Rory O'Neill

Today I got a run into Parnell Sq. this morning with a guy who who works for a gay rights movement.
Rory O'Neill and Pantigate was spoken about. For people outside Ireland he spoke on a debate on television and called  some people homophobes and they didn't like it.
So they sued the TV station and they paid them off without debating the point.
Have a look here

Later Rory came on to the stage of the Abbey theatre after a play about the 1913 lock out and gave this speech.



We will be having a referendum on gay marriage soon, I wonder how that will come along.
Will it be like modern Ireland , open and forward looking or like the Ancient Order Of Hibernians attitude who forbade the gays a place in the New York parade.

You might never be picked out by the bullies. If you are Black, Jewish, Gay or just different it might well happen to you or your children.






Some advertisements are worth seeing again.



And yet another one



OK The last one.

Daffodil Day

                   Now here is something you don't see every day

                             Beautiful flowers from the Westbury hotel

                                   The fantastic tree around the corner from my house


Today is the day when daffodils are sold on every street corner of Dublin. The funds collected go for the fight against cancer. It is a big killer all over the world. Cancer is an awful curse, rich, poor, young and old can be taken. Research is your only hope so buy a daffodil. .
Lets hope they have a cure if it ever comes to your home.

This weekend they put the clocks forward (Spring forward and Fall back)

A few years ago I pulled up at the Conrad Hilton hotel.
No taxis were waiting.
A lady pulled in and asked for directions to Baggott St.. As I was directing her the concierge started blowing his whistle sharply. I started up the car and pulled over to the door.
The doors opened up and 2 English people jumped in while the concierge threw the suitcase into the boot."AIRPORT" was the command (No please or thank you)
I headed off towards Fitzwilliam Square and I told them that they were making a film there with 1920s buses and cars. The woman leaned forward and said. "Driver you're driving us round the bleedn ouses were not fecking stupid you know"

I WAS MUCH YOUNGER THEN

Today I would stop and tell them to get out.
I just said that the only way of getting to this spot was to go down two one way streets the wrong way.
So I gritted my teeth and turned on the radio low.
There was a noise coming from them, they were growling at each other!
The sound was like a cement mixer full of dry gravel.

Arriving at the airport I opened the door with the change ready in my hand.
"I hope you left enough time for your flight I said"
"Corse I have you fucking moron!" he said
"Because the change in the hour fucked up my day"
"Wat you talkin about?" he said.
"The clocks! They went forward an hour last night !  Its Summer time"

HIS FACE SAID IT ALL. IT WAS LIKE A SAND CASTLE BEING ENGULFED BY  A WAVE.

But I hadn't the heart to say. Who's the moron now.

They say "What goes round comes round"

I think about them this time every year and I wonder what scam they were up to.

So boys and girls remember it will be mothers day on Sunday next.

Helicopter crash

          Following the Irish rugby team

               Firemen at work

     If you hate gardening you might like to live in a private gated development everything catered for.


Today the Rt, Hon. Edward Haughey Baron of Ballydesmond  was laid to rest.
The richest man in Northern Ireland.
He died in a helicopter crash..
He was in dispute with the people who serviced it.
He had threatened to bring them to court.
You would assume that if you had a faulty helicopter you would rent another until you were happy.
Very sad,I hope his empire can keep running on without him. Many jobs depended on him.
I read in the paper that he built up his entire empire by himself, going around knocking on doors.

He first came to my attention a few years ago when I saw a brightly colored Lamborghini running around the streets of Dublin.
A customer told me it was Haugheys son...The car had been a 21st birthday present.
He gave his daughter an Aston Martin on her 21st birthday.
It made me think of their safety for sure..

MAY HE REST IN PEACE

I am still running around to renew my taxi license.
The car failed the car test for 2 reasons.
1 the front drivers light bulb was in crooked.
2 They said that the numbers on the number plate were too small
The bulb I had to get help with and Google helped me to verify that the numbers should be 7cm tall.
Which they are.
Now I have to find a retest.

Down in the port the Stenna line ferry had a problem and couldn't let off its load.
Just stuck there and no one knows when they will get off.

How was it for you ?

Once more the parade is over. This year in wonderful sunshine.
It surprised me just how many people it brought over.
One poor unfortunate guy from Brazil  was beaten up by two young thugs while one of their girlfriends filmed it. It went up on YouTube and facebook. Hey presto they were found and brought in.
In Ireland they proceed by sending the evidence to the attorney general before proceeding with the case.
Until then they are free to go.
Those thugs are a danger to society for sure.

One deviant who kidnapped and raped 2 children who were playing in their garden got 50 years in prison
It is well past time the punishment should reflect the crime.
Though the death penalty should come back for people like him.

Thank God Spring is here.

In New York the Gay and Lesbian community were barred from the parade.
It seems like some Hibernians over there have not yet grown up.
When Guinness and Heineken  who were big sponsors of the parade heard of the ban they pulled their sponsorship. So next year they had better step up to the plate or their might be no money for the 2015 parade.
Boston has worked this out, but it seems that NY are behind the times.

In the middle of the exciting weekend we beat the French at RUGBY !

If you listened to Irish radio you would kill yourself, one bad thing after another. 
Nothing is ever solved. Lyric FM is great,  classical music all day long.
At home we have 2 internet radios which can pick up nearly every radio station  from around the world.
Some stations are blocked,sure thats life.
I found a new radio station Spirit FM  a Christian word station Halleluiah !



OK  One more time
Dublin is GREAT !!!!!!!

Saint Patricks Day is coming.

It is coming fast this year.CLICK HERE TO GO TO OFFICIAL WEB SITE

• OOps wrong Dublin So click here instead..

Did you notice large groups of American students going around?
This coming Monday next week they will be strutting their stuff along O'Connell St and beyond.
The Irish go everywhere and once a year thousands of Irish decedents come home.

A few years ago in NY there was a big inclusion of gay rights into St.Patricks day.




To get you in the mood.

By the way get here early as the airport workers plan to strike !!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a bad photo of 2 rings, but one is worth €2,000 more than the other?
Boodles Jewellers and Weirs of Grafton St.were conned by 2 people dressed in Arab garb.
Slight of hand con men they were called..
They asked to see several trays of rings, tried on a few and then left the shop.
But they substituted fake rings for the real ones.
Later in that day they noticed that some of the rings had lost their sparkle.
Then they spotted the fake ones.

Just goes to show you how good the stuff from Argos is.
Still if they did that in Saudi Arabia they would have their hands cut off.

Cheltinham race week has started and all the sporting Irish are away.

It's not call the sport of kings for nothing.



Arkle V the mighty Millhouse



Enjoy the day the weather is great

They've done it again !

Our glorious leaders are having a European summit meeting at the conference center.
So they shut off the Quays from the Custom House Quay right up to the O2 including all the bridges.crossing the river..
Even though I had listened to several news bulletins I didn't know what the hold up was.
But I was not the only person who was ignorant of my situation.. But I managed knowing that even if the traffic stops that the meter will keep on running.
One guy I had in the car once told me that he lived close to the United Nations building in New York. When they meet there is total "Lockdown" for miles around.

 Press A to speak or B to get your money back

 If you want to celebrate make a Champagne fountain

 3D printer at work

 We will win today.
look who we have in goal !
 
So today our mission is to beat the Italians at rugby.
So I wish the boys in Green the best of luck.

My favourate card trick

 Part of the Winter garden complex in Blackpool

 A Samori warrior stands guard.

 Phone boxes in Blackpool,you could imagine the scores of people waiting to ring home in the 60s

            Need a taxi? theres plenty in Dublin

 A bridge under construction. Built from both sides and it is rising.There would be very little tolerance to get this right. I would have started at one side,propped it up until I reached the other end.
The center section bolts into place..No room for error..



OK you saw it preformed, now find out how it is done....Its fantastic!

Just on the best laid plans...
I read in the Sunday Times of last week how a Mr. Tom Bower went to the Barkleys bank to inspect the family jewels  which they had put there for safe keeping. When he opened the box the jewels were gone.
The importance of the jewels was their link to their past as Jewish people on the run from Hitler in 1939. Coming from Prague to London....The jewels were yhe link to their past going back to 1740.
The bank ignored their protests and the manager said that they must have taken the jewels out of the box themselves. To sue the bank would cos to many thousands..Who could win?
But the banks asses would be well covered under the "Terms and conditions"
It would be the basis for a short film about honesty and betrayal. 

It made me think of the old guy here in Dublin who cannot fly. His white Rolls Royce is in a garage and he can't pay for the repairs, He has the cash but it's in a safety deposit box in London and he wants to take a taxi to London and back via the ferry to empty the cash from the box..He is in poor health and cannot fly, but my wife won't let me go on the adventure.
Perhaps she is right.

In London as Christmas approaches there is a fantastic magic convention called Ron's day.
its the International Magic Convention 15,15&16 Nov..Ron McMillans magic shop is is at  89 Clerkenwell Rd. A really interesting area of London. There is a 3D printing shop a few doors down, then on Leather Lane there is a heap of ethnic restaurants and stalls. Further down you have Hatton Garden the home of Jewelry in London.

Here is a clip of some of the action from last year.



On the taxi front I got a HailO job in the morning in to Earlsfort Terrace, and picked up straight away at the Conrad Hilton...An interesting guy from Liverpool.."What do you do for a living yourself?" brought a different awnser from the usual..  He is a poker player, his name is Dan Charlton he gave me his blog address 2+2.bonus.com  I couldn't find it but I did Google him and he came up quite a few times.
In one instance it was a £37,000 win !  Not a bad nights work.

Later I picked up a beautiful lady going to the Hilton in Leeson St. "are you sure it isn't the one in Earlasfort Tce?"  I looked at the address and it was the two trees Hilton AKA the Burlington..
I must say for a brand new hotel that the staff were a bit slow taking in the bags.

My taxi flashed up a  warning yesterday. A big red triangle with ad exclamation mark in the middle of it.. So when my fare was gone I pulled over and checked it out, nothing amiss, a bit low in oil thats all..

So then I drive home and put the Scan Gauge 2 on it

This video is not great but it is great value on Amazon., one time to use it as a diagnostic tool and it is paid for..

Not to mention no wasted day at the garage.

So let us celebrate Spring with some of the beautiful music from Portugal !


On the HailO news front, an e mail below

#HailoNation Ireland
Hailo All Over Ireland In 2012 we brought you Dublin. In 2013 we gave you Cork, Galway and Limerick. Today we are delighted to announce that Hailo is now live in 20 new towns and cities! We are officially nationwide!
Your First Taxi is Free! To celebrate the launch we are offering all first time users of the app ��0 off your first journey booked by card. If you see your town on the map above, just enter your town name, followed by the number 14, into the credits section of the app. So, for example, if you are stuck in Sligo, enter SLIGO14 for a lift home on us!
Keep the Credits Rolling You also have the chance to win deadly daily prizes of ��0 credit every day this week for you and a friend. All you have to do is tweet and tell us where you're hailing from and who you're hailing with! Click here to share your tweet and we'll pick a lucky winner (and their pal) every day.
Happy Hailing!

Back to work

 Just in case you thought we were all broke. This is the price tag for a TV.Not a car

A statue on the roadside near to Hillsboro. It is to Harry Ferguson the tractor man.
Inventor of the 3 point hitch and much more.

The best thing about going away is coming home again.
It was a good convention. Could you believe I paid £20 for one magic secret.
A card predicted found in a position in another deck deck Click here to see it.
Now there is a mystery and a half for sure !

I am in the process of renewing my taxi PSV licence, getting my tax clearance cert which is also linked to whether you have paid your household tax etc.
They say on the radio that Ireland is one of the easiest place to set up a business in Europe.
Do you know that you need 21 permits to set up a restaurant? and that no 2 permits can be found in the same agency..Red tape has us all buggered.  It is death by a thousand knife cuts, first aid kits, fire extinguisher, warning triangle, Hi Viz vest, torch note book pen.
What will come next? Flares, fog horns and defibrillators.
Where will it all end.

Anyhow on the work front today is a shopping day, so I was off with my list. Picking up people as well, there is no point in wasting fuel.
Coming back from Howth with the fish I picked up Lucy Meagher she is a sculptor have a look at her website here At present she is between studios and has take up a part time job to support herself.
Good luck with the work.
The other day I had a movie director who was doing research in our history, he has the makings of a movie and like a river of tar progress is slow. He had a fantastic speaking voice, it had a great ring to it.
I told him he should move in front of the camera.
A girl today going from Sallymount Ave to Lime St.
I knew both streets well but could not pull up either one in my mind..Sat Nav to the rescue.
Then as I approached Lime St. I explained that I must be becoming senile..Lime St. is engraved on my mind since a Phillopena girl asked me for it once....Then she directed me there.
I said how good her English was. "And sure why wouldn't it be good" she said.
Quick as a flash I said "I know who you are.!you're the Rose of Tralee."
You're right she said, and we got on like a house on fire from then on.
She was working for the tourist board back then. Though she has gone from Dublin now.
Her mother was from the Philippians and her father was Irish, her mother passed away just when she was doing her leaving cert. and instead of cracking up she decided to get the best results possible to make her mother in heaven happy..Which she did with flying colors.
So some people or streets you associate with them you should never forget.

A Radiographer, she could see right through me and a food stylist were also in the car.

Then I went down to the Stenna ferry a bit late, as most people were gone I started off to join the other ferry.
 Then came the cry "Taxi"
A young guy around 25 a traveler came running over pulling on his coat and shirt.
His story was that he had smoked his last joint in Holyhead,then when he walked past the drug sniffer dog he pounced on him resulting in a search down to his underpants.
On the way to Connelly station I got an insight into his wild life,some secrets must stay in the taxi.
But before we reached the train station he had to pop over to buy a bag of weed.



By the way Gene from "Cabs are for kissing"is plugging his book here
He told me that I was the first person to buy it