As darkness falls good night

 As most of you know I have retired and my son David has taken over the job. He is very nervous about it but I suppose we all were at the start. He has people to meet and places to go for sure.

So the main reason that things came to such a sudden stop was my wife's illness. It is nothing fatal like Cancer thank God, but I have to be htre.

So here is a story which hinges on a remark made by a passenger.(Chuck Feeney)I would love to be a taxi driver if I was starting my life again, you hear so much. It only takes one idea to turn you into a millionaire. Chuck invented duty free shopping and became a billionaire. But unlike most people becoming rich he gave it all away.

Look up the book about him "The billionaire who wasn't by Conor O'Cleary. I stayed in touch with Chuck for more than 10 years after we met. Such a great guy.

So on with the story.

Outside London there was a railway station with a car park. People used to commute to London from there. It was busy enough.

If it was raining there was potholes and with the bad lighting people would walk through the puddles. So one day signs went up giving notice about work starting over the next 4 weekends.

Lighting went in, followed by1/2 the car park having drainage done and a fine tarmac top. The following week the other side was done and lines were painted, so People knew where to park. Then came the parking ticket machines. Cheap enough at the beginning, offenders were clamped but things settled down through the years.

One day when the commuters came they found that the ticket machines were all full, they went into the station master who rang the contact number, no reply. He rang the railway company who rang back to say that they had no record of the car park. Locksmiths were called and the parking meters were drilled out, emptied and new locks fitted. 

Some guy had spotted the situation and took it over for more than 20 years. He bought his house, sent his kids to university, he probably bought a house in Spain as well before walking away.

He did no harm to anyone.

Happy St. Valentines day

Did you know that there is a relic to St.Valentine .

It can be found in the Carmelite church on Whitefriar St.

There is a post box inside where you can drop in a note to tell him exactly what you want. "That last fella you sent was no good, he didn't want to work at all"

Anyhoo I should be on my way to Blackpool tomorrow morning, but I have to stay here to take care of my wife. Nothing too severe sciatica.

It has been going on for more than 12 weeks now. All that time with no taxi work. I passed to taxi to my son. But I really do miss the outing every day.

To get back to Blackpool. What's on. 

The Worlds biggest magic convention, thats what's on.

100 +magic dealers selling things to preform the smallest magic trick in your hand to something to make a car vanish and everything in between. Then there are lectures where great magicians share their secrets with keen listeners.

Some magicians are really friendly and Paul Daniels was a great example. I met him a few times and I went to a few of his lectures.

He was coming to Belfast and I sent him an email telling him that I was coming. On arrival Paul was talking to a group of magicians in a corner of the hall. I walked in and Paul shouted over.

"Gentlemen take a look at this fine man who has just come in. Take a good look and you can plainly see that he is very wealthy. After all he won't spend money on good clothes." I don't know where it came from, but I said "Or wigs Paul" to which he replied "Touché". Then I came back with "Toupee"

He ran across and gave me a big hug.

Debbie McGee was at some function as a special guest and she spoke of Pauls death. No matter where we were we drove back home if we did not have another show in the area. Paul would drive and then one day he asked Debbie to drive, then there was headaches, when he finally went into hospital he had a massive brain tumour. But he passed away with no pain.

Magic is so accessible now with the internet.

Look for

Bill Malone. Harry Cardines Santos, Harry Lorayne, Eugene Burger.

All of them do DVDs and soon you will have your party piece.

My favourite one is to take a €5 note and in full view fold it once, twice, three times and then blow on it and it has turned into a €50.

I have a deck of cards and all the faces are different but the backs are the same. A prediction card in an envelope is placed on the table.

I deal face down cards until the person says stop.

Then I deal the other cards from the bottom face up.

There is a prediction in this envelope, I know that it is right.

You open up the envelope and it doesn't match. Front or back.

After a pause you turn the chosen cards over and they match. Front and back.

Rene Levant was in Blackpool and after the show I saw him with a group of people. He was standing at the top of a small curved staircase, near the edge. I went over to congratulate him on his performance. I was waiting for my moment when someone came over from the other side. He stepped back and came tumbling down the stairs. (He only had one arm)I remembered that before I grabbed him in a bear hug and shot back down the stairs backwards with him in my arms.

Was he grateful ? He roared at me in Spanish and he and they all thought that I had pushed him down the stairs. In many ways looking back there is a saying.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Perhaps next year

Romeo and Juliet

 Love and passion hit the paper on Tuesday.

Constance Marten a British aristocrat had a baby and fled from their folks in freezing weather with their new born baby Victoria. Her lover is coloured, so perhaps this is the reason why they panicked. The police found them sleeping in a tent that they bought from Argos in the freezing weather,

A couple of days later they found the babys body in a plastic bag under a pile of branches.

A situation of unbearable pain for everyone.

Today near Boston a lady sleeping in a wheelie bin was tipped into the bin lorry and crushed by the compactor.

The poor are always with us but when you see that Elon Musk wanted to pay himself over 50 billion, but it has been blocked on behalf of his shareholders.

A great bumper sticker seen on a Tesla.

I bought this car before I knew Elon Musk was mad

The worst thing ever

Like many people we do not buy the paper, on line is so much cheaper and quicker. Today in the London Times there was a story of a father and infant son found dead in a house. 

The dad was 20 and the child was 2. 

The father had died of a heart attack and the child died from starvation and dehydration.

Social services were on the case and they went to the house on the 2nd of Jan and got no reply. They reported it to the police who gained access to the house on the 8th and found the bodies.

When I went back to check on the facts the story has been removed.

I have no faith in the police whatever. I tried to report a guy who was sexually molesting a mentally handclapped girl.

"Unless we saw him doing it there is nothing we can do."

That letter went to the Garda commissioner.

I wrote to 4 care homes in the area, none of them would reply.

Another time I had 2 guys who were looking for a guy to shoot him.

Honestly (Its in the book)

The Garda station in Tallagh told me "Don't come in here telling us fairy stories"

One last story from my past. There was a ram raid on an off licence beside the International telephone exchange on Marlborough St. One of the lads called the boys in blue. But they had skidalled before the Garda arrived. A police car waited for the owner to come.

"Thank God I have CCTV said the owner"

So long ago that they didn't know what CCTV was.

When the tape was played back the Garda car was shown to have stolen more than the robbers. 

But we all know he was just holding it for safe keeping.

2024 The future

 I have 3 sons, one of them lives near Belfast. He had been down before Christmas and on St. Stephens day he landed back. Then after a cup of tea he went away and when he came back he was upset and told us about his distressing news.

One of his friends from Mount Temple school had killed himself on Christmas day. 

A married man with young kids.

Remember the Samaritans 116123 there 24/7

Try and close down TicToc and Facebook and listen to the people around you.

Here is a story from history

A taxi driver used to pick up a regular client at Howth around 3 am. A job to the at the airport. He was a piolet and a good guy to talk to. 

He pulled up to the car park at the summit and took out his blanket to take 20 minutes rest.

He heard a car drive up and saw the rights sweep around, then the car went away. Just as he was about to close his eyes again he saw a woman in a nightdress walk past his car and head for the cliffs. He jumped out and grabbed her while she protested. He dragged her into the car while she burst into tears. "Let me die, Please let me die" He covered her with a blanket and told her that he would bring her to the Garda station. She protested wildly and in the end she told him to drive her to John Of Gods hospital in Stillogan.

Talking to her all the way he realised that by her accent that she was no ordinary common person. 

When they got there the staff refused to take her in, she was discharged yesterday.

It was a cold night so he had to keep the engine running to keep her warm. Around 8 am the day staff started arriving and the driver approached a well dressed member of staff who when he saw who she was was appalled by the situation. In 10 minutes she was gone and the driver had to ask for his blanket back.

He went home and told his wife and she asked him if he had lost his mind. A nights work and a full tank of fuel and you get paid nothing. He went back to the hospital and they paid him €20!!!!! The brother of the taxi drivers wife was a detective Garda and when he got wind of the story he went over to try and unravel the tale.

"This was attempted murder"

Someone came to him and gave him an envelope with €200 "For the taxi drivers time" 

His superintendent then told him that this case would be going no further, lucky for her that there was a taxi driver there on that day.

story never told

When I drifted into this game things were different. There was a huge shortage of taxis and you could rent one on a part time basis. After I passed the PSV test I went looking for someone who was renting a taxi out at night time. The conditions and the cost nearly put me off.

Someone  suggested that I could have my own car passed out and a radio company called Metro would install a radio and this is how the work would come. As far as it went it worked well.

One night just before Christmas I got a call to go to Crumlin children's hospital accident and emergency and ask for a doctor by name. A young couple came out and they were in bits. Rafters road was the destination. Their 9 month baby had died. She just got sick and by the time help came the little girl had slipped too far and died.

The doctor had forbidden them to drive home, now the problem arose that they would be stranded in the morning. I said that I would go back to the hospital and bring the car home for them. They gave me the keys and I walked down the road where I caught a taxi. I told the driver the sad story and I got the ride for nothing. A real gentleman. I used the remote car key to find the car and then I drove it back to Crumlin. I parked the car and popped the keys through the letter box and went home. I never was paid money for the job but at this time of year I feel their prayers.

I never even told my wife but Metro cabs did not charge me for the job.

There is a God !

 After being asked for €50 by the NTA I wrote a letter and a week later a very polite lady rang me and she told me to Present the taxi and they would put the new sticker on. "There will be no charge for this procedure"They have a thousand teeth to trap you. I sold a taxi once and I did not remove the stickers from the front and back windows. I was told that I had to bring them back or there would be a £60 charge, I contacted the new owner and she had taken off the stickers. But she found one in the bin and I drove up to her house to collect it. So I drove to the test center the next day and he said that as one of the discs was missing I would have to pay £30. He would then destroy both discs and re issue new ones. 

You couldn't make it up.

I could take you out for an evening and show you at least 20 un documented drivers, but that would mean that the officials would have to come out late at night.

A few years ago I had a girl from London in the car. She told me that her parents were going to Heathrow and they went to the railway station. After a while a railway porter told them that on Sunday there were no trains to the airport. They rushed down and took the only taxi and she called an UBER. When he arrived she noticed that he was going in the opposite direction. The driver fobbed off her protests. She sent a text to her friend. Her friend told her to jump out when the taxi stopped in traffic.

When her chance came the doors were locked !

He friend told her by text to open the window and say that she is getting sick. When she did the taxi stopped and she jumped head first out the window. She landed on her face scraping her head as well. The Police were called and she was told to contact UBER.. After a few weeks she contacted the Police again. They contacted UBER and they said that they had no booking at that place or time and so the story ended. She was so happy to have a friend to talk to that night.

UBER is everywhere here in Dublin and coming soon we will have rickshaws for christmas.

Quote of the decade

 My poor wife is suffering from Sciatica. A severe pain in her back. 

We went to 4 hospitals and quite  a few doctors then she had an operation in the Blackrock clinic. (Very Posh). There was a lot of problems and the drugs she was put on and some were Opioids. 

I tell you for sure that your health is your wealth. 

She rang the clinic daily with her problem side effects until one day a nurse told her quite bluntly.

"We are not a hospital we are accident and emergency only"

We used to have a recording device on the phone. I would love to play that back to the radio programe.

Anyhoo as they say in Canada I am a nurses aid now and have not worked in 7 weeks. 

Wow but its tough.

No Mon, No fun, Your son.

No Mon ? Too bad  Your dad.

My lad passed his test to drive the taxi so I am putting it in his name on the books.

But is anything simple? My taxi passed the suitability test in an electrical blackout at the time and they couldn't print out the disc. Now the NSAI wants another €50 to print out the discs even though they have been paid for it.

Greedy power hungry people

If you read here is one for you

George J Mitchell The negotiator,

He brokered peace in N.Ireland and the Middle East

My book is available on Amazon. Just like my book The Steering Wheel University