going to lead me somewhere different and it sure did, but it took time to unwind.

I never told you this but keep it under your hat. My wife worked in the inland revenue and that time when you were getting loads of tax demands it was her that put a stop to it all. What is happening in the revenue and it is a big secret. Some branches have declared war on the general public. If you can't fight them they will fleece you. The truth is stranger than fiction.

So now we were turning a page in the story. He had met a Phillopena nurse while he was working and they met again. She was super and they had coffee together. As they talked he found out how much rent she was paying and he had 2 empty bedrooms in his house.So she and her little boy moved into his house.

When his daughter found out she went to the house and threw all her belongings out into the rain. Luckily a neighbor rang the brothers who came over and gave her a few punches and brought everything back in.

This prompted the removal of all the daughters things to a storage depot, paid for a month and then to be discarded unless she paid the storage herself. Locks were changed that day.

Well one thing lead to another and we started sharing a bed together. 

Such peace she brought such happiness to my life you would not believe.

Now the reason I called you over was to ask if you will come over on Monday week to be  a witness at our wedding. The paperwork is complete and I want you to be there as being my oldest friend.

She will be here in 10 minutes. She arrived all smiles and she brought wonderful energy to the house. 

The boys worked on their sister now blocked from the house and just after the service started on the Monday she came into the registry office to great joy and warm hugs. 

Then off to the Red Cow inn for a great meal. 

They really adore each other and the boys treat the little boy like a wonderful playful brother. 

The daughter was treated as the special one growing up and she took and took not thinking that she was not entitled to what she got, that is often the way, now she is coming around slowly.

Wakie Wakie

 I don't suppose the blog will write itself, perhaps AI will do it for me.

There is a story about a footballer who broke his leg and his team won the cup. He was devastated and a guy he knew who had a market stall took him under his wing. He trained him how to sell things and then took him to the family chateau in the South of France, The chateau was bought by the family after the war and seeing how the house was so large the family could come and go. They re booted his mind and his financial journey has made him the 8th richest man in the UK.

So Just spotting the opportunity can make or break you. One guy told me that if he was staring his life again  he would become a taxi driver. Look you meet interesting people and you can work any hours you want. One simple idea that you overhear can make you a fortune.

That man became a friend for the next 10 years his name was Chuck Feeney who founded duty free shopping and he gave away 8 billion dollars to help his fellow man. 

My son is driving the taxi now and today I took a walk into town, things are bad. Beggars on every street corner and plenty of drug fueled pedestrians going around. Not as bad as the streets of Philadelphia on YouTube but where America goes Europe follows. Shops are closed down all over the place as well. I spoke to a Polish lady who has lived here for 20 years, they rented a home all this time and there is a rent review in December. She is stressed as the rent will go up. A Chinese guy bought his own house last year and the mortgage repayments are now only one third of what his rent was when he was renting Wow.

So a story which is so long that it comes to you in 2 parts. Tom a friend of mine from Crumlin  rang me around 6 weeks ago and he asked me to come over to his house. He is a taxi driver and he says that he will never retire. He sat me down with a mug of tea and he started his tale of woe. His wife had died around 2 years ago. She had retired from her job and they had planned to take a cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate. But just as they were about his wife died of a heart attack. No warning and no pain.

He had 3 kids 2 boys and a girl all settled now, but as he went through their bank accounts a secret that his wife had kept from him came to light. Their bank account was paying their daughter €150 per week and when he blocked it it caused a huge rift within the household. The boys has worked at trades electrician and a plumber. They paid rent when they lived at home and this money was put aside for their house deposits when they moved out. Mary the daughter never paid a penny and now this €150 per week was causing him pain. They had also paid for her wedding, he was shaking.

Scorn Not [Luke Kelly] Lyrics

                  One day 

 

A friend of mine who is a comedian was in Manchester on a job and they had an evening off and they went to see the Dubliners, There was 2 drunken Irishmen in the front row and Luke Kelly said that he was going to sing a song that has never been sung in public before. 

But ladies and gentlemen we will not be singing until these 2 drunks are removed.

20 minutes later Luke sang Scorn not his simplicity.

After the song was finished the audience were stunned and 15 minutes of silence followed followed by a huge round of applause like you never heard before.

 

Things happen when you are driving along and this thing will stay with me until I die.

 I never got even near to a solution.

Coming up the hill to turn left on to St.Johns rd and Heuston station. There was a minder on my left with a mentally handicapped girl beside him. He looked at me and then put his right arm over her right shoulder and fondled her breast. I changed direction and went straight ahead and back around. They were heading into the John Of Gods compound and I went in. There was hundreds of minders and patients going around and I looked for the pervert. Then I asked to speak with the person in charge. One lady told me that there was no one in charge, so I had to go. Thinking about it now I should have said that there was a dead body lying near the gate.

I went to all the local Garda stations and I got the reply that they would have to see him do it before they would act. There was 2 other facilities who deal with mentally handicapped people and I got no reply.

I wrote to the Garda commissioner twice and got the same story, would you not just come and look was the last contact I had with the boys in blue. 

There was a big place in Palmerstown which later had to close down when a huge expose of sexual misconduct came to light. 

I pray to my god that things worked out for her in the end. 

Wilbenton

 Came back to the house from a trip to Aldi when I heard a strong grunting noise from 2 women.

Its a porn movie I thought ! No just 2 women playing tennis. 

 My mind is going back to something that happened around this time of year, though it was many years ago. 

There was an elderly neighbor who had a telephone system given to her by her grandson. It was fantastic 2 handsets you could ring downstairs if you were upstairs and visa versa. So far so good, she didn't understand that you had to charge both handsets upstairs at night and then after around a year the batteries were showing wear and tear so I bought 8 new rechargeable batteries for around £10. It was working great until the grandson blew up saying that I had overcharged her and he told me to take them back and give his gran back her money. Around a week later they were sitting downstairs when the minder smelled smoke and went upstairs to take a look. There in the bedroom the phone had gone on fire, she scooped it up and threw it into the toilet. Imagine if that had happened when she was asleep.

As I had tried to tell her you must use rechargeable batteries end of story. 

12th July coming

 So here we are with the 12th of July around the corner, with drum and fife and bagpipes the Orange order   will start to march in support of King Billy.

So there I was aged 17 and I drove my father up to a scrap yard in Northern Ireland. 

My first big trip. 

When we arrived my father told Mr Traynor  that this was my first solo trip.

What followed has remained with me to this day, He got someone to look after my dad while he showed me the destruction of lives owing to car crashes. Bent steering wheels, Hair on the windscreen, teeth stuck into the dashboard. Your knees shoot forward and they hit this point here breaking both your legs.

There were no seat belts  back then,

You see this car here? We are stripping the wheels gearbox and engine, then this car will be shredded.

It doesn't seem to be that badly damaged I said. He reached under the drivers seat and pulled out a child's bootee. Look at the blood on the roof liner, Whatever happened the car tumbled over and a beautiful baby was killed. 

No one wants to ever see that car again.   

I didn't do this to frighten you BUT some day you might think I know I am late BUT better late than sorry.

Years later I told that story to his grandson and he told me that his grandfather had saved countless lives with the tours of the wrecks. Then he then took me over to see a sports car. 

Driver dead car now to be shredded. 

So to the present.

Donegal is a place where there are terrible crashes. 

Mother Natalie McLaughlin a nurse and her wonderful 6 year old daughter Ella were killed in a car crash in Donegal . Such a waste of wonderful life

SLOW DOWN BOYS AND GIRLS 

New car? Just walk into the office

 As I was driving along with a passenger in the taxi a brand new car drove past and I said wow!

The guy beside me opened up his laptop and an a few minutes he had the cars details. "Its leased from a certain date  and he is paying X per month, and that is a lot of money.

Going back to when I was 20 I bought a new car and borrowed £700 over 3 years at 4%. my dad asked to see the loan details and he asked me if I had ever paid attention when I went to school ?

What the BANK did was to take the £700 and add 3 years interest and divide it by 36. So what I said.

When you got the money you have not accumulated 3 years interest. 

When you make a payment you do not owe £700.

Do you see it now? 

I went back to the bank and the manager came out and he really thought he could talk me down. Until I said that I would take it up with the media. So I then got my first term loan.

Did you notice all the new cars around? I asked Mr.Google and he says that over 90% of new cars are bought on finance. 

Chuck Feeney told me to burn my credit cards and use debit cards instead. Now you cannot spend money you don't have.

I once helped a girl move apartment and I noticed  a credit card statement with a  e2,000 balance on it unpaid. I brought it up as we moved out and she said its only 3%.. No No its 3% per month. She checked later and she told me that she had been blinded by the figures.She worked in a bank.

If your parents are alive check up on their finances, Spry finance give loans to the elderly and  they will then have rights to your parents estate. So check up on them.

 

 

Suddenly I was cut off

 Long time no see 

I really don't know what happened. 

Like Alice I went through the looking glass and my world took on a different reality.

I did buy a second hand computer when my old one died suddenly and that might be a clue as to how I lost the link to the blog.

In the end I did manage to find my way back, but another strange thing happened with the book.

I got an email to say that the author had stolen the book from Amazon "AS IT HAD BEEN STORED IN AN INSECURE LOCATION" and there was nothing I could do about it. They also said that they had sold the ideas from two of the chapters to a film company.

Nice of him to let me know.

So I contacted that big river in Brazil called Amazon 4 times no reply.

The book was not on sale and strange to say when my son went to look at the email it was a burner, it had vanished. Time passed and one day Amazon contacted me and they told me that I had written something bad in an earlier publication. I said go to look it up and get back to me.

They did and it had been a mistake and just like that it was back on the market, no apology.

"The steering wheel university" By Paul Malone is back on sale.

The author drove a million miles and met thousands of people along the way and they educated him,