Back to normal.

Look at these beautiful blossoms, if they were in China or Japan people would travel for miles to admire them.


Protesters at the National Irish Bank..
Why should we put our taxes in to prop up a corrupt system?
In America theese guys would be in jail.


Whats wrong with this photo?
No helmet no high Viz jacket?
Come on safety first.


Appeal for witnesses to fatal Dublin shooting

A post mortem examination has been carried out on the body of a 34-year-old man who was murdered in Dublin on Friday night.

Eamon Dunne was shot six times in the head and body at the Faussagh House pub in Cabra.

It is thought four gunmen were involved in the attack, which was witnessed by the victim's 17-year-old daughter.

Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Story from RTÉ News:

One of Dublin's untouchables was gunned down on Friday night.

You can feel the tension as people wait for the backlash which will come soon.
It took some balls to put on a balaclava and walk into a crowded pub and take out their victim, not that I admire them, but they must have had nerves of steel.

Dublin has become like Chicago in the days of Al Capone...

Every few years it come to the front in dramatic fashion.

The exams are moving into gear, my youngest has his leaving cert exams over the next few weeks..


Listen kids the results do not matter..Time after time the school dunce ranks high in the rich list. Richard Branson was no good at school..Sean Quinn left school at 15 and once was the richest man in Ireland.
Richard Elman left school at 15 his fortune is estimated at 1.11 billion Quid.

So boys and girls do your best, even if it is not good enough.

Few people ever gave out that Stephen Hawking was no good at football or that David Beckham was thick at arithmetic, we all have our skills.

I just ask. Is this the car of the guy who did the exams and took the job?.
Or is it the car of the guy who saw a chance and took it?

Domestic abuse.

Angels are cheap today

Someone wants my business..
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Well this guy should not be closed owing to unforeseen circumstances.


Seems like they are going to tighten up on the taxi rental market, about time too.
Too many guys renting one car and 3 or 4 people driving it most of them without insurance.

KIDS YOU WOULD NEVER BE FINISHED WITH THEM.

My eldest boy got a puncture on his bicycle last night and even thought I had a lot on I bought a puncture repair kit and headed off to Palmerstown to rescue him.

I dropped off the compressor and the puncture repair kit and went off to Liffey Valley to buy a copy of Car Mechanics magazine, its hard to get.

When I went back there he was in the back garden chatting away to the girl who lived there, tyre not even off!

So I got him moving and when he had nicked the tube putting the tyre back on I was forced to take charge and finish it myself..Kids have a knack of doing things so badly that you just do it yourself because you just can't watch them doing it so badly.

Well when I did get finished and was going home I was stopped by a girl at the start of the South Circular Road heading for Erigall Rd.
She was really attractive and a hairdresser, so she,like any good taxi driver was used to talking to her clients.. I told her about my son being back home with the family at 28 and how hard it is for us all.
"Me too I am back at home too after the break up of my relationship" she said..She went on to tell me a few details of living with a violent partner, and how powerless she felt to deal with it all.
You could see she was a really gentle person and I am sure her experience has numbed her to her very soul,I hope she meets the right person soon.
What the world needs is Love.

Arms are for hugging.

There was a documentary on radio one click here which covered it well, its frightening stuff for sure, but I feel that the more people know what happens the better able they are to escape..

Two traveller women in my taxi one night told me of how one of their husbands threw their baby under the wheels of their truck and drove across it...A relationship which revolved around drugs drink and extreme violence a life lived in total madness.
This is what you get when you marry your cousin, madness!

I don't have to read ghost stories to get scared, sometimes I just go to work.

A traveller goes into a sports shop.

" I want a baseball bat sir"

"Certainly sir, a black one or a white one sir"? says the shop assistant.

"Whats the difference?" says the traveller

"Well sir is the occasion a wedding or a funeral?"

The irony is that its true.

The great evacuation

People wait for tickets, the staff were great, treated everyone well.
In normal circumstances there might be 4 people buying tickets.

Taxis waiting for the boat to come in.
Even though I was along way back I got a run into town.

Well that was a fine mess.

Ex President Bush wanted to invade Iceland. he said they were using weapons of mass disruption.
I feel myself that it was completely OTT. The time when a jet cut out from volcano dust it had flown directly into the plume of ash, after all when you are 100 miles from the volcano the density of the ash is much less.
There are volcanos all over the Pacific and planes just fly around the ash.

People headed off by boat and train. Dublin port was like Dunkirk with thousands looking for tickets out.

The coaches did a roaring trade. Paddywagontours and Eurolines...Bus to Moscow anyone?

But the hotels jacked up their rates x4 and screwed the stranded people.

I was advising one lady on how to get back to Norway, Dublin Holyhead, train to Harrich then boat to Holland then train home.
Those days of my youth with a Eurorail pass were not wasted.

I was amused when I saw the buses leaving for Hungary from Sean McDermot st. they had their travel plans well in hand and were moving forward while all around them panicked.
Things will take a long time to get back to normal, that is for sure.
I have been cleaning my own carpets with a carpet shampooing machine and it worked very well. They really can't be good for you when you see the filth that comes out when you steam clean them.
Whitney Heuston has come and gone...She said that it was the volcano dust that did for her voice..Perhaps she needs a bodyguard!

Did you see the cruise ship in the port the other day?
That IS the way to travel.

Ty Hardin I thought he was a singer, now thanks to YouTube I recall he was "Bronco Layne" Now there was a blast from my past.


I also found a whole load of old show opening tunes,Bonanza, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke. Great memories in balack and white

But you shold know I was looking for Tim Hadin.
He was on the radio one night and I had a beautiful voice sing in harmony with him in the Scudo.
Not this tune. But I will never forget the voice of............ Enya.



Just looked a bit more and I think this was the song !

Day of mourning

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St Audin's Church, if you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see the death notices of all the passingers.
I have been having some camera problems, but this will give you a flavor of the extent of the feeling about the Polish air disaster.

To our Polish friends

Ships propellors stand ready in Dublin port, like giant butterflies

Old meters and model taxis at Robensons.

Hector Greays last shop now gone.

By the time most of you are reading this the funerals will be taking place in Poland for the victims of the air disaster.
On the BBC the other they expressed thanks to the Polish people for their help during world war 2.
Many Polish people fled to England where they worked in the Resistance and in the armed forces. The air force got some of their best pilots from Poland and in the Battle of Britain when everything that could fly was in the air, one pilot in ten was Polish.

Without them we would all be speaking German now!

I have photos on my camera, but I cannot find my card reader.

Most of them are really well qualified and very well educated, I will miss them when they all go back home .

Another Friday weekend and it is a Friday like no other I have ever heard of.
Volcanic ash has grounded all flights over Europe for the second day.
It is like the British newspaper headline from years ago

"Fog in channel, Europe isolated."

Every place on every ferry is full. The lucky ones went straight away to the ferries before the rush. The English comedian/actor John Cleese found himself in Oslo, but he HAD to be in London, so he hired a taxi from Oslo to Brussels 3,000 pounds and from there by train to England!
Now that's what I call a taxi fare, John, was there no trains from Denmark?

Peoples misfortune make our fortune.

Tonight is the Trinity college ball. scores of young things drinking on the streets, the lucky ones will go home early many more will finish up covered in sick wandering the streets.
Education is wasted on them.
All the taxis that would normally serve the airport are in the city center, so I will go to bed and try my luck at 4.am and then down to the ferry.

If you find yourself close to City West pop into the conference center there is a Titanic exhibition running there..Really quite good, there are cabins, first class and steerage, the mighty furnaces, loads of plates and personal items.
Also many stories of the people who lived and those who died.
The one thing they did not say is that the Grand staircase ,which was a big feature of Titanic is a replica of the grand staircase in Belfast City Hall.
I have a photograph of it but it is on my old computer.

Kids, when they want money they want it NOW.
But when you want to get information off an old computer its LATER, that must be 4 years waiting now.

I just completed the renewal of my taxi licence. Tax Clarence cert, then appointments with the NCT car testing, then to the SGS for a "suitability test"
Passed it all, but a small torch vanished from the car as well as all the copper coins from the door handle.
The supervisor was not too helpful, all I wanted to do was to alert him to the possibility for a petty thief working there.
Today a little torch, tomorrow a Parker Pen the next day and Ifone, who knows?
Same thing in garages when you drop a car in for service.
One guy was mad at having his toll bridge money robbed from his ash tray.
When he complained to the garage manager he was met with the Gallic shrug.
So he put up a big banner on his car and parked outside for a few hours.

The manager came to his senses soon.

So keep the faith and when I find where the dog put my card reader I will put up newer photos.

The weather is taking off.

A deserted Grafton St.The Loft Cafe makes great Coffey and the cafe upstairs is great too.

Photos from the newspaper as the Irish Times celebrates 150 years in business.

"take me to where the big fish is in the middle of the road"

I offer my condolences to my Polish friends who mourn their losses in the recent air tragedy.
The girl in the Delly told me that the president has a twin brother and when they were small boys they took part in a film, she was really sad,but happy to talk to anyone about him.
The outpouring of grief is amazing.
You know, if it was our entire government in power and in opposition were killed we would be dancing in the streets for a month.
Everyone I spoke to told me how their government were getting to grips with things and the great hope for the future is now gone.
The main Polish church in Dublin is St Augustine church near Christchurch, there are hundreds of flowers there and candles burning.
I for one think the Polish people are great nation of people, hard working and honest, with great looking women. Much like the Irish who traveled the world for generations looking for work.

Nothing much for me on the working front though.
I went out on Friday and Saturday nights and got no work. But my back was not right so I took the opportunity to rest.
Saturday night outside the Yacht pup a taxi collided into a row of cars stopped at the lights. One car hit the car in front until 5 cars sat there with steam rising.
No one seriously hurt.

Jut so as you know there were no skid marks which means the driver was asleep or he wasn't looking where he was going.

Either way its one less taxi on the road!

Here is a story from the Sunday Times for you.

A guy New York was offered a job in London.

He sold his apartment and packed all his worldly goods into 90 or so boxes and put everything into storage..He went off to London and after around 6 months he found himself back in New York doing an article for a New York magazine..He needed some notes from one of his boxes and went back to the storage company.

Sorry you owed us $700, everything was sold to recoup the debt !

Wow, just like that his whole life disappeared. He reckons his paintings alone were worth $3/4 million.His pictures of Marlyn Monroe and himself,everything gone.

So he wrote a big article about it and he found out that it happens all the time !
Imagine somewhere in the small print there is a clause, "If you fall behind with payments we will sell your life's goods and you can't do anything"

I ventured out on Sunday for coffee at my stop near the Westbury and the line started to move, I finished up with a girl who looked like a young Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany's", she is a jazz singer and of mixed race Swedish and Croatian, speaks 4 languages and boy will she go far...Some people are a pleasure to meet and she was one.
Another fare was a lift out past Tallagh,,,another failed blind date.
Such pressure to put on yourself, meeting someone through the paper or dating sites.

I asked her why she wouldn't take up dancing. "I love to dance Salsa but its all women, the men don't go there" So boys if you want to meet girls, forget the disco take up dancing proper.
So I have my NCT (car safety test) done and next I have to do the suitability test and then to renew my licence.
But before you dismiss the book for Dublin go to.
www.dublincityonebook.ie
It won't work as a link.

Getting ready...

Beautiful pots and vases in a shop at the bottom of Capel St.
Each pot comes with a certificate,like a passport.
That black one costs e1,700 !
Problem is that they are in the wrong location. If they were in a shop in Sutton or Blackrock they might sell faster, or somewhere where there are big houses.
If I was the guy who owns the shop I would put them into auctions all around the country,its a pity the new hotel market has also dried up.
Remember the pot which was in the auction with a reserve of e150 ?
The pot sold for around e1 1/4 million, well they reckon that it's worth e2 million..Have they all gone potty?


A bicycle all done up with flowers for Easter.


Charlotte St, the smallest street in Dublin?


And here is the street, when I first came to Dublin there was a street there now all that remains is 10 ft and the name.


It is one thing after another!
Now I was coughing and I sneezed at the same time .
Guess what?
I put out my back!
It is like a needle jabbing into me , not all the time but if I turn or sneeze It hurts like hell.
So I can't drive.
There is a cure, Acupuncture and I am going for the cure in 1/2 an hour.
Funny how all those needles in the most unlikely places cures you in a few minutes..The Chinese doctor calls it "a blocked energy channel"

Lucky for me I didn't go to this guy.






This is my son playing the drums, this is the reason I have to ask for the destination twice.

The recession continues, some wag says that Dublin gives the best value of European capitals surveyed. Hotels are nearly giving rooms away. Look on the websites and you will find great value. They can't give the same value at the front desk though.

No recession in the courts another driver missed his ticket for being in the bus lane at Heuston, so the old Judge will fine him e400.
I must ring the clampers to come down to the new courthouse in Parkgate St.
Let the Garda know how it feels.

Thanks to the taxi hero

A model poses with The book for Dublin..The picture of Dorian Greay By Oscar Wylde...and a great read it is too.
If you don't mind me saying . It is fantastic to see a normal person as a model. No more skinny Minnies with a pout that would scare the French.(Mabel aged 100)

Little Cezars near the Westbury

The Bretzel bakery in Lennox St. The only Kosher bakery in Dublin. Try the turnover.
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Remember Rory Gallagher from Cork?
He has a street in Paris too !


Well done to the taxi driver who rescued a guy being kicked in Camden St in the early hours of Monday morning last..Was it you?
The person being kicked was a young Garda and he wants to thank the driver. He is stationed in Kevin St. The thing is he feels that he could have been kicked to death without your intervention.
He thinks as well that he recognized 2 of his attackers.
So if it was you go down to collect your medal !
I had a cousin who was kicked in Hull, a great kid. He spent months in a coma and has never reached 50% of the lad he was.
I know it is dangerous to stop these louts, but the price my cousin paid was immense.
Well done for stopping.

I am at home I went out and drove around for 2 hours without being able to pick up a fare.
Not another thing! The flecking cat just bit me, I suppose he will come round in an hour or so. Feck him !
Look with the milk in the laptop, the strap on my watch broken, the mark on my car costing e320 to fix and everything else I will go to bed!
At least if I go by myself it will cost me nothing.

I did give this to you before as an example of what can go wrong. Didn't I?