This cruise liner makes The World look small Part of a ships engine at the Irish Shipping HQ The World with the wheel, you can see the cruise liner behind them. It is huge. The wheel by night
And by day
Here is the World.
Dad waits for a break in trafic to cross the road. You see dads out with the kids far more now that the Celtic tiger has died.
Well you see all the cables that connect the computer together have vanished. I think I might have to get a Chinese man in to put it all back together, The people who surround me at present are useless. Still life as I know it goes on. So I thought I might fill you in. A few months ago I went on to the Nokia website and uploaded all the numbers from my mobile phone, just in case I lost my mobile. Well on Sunday I drove away with my phone on the roof of my car !. When I got a replacement SIM card I went back to the website and...................."No numbers uploaded"............So dear friends if you don't call me I won't be calling you.
Its like starting a new life. I used to have a diary with numbers in it, but its gone as well. The Guinness visitors center had a power cut today, just when I was talking to a friend of mine, so we all got quick fares to the next big attraction.
I had a photo of a skeleton in the back of my taxi, The owner gave me €20 for a €7 fare. He couldn't carry it.
Students are coming back to the city, tales of woe from the USA and Canada where they went in search of work. My oldest boy went to London where he found no work either. He is lucky he has such a generous Daddy.
Story goes that MrRockerfellas driver did not turn up so he hailed a cab. When he got into the cab the driver greeted him and told him that he knew where he lived. " I often bring your son home" so when they arrive the driver is looking at the money that he has been given. "Is something wrong?" says Mr Rockerflla. "Well when I bring your son home he usually gives me a $5 tip !"
Mr Rockerfella replies "He would do that , you see he has a very rich father"
When I worked in the telephone exchange people like this used to brighten up our day.
When I drove on the M8 recently I saw at least 4 people texting while driving...............................Show them this.
So give them a kick up the arse before you have to explain...
Sorry about the lack of photos, never rely on your kids to do your painting, that is unless you don't mind waiting. Still if you don't pester them to do some work they will think they will have nothing to do in this life. So the big computer is still waiting in the hall for the painting to get under way and life is moving on.
Wow the World has come to Dublin. Not a cruise ship it is a private hotel, sailing around the world with its rich patrons on board. Strange thing is the last time it was here we went out to see it and were gobsmacked at the size of it. This time (I have a photo) there was a cruise ship in the port which was at least 1/2 as big again. Today it is heading for Liverpool.
You see if I didn't post today my reader in Dublin would miss a spectacle which will take place on Sandymount strand this Sunday between 12 and 3 PM. It is a recreation of Jack Vettriano's painting the singing butler Bring your wellies,your umbrellaand a camera.
There is also a Tango festival coming up soon.
The Beatles story is on in the Olympia tonight and I think the poster said Sunday as well.
I got a phone call which made me see red. (I was never so enraged in my life) It was from the office of the taxi regulator ! They were asking me how my costs have risen over the last while !!! All they have to do is to look at all the administration they have added to my life. They put up the cost of a PSV(public service vehicle) licence from £3 old money for 10 years to €250 for 3 years. I was told that is 2000% of a rise. Plus all the extra vehicle tests, plus the new 9 year rule which has been brought forward. I reckon that as much as 1/4 of the fleet will have to be replaced and NO ONE will give money to a taxi driver to replace their car. The one thing I thing that I find most difficult to come to terms with is that the wheelchair taxis will be almost disappear from the streets. In 1999 the rule was that all new taxis had to be wheelchair accessible..Then they de regulated the trade and abandoned that rule..a wheelchair caxi costs around €80,000 you can buy a reasonable car for €6,000. You earn the same money with both cars.
So after seeing red I said "A couple of months ago a taxi killed a pedestrian in Foxrock and then tried to drive away. He was caught by 2 taxi drivers and held. The driver had no licence and was driving a "borrowed" taxi". I had a customer in the car who's sister was nearly killed while going to the airport in the snow. She and her boyfriend were badly injured and finished up in hospital the driver had no licence or psv licence therefore not insured either.
This goes on all the time and a total blind eye is turned to the situation.
So lets hope you get an honest legal driver to bring you home tonight and not one who has only been in the country for one wet day.
Tonight I went to the Buena Vista Social Club from Cuba. They have been a long time favourite of mine since I saw the film about its founding with Ry Cooder.
I have a good few CDs and manys the night I played their music as I came back from distant parts alone. Sometimes I would play their music when I had an older person on board and the would allways say, "Wow! turn that up, its great"
And it was the best music concert I have ever been to. Standing on the floor everyone danced for 3 hours or more but when Ouiara Portuondo came on stage the place exploded and fired to a furnace of joy. This was on the Tuesday of a bank holiday weekend and the house was full. Are they coming to you?
Don't miss it.
If you want to live go to see them if they do come near. Look here and I hope the video loads, this old girl was beyond fantastc.. My computer room will be painted very soon and I will show you the latest photos from my life, so be patient.
Well here me am at the start of the bank holiday Monday. On friday I frightned myself by falling asleep at the traffic lights. My car is automatic so I could have rolled into the junction. I pulled over and went to sleep for 15 mins. Imagine falling asleep at 2.pm.
I have to quote the old joke again.
"When I die I want to die like my father did,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Peacefully in his sleep.......... Not like hius passingers who were screaming and shouting."
Great joke that. (British comedian Bob Monkhouse)
Kildare and Tyrone are now in the football semi finals, the mighty Kerry and Meath defeated..So I was heading towards Heuston station when I was stopped by a drunk Kildare man.
"How much to Monistrevin?"
So the haggle started and I cut him a great deal.
One which he was very reluctant to accept.
I measured it on the meter and gave him 1/3 off the price.
The meter tarriff goes up all the time as the fare gets longer, in the end it was clicking up every few seconds.
He was an asshole with too much drink on board. But he did tell me that the train station wuld be closed until 9 pm, all the cars which were at the station rank were having a long wait. . One of lifes little surprises, you don't reall know how it will work out.
But.
When we got there the fare was €106 so that was €68 Not bad for 40 mins..But then all the way home without a fare.start time 20.17 finish 21.00 62.6 Kms
I took the old road back through Naas, famous for sheep,soldiers and racehorses. Now tht it is bypassed you can fly through the town, it used to be an awful bottleneck..
There was a hell of a smash on the motorway outside Kildare town. A yellow Celica car down the embankment, I didn't hear of anyone being killed. It served to make me slow down...There are torrential thundery downpours of rain at persent.
When I got back to Heuston station there were people coming out and I got a run out to Newtown park Ave €25. An Irish Spanish couple living in Madrid. Madrid is a beautiful city must go,
Come on Lotto.
So look after yourselves, painting of the computer room begins as soon as the "painter" gets out of bed.
Look after yourselves and tip well so that you in turn will be well looked after.
News from Australia. (Thank you Sam)
Police charged the 33-year-old man over the ordeal which began when the male passenger vomited during a ride to Lane Cove in Sydney's north.
The man, 20, flagged the taxi about 2am (AEST) on Sunday, and allegedly got into an argument with the driver after he demanded a clean-up fee and money for the fare.
It's alleged the driver then headed to Macquarie Fields, in Sydney's southwest, where his wife and elderly parents were waiting.
Police say they got into the cab and allegedly struck the passenger and told him to hand over the cash. The man was then freed on Oxford Road at Ingleburn.
The driver was arrested at his Macquarie Fields home on Thursday and charged with detain for advantage.
He was released on bail to appear in Campbelltown Local Court next month.
People are really good runners in Brazil.
This might happen if you want to surprise your passinger.
Wouldn't it be great to be driving an armouredd car in Baghdad? Sorry can't stop.
I should be working all night,but as I had no sleep I will give it a miss.
A few years ago I brought home the bouncer from Angels lap dancing club. I picked him up in Clontarf and brought him home to Finglas. He was a talkative guy and he told me a story, which I will tell to you now. There is a punter who comes in every Thursday to Angels and he sits at a table and talks to 4 girls for 15 minutes each. He is retired and he pays the girls the price of a lap dance each.. I don't remember the amount but it was around £50. each that's £200 for his little chat. He took my phone number and he told me that he wold call me when the old guy was leaving some night. When the call came I picked him up and drove him down to D'oleer st.Sure enough he was all talk, all quite normal and when we got there he nearly snapped off my fingers taking his 20p change. The thing is that he was very lonely and loved to talk to the pretty girls. Sad enough in its own way.
The bouncer also introduced me to a tall Russian lady who danced there she looked like Sheenah the warrior princess. She let me feel the muscles on her arms,she was very strong for sure. Abdomen like steel. She even offered me a free lap dance if I came in some night.
It is said that she was earning £1,000 a night 3 nights a week at that time.
Were you ever watching TV late at night and the advertisements come on ? "Text flirt to XXXX XXXXXX beautiful girls are waiting to talk to you"
Well when I was on holiday a few years ago I read a story about a teacher who started texting one of these chat lines. Soon a bond had developed and Bob her "admirer" who would text her when she came home, wish her happy birthday, enquire about her mother, the poor girl was completely in love with this mythical person who cared so much about her. I say mythical because when she would text into the center her information would pop up on a computer screen, suggestions were placed on the screen for the operator to follow. "Did you get you piano tuned yet?"
Don't forget every text was being charged at £1 a pop.
One day one of the people who worked in the call center rang her up and burst her balloon..She told her how the system worked and that she should get a life for herself.
Poor lady had wasted over £100,000 on the "relationship"
The call company were doing nothing wrong, it said so in the small print.
As Paul McCartney once said "All the lonely people where do they all belong?"
I had an Indian guy in the car a few weeks ago whose job bas to talk to Irish ladies over the phone. Just talk, I am good at my job and I like it a lot he said. Ever tried free running?
No photos today the computer room is being plastered tomorrow.
Something caught my eye the other day.
An Arab man claimed to be a Jew jailed for"rape by deception"
Wow what a story, it is almost like Romeo and Jelus Cezar.
So an Arab man living in east Jerusalem with the nickname "Dudu"slang for David. Clearly a Jewish name,he posed as a Jewish batchelor looking for a long time relationship.
He was anArab man married with kids. He met a Jewish girl and intercouse followed. In a nearby deralect building. The Jewish lady found out his secret, so.
She pressed charges for rape by deception, but it has sturred up so much feeling in Israel.
So the Arab guy got 18 months in prison.
The story is upsetting on so many levels.
What do you think?
Did you ever look in the lonely hearts colum?
There is some stomping ground for every type of predator.
I must stop thinking too much, but.
So I mentioned it to a lawyer on her way to the 4 courts.
"There is a load of shite about that case, If he was my client he would be free and his name would have been kept from the press for sure. There is a rip tide of deception and polatics going on there and I can tell you there is a complete injustice in that case."
"Look, I fight to win,trust me on this one"
I forgot to get her card.
I went to have a Tango leson ! Bedere bar every tuesday.€10 for beginners. Tango Argentino in the Belvedere bar, downstairs.
Good fun...Me Bad dancer! Don't forget the tango festival The link won't work.www.tangoforever.net/festival.html 12/15 Aug in Dublin 086 3747958
I have put many clips of tango on the blog (because there is more to life than work) So if you put the words "silver fox" in the search box on the top left corner of the blog...Then hit the magnafying glass you should see a dance or two.
I am hanging loose at present, kids are off college, but I am getting a strong urge to travel as there is no work for a poor taxi man at present.
Today I got a letter from the Taxi regulator to renew my PSV licence. €250 for 3 years! It used to be £3 for 10 years! Now the Queen(holy regulator) is asking people by questionare if they think that taxi fares are a bit high? should be reduced?
