Thursday, March 29, 2007

Into the weekend



Sorry if the last posting was a bit depressing, but it had to be told warts and all.

Perhaps we should all take some time out with our kids while they are young.
We could do without the new Merc or the plasma screen TV or that trip to the shops on Sunday.

Tempus fugit.

Yesterday I met the lovely Lisa Fitzpatrick who was on her way to an awards ceremony, she was in the running for most stylish lady in Ireland.
Lisa is the fashion guru on TV3 and when I Googled her I got loads of info.
She had done the makeup and was on her way to do the hair.
You looked great Lisa !.

Guess what she won first prize, VIP magazine will have all the info.

One of the perks of the job meeting interesting people.

I dress down as if I look too well dressed I will get no tips.
(recognition of a job well done)

Today was one funny day I had a spate of one fare after the other.
One getting out,next one waiting to get in.
Never got home for a break which is fine because when the going gets slack I will be at home.

Near the end of the day I picked up a lady who said "Your going to kill me, I want to go to Bray"
I had met her before and I told her what I remembered about her.
She has a fantastic musical tone to her voice.
Born in Scotland reared in South Africa and educated in England.
The Scottish accent is the strongest but the effect of her voice is like hearing beautiful music.

She is very tall and her story is one of a very brave persons fight to regain her health.
She was paint balling and got shot twice on the shoulder. Thought nothing of it but her shoulder was really sore. A friend looked at the bruising which looked really nasty and told her to go to the doctor.
The doctor sent her to hospital and to cut the story shorter she had to have a skin graft.

Then the story took a sinister twist , she picked up the MRSA virus, her weight dropped to 5 stone (she is 6ft 4).
Thank God she survived but she is still fighting to regain her health.

Strange to say she works with the people who are homeless and addicted.
I sometimes think God has lost the plot.

Get well soon.

I took a few snaps of the fine houses out in Bray before heading for home.

On the way I stopped to snap Jim Rocks Farrarri, he is a car dealer who is not afraid to talk to the public.
I don't know if you ever have been embarresed by being snubbed at a car dealership.
Guys, we can go to the internet and buy cars, there other dealers who can step up to the plate and do the business.(just an aside a popup came on my screen carzone.ie and Jims car came up, the price is POA) I also picked up his cousin from Galway who is also a boxer.

Just back in Booterstown picked up a fare to Tallaght, the punter works in computers speccific to the pharmacy trade, the system is fantastic it cross checks that if a patient is on 2 or more drugs that there will not be a reaction between the two drugs.It also makes up daily doses and labels everything.The system orders drugs for when they are needed, the only thing it won't do is make the tea.
The traffic from Tallaght to the end of the M50 was a car park so I went back through town.

Last fare of the day was a man going the Ardmore hotel in Finglas, the address that was given was a bit off but I knew the place.
The guy was a motor mechanic and we had a bit of banter about how cars nowadays are not serviced manually, but plugged into computers and they are so complicated that they are mental.
My wifes car has no spark plugs or distributer! But it works.
Turns out he is going to a reunion of ex cancer patients.
Getting cancer is a good boot up the arse, making you re assess your life and makes you value what you have.
Hope you have many more reunions.


Have a happy weekend.

Stop the traffik ! (people) www.stopthetraffik.org

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Old hand




Whenever you pull up, someone gets in, tells you their destination and then,sometimes something else happens!

Seldom it is really special, like the time I met Chuck Feeney.

Sometimes it is really thought provoking as in this case.
I come in the Clontarf rd. most days, If I have not picked up a fare I park up at Connolly station.

A gent in his late 60's got in and asked for the Charlemont clinic. The banter began and I told him about the book on old Dublin I was reading called Dublin tennement life by Kevin C Kearns.
It tells about old Dublin and features people like Bang Bang and Johnny fortycoats and Lugs brannagan.
He had been a Garda serving under "Lugs Brannagan" and spoke of the annamal gangs of the 60's and how the Garda had fought a pitched battle with them at the Harolds cross greyhound stadium, he was there that day.
The Animal gang got a long time in prison and then the conversation turned.

Drug dealers sell drugs openly on the streets and It may have been a remark that they should be stopped which started him off.

I had 4 daughters I really wanted to have a son.

Did you ever hear the saying "Be careful for what you wish?"

Well my son arrived and my life was complete, he was a great kid, Everyone loved him,he was the center of our lives.

Then at 14 something happened..He became unhappy, disruptive and a rebel.

I was working progressing throght the ranks.

Then one day things had gotten out of hand, we needed help.
We went to shrinks, took all the help that was on offer.
Things then really took a turn for the worse.

He found, no he embraced drugs!
He went from being my most loved person in my life to becoming this robbing lying fiend.

People told me to lock him out until he regained his senses! He stole from the house until I had to throw him out.
The logic was that he would see the error of his ways.
He broke into the house twice until we had a security system installed. Can you think how bad things had become when we had to protect ourselves from our own son.

The time passed. Things moved from bad to worse.
The lads from the station kept a lookout for him and time passed, then one day my wife is on the upper deck of the bus home and she saw three down and outs on the street.
One of them was gaunt and skeleton like and she recognised our Tommy
.
She ran downstairs.
But by the time the bus stopped and she got off Tommy had gone away.

Her shopping and handbag were on the bus.

We looked for Tommy for the next 3 weeks, Marys health got really bad.
Did anyone ever tell you about the Camels in Africa, when they decide to die?
Well Mary just died, she died of a broken heart.

He turned up a month or so after the funeral, I wanted to talk to him, our time for talking had passed.
The girls tried to get through as well .So I gave him money and he went away again.

It was the guts of a year later when I had a knock at the door..

2 Garda, "Bad news, we have found your sons body in a squat"

Thank God I said. "No more worry no more pain for him and for us."
He had put us through hell, but the hell he put himself through was 10 times worse.

I laid him out to rest a month ago and now he is beside his mother, they have both found peace.

I am off to the Charlemont clinic now, I have cancer.

I have sons myself I told him, what happened to his family was awful.

Did you ever think of talking against drugs to kids in schools ?

Well no, perhaps that might do more to encourage them rather help them.

He got out and I wished him well.
I said that a holiday on a cruise ship might give him a rest from the heartbreak he was suffering..

We would all die sometime, but he deserved a break.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Spring !



I have been distracted, whats all this fixation with muggers, prostitutes and junkies about?
Well nothing really so I will shut up about them, for a while.

The clocks have sprung forward and Summer will arrive with all its splendor.

Well things happen and sometimes it just works out right.
I pulled up at the rank on Earlsfort terrace the other day. A car stopped to ask me directions at the same time the porter at the Conrad hotel blew his whistle, I gave the directions to the lady before picking up this middle aged couple.
Airport please. No problem.
I will bring you past Fitzwilliam Sq, they are making a film there and there are some fantastic 1920s cars and buses there..
The cars and the bus had moved into the area where the filming was going on. As we passed the sq. the lady piped up in her best Cockney accent "do you think we are F++++ng stupid ? Driving us round the ouses".
Well I suppose we could have driven down a bus lane the opposite way and down one way street against the traffic.

Today I would have stopped another taxi and sent them packing,but I kept the head down,

Listened to the radio and arrived at departures. Took out luggage! Hope you have plenty of time for your flight I said.

Yes we have.

The clocks went forward today and it has made my day crazy.

What do you mean?
Summer time, the clocks went forward.
So what time is now?
5.20!

The look of shock said it all

Happy days!

I would never wish bad on anyone who did not deserve it, but she got what was coming.

The Merrion hotel and all the high priced hotels I will refuse to pick up at them if I can.
As the guests slip the porter a 10 then refuse to tip the taxi driver. You are much better picking up someone off the street.
A young girl working in a shop will tip 10 times better than a business man on expenses.

Once I had this guy who said make the recept for 20.00,
Where is my change he roared.
So as his friends jumped out of the taxi, I pulled the recipt from his hand , I ripped it up. Wrote him (slowly) a new one and gave him his change in shrapnel.
And as he rushed off I called him right back.
Thinking he had lost something he came back.
"Have a nice day"
If looks could kill.

I had a couple from Mauritius that fantastic honeymoon destination ,it seems such a lovely place, later that day I picked up a lady from Spain who runs a language school and she was going to the same hotel so I told her to tell the girl from Mauritius that that old taxi driver was going crazy about her.
Turns out that they will be touring Ireland together for the next week.

I want to go too.

The 2 euro coin is just the same as the 10 bat coin from Thailand I have one and when I next work late someone else will have it!
I had a lesson in race relations from a Thai girl today.
You know when you look at someone and then she looks at you looking at her.
Then she walks over and gets into your car (Then you remember your driving a taxi)
During the drive we had a deep conversation
She told me that in Thailand men prefer women with lighter skin!
This is something I would never have thought of.
To me (if you are reading this) beauty comes from within, The great Beauties of this world are nothing if they have nothing to say or have no sense of humor.
Your skin color matters little ,its whats inside that counts.

I have been fussing around,not getting much work done and when I get back on track I will have something to say.


I have another tale to tell but I must wait until it matures.
I would not like you to have a story with a sad ending.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Just something to think about




three websites to make you think.

www.stopthetraffik.org
www.afruca.org
www.thetruthisntsexy.org

There is nothing more I can do except buy a fairtrade easter egg.

Friday, March 23, 2007

www.museum.ie

Took a little time off to explore Collins barracks museum. The theme is the Irish at war since 1550. Its called Soldiers and chiefs. Its good.
For in foreign fields from Dunkirk to Belgrade, lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade (Thomas Davis.





Thursday, March 22, 2007

Right way ,wrong way




A few weeks ago I put a photo of this beautiful building in Ringsend. Built a couple of years ago on the banks of the Dodder river, it has never been occupied.
The reason is that the foundations were never "tanked", a process which would stop water from seeping under and into the building .
When the tide is in, the basement is flooded.
Local people have all told me of this sorry mess. A consultant team of engineers from Germany have inspected the building and recommend total removal and a rebuild.(Its a big one)
The lawyers will be the big winners in the end.
Today one of the windows shattered as the building starts to list.
So its days on the Ringsend skyline are numbered.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spring Forward



The first shot is of the Aras an uictaran. the home of our president. Mary MeAleese.
If you click on it to enlarge the picture you will see the light in the window which was started by Mary Robinson. "I will put a light in the window to help our emigrants find their way home."
Well times are better and many have returned.
Whether it is a better place for all the extra money is a hard one to argue.

The second photo is a group of soon to be doctors who are studying medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons. They are outside Vicker st where they are taking patr in a charity show.
I hope the girls remember to subtract at 40 when they are taking the pulse of old guys like me. They will have to do this compensate for their good looks and to get an accurate reading.
The RCS attracts people from all over the world and it has a great reputation.
When I was young they used to have open days where you would get a walking tour, I don't know if that still goes on.
A great old Dublin thing was to sell your body for science. They gave you a few bob and then they buried you later.

Years ago my brother were passing the side entrance when two undertakers came out carrying a coffin. After they passed my brother said."So much for the second opinion"

Here we are at the change of seasons, clocks will spring forward one hour and before you know it the Summer will be here.

As I write the birds are singing like mad. When you are doing the all night it is a great time(6am).You are finishing the shift and on some high point over the city you pull over and take in the panoramic view of the city in the dawns early light. Some wahere near Bohar na buaina near Tallagh or Howth head.

Did you ever read Strumpet City By James Plunkett ?.
He talks of the great strike and the lockout in the times when workers had no rights?, how things have changed when the Irish now exploit foreign workers.

Irish shipping lines have been caught paying workers just a few euro per hour.
The seamens union have had ships impounded twice to have the men paid.
The deckhands were not union members because the Russian mafia who employed them would not like that.All of the workers were from non EU countries.

The employers say "Not us, we subcontracted the labor from another company"

A Latvian guy who was working as s trainee(dog walker)won back pay and costs. His employer claimed he was a "traineee" So he was not entitled to minimum wage.

Hotels are doing the same. Cleaners, porters etc.
Trainee managers are paid buttons just to get work experience.

So when you get that cappacheno, TIP !

If you don't speak up you would soon become a doormat.

I just fixed up the link to New York taxi shots have a look great photos

Have to get out more.

Its 7 am HAVE A NICE DAY

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Then Mothers day



Well St.Patrick's day seems to have been a big hit in Dublin, New York, Cumbria, Canada and wherever Green is worn.
This BIG telly was for the big rugby match.
Now when my lotto comes in this is the kind of telly I will get, .
F*** those ones who boast with their flat screens.
The second one is from my camera phone showing the snowstorm that struck with thunder and lightening on Sun. Sent all the shoppers into taxis.
Mannah from heaven.
Then on Monday night thousands of people descended from the heavens with delayed flights.
There must have been 3/400 people at a time waiting. Our airport has no rail link.
I did what I could but we were all dead beat after the few hectic days.
You know that if we had brains and refused to pay for the pick-up permit the DAA would be forced to let taxis in for free!

I got a letter from the Samaritans today with window stickers for taxis.
A couple of years I had a beautiful girl in the car who as it turned out had just slashed her wrists.
She was going to the hospital and as we were going there she told me her story.

I really couldn't help her but I asked her if she had ever herd of the Samaritans?
She had never herd of them and I had not got their number.
It was a fantastic sunny day and I spoke with her for about an hour,me sitting in the doorway of the Scudo taxi her on the back seat about 4 feet away,I had my back to her most of the time so as not to be a threat.
I get a lot of stick when I say she was the daughter I would have loved to have had (I have 3 sons)but yet again.
It is true

She had a lot of problems a lot of her hurt came from the way her parents were dealing with her.

When she got out of the taxi (another freebie) I went home.

I looked up the Samaritans and wrote to them asking them to print out business size cards with Samaritans details.
Taxi drivers could carry them.
Because you never know what will happen next.
Perhaps an A4 poster for every doctors surgery would be a good idea !.
Now they have issued stickers for taxi back windows.
All thanks to me.
Mind you its not me but what drives me!

I hope she gets the help she wants, or peace in heaven.

The same number of people die in car crashes as die by their own hand.
People who kill themselves leave such fear and despair behind them.

4 good people who I knew and one who I had spoken to just before he died.

Ruari a good guy, great job,beautiful wife and fantastic house.
Laughing and joking asked me to come for lunch." Some other time" I said "Its now or never" were the last words he spoke to me.
An hour later he was dead.
Hung himself.
It was 2 weeks later when I knew he was dead.

People who have decided on this course of action get very elated and it is very hard to pick up that they are happy because they have found the solution to their problems.

So sometimes when you are driving around try to take in the bigger picture.

Think Why is this person going to Beachy Head. Or the Severn Bridge, or even Howth Head.

Get a small business card from your branch of the Samaritans, keep it on the dash.

One last thing.
Young people have run up incredible debts.
Go to the bank they will negotiate with you.
Failing that go bankrupt!
They fear that the most.

But don't top yourself because they gave you money which you couldn't afford in the first place.


Lighten up!
This chap sees the sign .
suits 10.0
jackets 6
trousers 4

So he walks into this shop in London.

I want 2 suits.
4 pairs of trousers
and an overcoat!

Your Irish aren't you says the shop man?

How did you know that ?

Very easy really ,this is a dry cleaners shop

Saturday, March 17, 2007

St. Patricks day



A great day for the Irish and thats for sure and a day when we all can go green.

And a super day for taxi driving I have taken in a new record total and personal best of e500.
There was snow on the East coast of the States and a lot of flights were canceled , so many dissapointed customers were sent home.
I got 3 runs back over he M50 back to back, with the bonus of fairs going back across the city.The world and his children came out to see the parade. Which went off well.

There is never enough transport to bring everyone home and with 1/2 the roads closed the buses can't get through. It is total chaos. One example of forward planning is that the Aircoach which runs through the city center could not run. Now if it was you or me you would put signs up advising people of that fact. Not here hordes of people waiting.
Funny thing is if you pulled up and told them they would think you were pulling a scam. 3 or 4 people in a taxi will always be cheaper than the Aircoach. That is if he is not a conman.

I came home and had a sleep and worked till 4 am and there are still loads of people wandering around in a daze.

Never wait at a rank walk towards your home facing the oncoming traffic and when an empty taxi spots that you are not falling over the place he will stop for you. Hail all taxis. I never turn on my taxi sign so that I can pick my punter, I don't wand some maniac jumping in and wrecking my head.
Don't smoke or have a big Kebab in your hand because the smell of chips or kebabs when you are sober is too much to take.
You would never buy a Kebab if you were sober.

Interesting people Rory Faithfield coming home from a gig.www.faithfield.com
(Anyone know why the links come out wrong?)
A great looking banker who had her flight canceled to Chicago (hope you get going today)
And a messed up chance to go through the port tunnel. www.DublinPortTunnel.ie
And one great story.

Years ago there was a hotel ( sorry I can't give the name )which was bought by a developer.

They wanted to knock it down and build apartments.
Planning takes time so the appointed a security company to mind the place.

Soon after the security company were appointed they opened a fully functional brothel in the hotel and no one noticed a thing. People came and went and as it used to be a hotel no one was any the wiser.
It was working for as long as 6 months before they were detected.

I work that area quite a lot and I never noticed it.

The powers that be tell me that they are on top of this situation but google escorts dublin. prostitutes dublin and you will find that Dublin has a thriving sex trade.

The biggest red light district in europe was here in Dublin it was called Monto (Montgomery st) There is a great ould song about how the Prince of Wales was brought down there and had a great time and when his mother queen Victoria herd the story she nearly died of shame, it also caused the death of her consort Albert.
I guess we all can have wild kids in our family.

When the British army moved out the legion of Mary moved in and closed the place down.


The cleverness of the criminal mind never ceases to amaze me.

Ireland beat Pakistan at Cricket no less.

I just found this and I thought I would share it with you.
It reinforces how mad law and order has gone here, while our elected fools go around the world presenting the Shamrock.

Teens sentenced for car theft and attack
16/03/2007 - 15:35:38

Three teenagers robbed a man of his car keys when he was on his way to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and returned to attack him to find out where his car was parked, a court has heard.

Keith Allen, (aged 20), of Croftwood Green, Ballyfermot, Stephen O' Reilly, (aged 19), of Kilworth Road, Drimnagh and Jason O'Toole, (aged 19), of O'Hogan Road, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to assault causing the man harm, robbery and unlawful taking of his car near Christchurch, Dublin 8, on December 24, 2005.

They were sentenced to four years in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after Judge Katherine Delahunt heard that the man lay on the pavement for 90 minutes before he was discovered and brought to James's Hospital where he was found to have a fractured eye socket that required surgery to prevent him loosing the sight in it.

O'Toole also pleaded guilty to robbery of a MP3 player from the person and robbery of a shop on September 26, 2005. He received a consecutive two year sentence to the four year term as he was on bail for these robberies when he committed the one on Christmas Eve.

Judge Delahunt said she was satisfied that while all three were involved in the robbery, O'Toole caused the injuries on the second attack. The man was left with a lacerated ear, face fractures, a broken nose, fractured ribs and chest injuries in addition to his eye injuries.

She accepted that all three made full admissions and co-operated with gardaí and while they were under the influence of alcohol and pills at the time they have all made efforts to rehabilitate and come off drugs.

Judge Delahunt suspended the last 12 months of O'Reilly's sentence after taking into account that he had shown remorse for his actions and had a problem with drink at the time.

Allen had the last 15 months of his sentence suspended and O'Toole had the last 12 months of his sentence suspended and backdated to March 2006 when he was first remanded in custody for the offence.

Garda Dave Houlahan told Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that the victim was walking to midnight mass on Christmas eve when O'Toole, O'Reilly and Allen, approached him and threw punches and kicks at him, knocking him to the ground, before they left with his car keys, watch and wallet.

They used the beeper on the key ring to try and find the car but were unsuccessful and returned to the victim where O'Toole kicked him again until he told the robbers where the car was parked.

The three then made off in the car but were stopped by Garda Fiona Lee, who recognised them and knew they didn't own a car.

They were immediately arrested when she noticed their clothes were blood stained and taken to the garda station for question.

Gda Houlahan said that O'Toole had 13 previous convictions, O'Reilly had 10 and Allen had six. All three had never been before the Circuit Court.


You would not delieve it if it was fiction!

Friday, March 16, 2007

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Soapbox.



The 2 photos are of 2 shops in Capel St.
The possibly last pawnbrokers in Dublin and the new Polish bakery.
Polish people say your bread is so bad. Polish bread is really good and so it is.
Pawnbrokers were such a part of life in the 60's and 70's. Suits pawned on Mondays only to be redeemed on Saturdays for Sunday mass.
Still everything changes and still it remains the same.

Forgive me if I stand up on my soapbox and vent my anger at the law for a few minutes.

A taxi driver raped 4 girls after giving them drugs.
A friend of mine who works in the prison told me that in his 20 years of prison service he had never met such a viscous and depraved person.
He got something like 8 years .
He has had it appealed and has had his sentence halved.

No wonder Joe public have ideas of what they expect taxi drivers to be like.

A taxi driver could be put out of work for a few speeding offences, putting his family on the breadline.

A guy brakes into a house and rapes a woman who is living there. She did not scream in case he harmed her children who were asleep.
He pleads not guilty.
The victim has to come to court to give evidence .
Her life and sexual history are brought up in court during cross examination.

The judge then decides that the man is from a good family so he gives him a 2 year suspended sentence. They go back to their homes on the same train.
As the victim is walking towards the exit the rapist flicked his cigarette butt in her direction!

Are you paying attention.

A guy rapes a 75 year old woman while robbing her house.
He was out on bail for other offenses.
When found guilty thumps the the jury box and threatens the family.
"This is not over yet"
The sentence?

15 years.

Out in 6?

An unfortunate Chinese woman had to sit through a trial where her only son was killed with a butchers knife during a robbery of his home.
Derek Wade had been given a 7 year sentence in 1999 for killing someone else.

His next victim was in 2005.

The mother told the court that she cried every day of the loss of their only child.
but in her country a person like this would have to loose their own life.
Seems fair to me.

I can expect him to be sitting in a cab beside me in a few years time.

Had a guy this morning just out after 4 years for armed robbery and he was looking forward to spending StPatricks day with his daughter. She has waited a long time to have a day out with her daddy he said.

A judge had to apologise for saying that if anyone broke into his house he would blow their brains out with a shotgun. The case he was dealing was straight theft. No breaking in or violence used.

Man faces 75 years for graffiti.

Well this is in Thailand where you could buy a child to "deflower"for around e100.

Girls are sold into prostitution and no one gives a damn.

But put a bit of graffiti on a portrait of the leader King Bhumibol Adulyadej
and your looking at 75 years.

The Thai people that I have met are fantastic people.
But this aspect of sex tourism is repugnant to me and which they have a blind spot.

Look Sorry for blowing out like this.
But for evil to prosper the good must remain silent..

Look PERHAPS I am just tired , so I will go to bed.

I met a beautiful girl today from Brazil( they all are).
After she told me where she came from I asked .
What team do you play football for?

I once shook the hand that shook the hand of Ronnie Biggs the famous great train robber.
The lady in question lives in Chapelozed and she met him Rio where she lived.


www.stpatricksfestival.ie

Monday, March 12, 2007

Bloody bicycles

Like dogs hate cats
Taxi drivers hate bikes
like tight rope walkers hate wasps.
Dont know why these links are so hit and miss!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7a4_1173478371

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Jack Kennedy asked







This is Monaco a sunny place for shady people.

Jack Kennedy asked the shoe shine boy something and when he was told the answer he left the shoeshine stand a worried man.
What did he ask?
What was the answer?
One of my 2 readrers must know.
I only use this point to shade in something which happened at the weekend.
3 suits stopped me in Donnybrook. Sorry Ididn't bring the S class Merc with me today.
We are going to the Merrion(rooms e600per night) but first I would like to show these gentlemen property on Shrewsbury rd. and Ailsbury Rd. This is prime embassy land.
I brought them through Clyde Rd and pointed out properties that their frend did not know about.
Lots of peeping and reversing followed!
Back to the hotel.
Are you going to eat at Patrick Guilbauds restaurant?
We ate there last night expensive but worth every penny(e200 per person)...at least

Driver could you wait and bring us to the airport?

NOW ALL MY READERS WHO DRIVE A TAXI KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.

The fare was e49.50
Just make the receipt out for e50 you can keep the change.

Now for e10 I could have told you that the smart money is off to the Carribean.
Our housing market is on the verge of collapse, well over the verge.
Perhaps freefall
People are discounting prices and estate agents are f****d
You can buy property in Nice or Frejus cheaper than Dublin.

Wake up boys, smell the coffee.

You should see the number of Irish flags on the yachts in Monaco and St Tropez.

There is a guy in the States who is a Zillionare and he was on the CNN talking about when he takes over a company.
He first speaks to the janator then the cleaners. By the time he speaks to the board he knows evrything.
Its a bit like the Native American indians listening to the wind.

Friday, March 09, 2007

ST Patricks day.


click on the thatched cottage to make it bigger, now look at the date stone on the right side. Now thats an old cottage.
The big day is on the 17th and it is celebrated all over the world.
And where better to go to than Montsarat a tiny island in the west indies which boasted a large population of black Irish(desended from Irish slaves and sailors who jumped ship) they used to have a great parade until a volcano blew the bloody place up, I met a black girl from there once her hame was O'Malley and her eyes were a vivid blue, in her black face they were very striking.
It was some kind of paradise.Their flag even has a harp on it.
Statues of St.Patrick were in every house. Some say that the statue was really to represent a vodoo god who had power over snakes.

The parade and fireworks and the big open air dance and so what if its not sunny the whole world will be there.(www.stpatricksfestival.ie)The link did not work.

Rio Comes to Dublin.
Last year in the icy wind we had a bikini clad dancer in near blizzard conditions, She was frozen. But our local firemen knew just how to warm her up.
But the holy nuns had better ideas and she is now sister Juliana. (I joke)

Australia are having their big day on the 11 th, they didn't want it to clash with the Sydney harbour bridge celebrations. 100 years open?

St.Patricks day used to be a "dry" day with no pubs open.

If you wanted to drink you could go to the RDS to the dog show,but the pubs were allowed to open a few years ago. Last year and the year before the cops clamped down on the drunkenness (they were drinking Guinness)
But the year before that it was mayhem.
The cops arrested a 13 year girl giving her boyfrend a blowjob in Grafton st.
They brought her home to her parents. Now theres a wake up call no one wants !
Kids today.

So with the fireworks, the parade. the ceili mor (open air Irish dancing)and the dog show.
It will be a big weekend.
Look out for the Estonians,Latvians,Lithuanians,Belarus,Ukrane,Russians,Moldovans,Polish,Checks.Slovakians,Hungarians not to mention the beautiful girls from Slovenia and Croatia.There are hundreds of people from Brazil and Nigeria here as well.

Bring a raincoat your wooley vest and a stepladder to see the parade.

Happy St.Patricks day.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Witness

Just a teaser while I write my next entry.

I met a woman the other who told me a disturbing story of her visits, one to Africa the other to an orphainage in Bellarus.

Now I felt the pain she was suffering from the scenes she witnessed and I asked her to try a blog.

If you are reading this now you have my e mail, I will give you any help you need to get your story told.
Or if you wish I will put your story on this blog , just send me an e mail .
Then the people who read here can offer comments.

For evil to prosper the good must remain silent.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

M50 mayhem



Here is lovely Ringsend
The large office building has been ready for tennants for the last few years. The locals tell me that when it was built they did not "tank" the foundations. It is built on the banks of the Dodder and it is sinking and the underground car park is filling up with water. Experts say "knock it down"expensive mistake !.
Still if you live in Ringsend you could buy your chips from a Firrari.
Colin Farrell is building his new house just up the road.
I brought a guy down there one day and he was going on "where did all these appartments come from? Jeais I hardly know the place.
Have you been away?
yes I was away for 10 years.
Where were you?
Prison...
Well if he had been away for 10 years it was Murder one.
You know he seemed a nice enough lad.

The M50 northbound has been at a standstill for at least 2 hours. There is a crash but no traffic management. Thank God I am at home.
I had a strange one on Dorset st. drunk guy stops and nearly falls into the car. I have to collect 4 alloy wheels here. So we load in a beautiful set of alloys with tyres into the car..Bring them to this address heres e50, you can keep the change and off he goes.
Now drunk is one thing but stupid as well is a terrible thing.
I know many drivers who would have driven off with the lot.
The fair was e18 and I said that their dad told me to keep the change but I would not take advantage of him, just give me back e20 I appreciate your honesty he said.
I won't say where it was but it would be considered to be a "bad" area. The tyres will not be on the car for 2 nights before they are gone.
Contrast that with the guy I brought out to Intel in Leixlip took him the quick route e28 not a cent tip. TIPS to insure prompt service ! Another good one is POSH when the brits were going to India the welthier one would put POSH on their cases.. Port Outward Starboard Home.

A frend phoned me last night. He had filled his diesel jeep with petrol.
He didn't start it and a guy is coming out to syphon the tank. e200 an expensive mistake.

Just a note to remind you all to slow down a bit Keith Barry the Irish magician was very lucky not to loose his leg in an accident at the weekend . He had to be cut from his car .He has several fractures in both legs and 2 fractures in his ankle. They allmost had to take the leg off, but the doctors in Norterhern Ireland know their stuff.
Hope he makes a full recovery as his career was just taking off.

Get well soon Keith.

Another bad smash on Stephens green this morning . a rear ender, top of the range Merc. A car that would weigh 2 tons shunted by a box van so hard that it hit the other car in front.
A shunt hurts really badly whiplash is really sore.
And then there's the truck and car on the M50 Car roof taken off.

Take it easy out there boys and girls.