Tuesday, November 30, 2004

She's paid me

The payment from that lady passenger finally arrived today. The initial fare was £31.60 and she sent me a cheque for £40. All that remains now is to pay it in and hope it's not made of rubber!!
Went out at 9.45pm last night as I had stayed in to watch my beloved Leeds United make complete mugs of themselves and lose to the bottom team, Rotherham United. There's not really a whole lot more I can say on the subect other than "Sebastian Sainsbury, get your bloody finger out son".
I only did a couple of jobs as there wasn't a lot about. The best one was probably Nam Long in Old Brompton road to Victoria station and then on to Flodden Road in Camberwell for £25.
I have to change another headlight on my cab. I'm sure there's something wrong with the electrics as they only seem to last a couple of months at a time and they're about £5 a pop each time I have to replace one. I should also give it a wash as it's absolutely minging. I'll see how I feel later on.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

We're PC'd up

There are now four computers in my house. Mine, my two sons' and my daughters'. Up until today we had all been taking turns to share our Broadband Internet connection, which often caused arguments. So much so that one of my sons took out his own subscription to a dial up service. I went up to Tottenham Court Rd today and bought a Sitecom wireless router which came with a USB wireless network adapter, and two extra ones. Total cost: £150. I think it's the best money I've ever spent. The computer nearest to the router connects by wire and the other three recieve the signal via the adapters and hey presto!! Everyones happy.
Still no cheque from that lady who never paid me. I've since sent her yet another email and she's replied by saying she'd only just been paid and she's going to send the cheque out to me. Personally, I think it's all complete and utter bollocks and I've a good mind to stroll into her place of work and show her up in front of all her collegues.
I seem to be getting a lot of jobs out to the docklands which is great because I love going out there. When I did "The Knowledge" to become a cabby, the docklands were hardly developed at all. In 15 years they have changed dramatically and I have to learn everything as I go along.
I went out at 10pm tonight as I had a longer nap than usual. Back in at 2am with a decent nights takings. I was on my way home when 2 men flagged me down. They were both eating kebabs which normally prompts me to drive straight past them, but, as I needed the money, I stopped. They were only going from Chiswick High Rd to just off the North Circular Rd at Ealing Common. They paid me ok and walked away. When I looked round there was the whole contents of one of the kebabs on the floor, and not in the pitta bread. Dirty bastards!! I swept it all out onto the road but it stinks now and I may well have to shampoo the carpet tomorrow. Why do I keep putting myself through all this shite.....I must be a masochist.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Where's my money?

I had to send this lady an email last night when I got in from work.
"Dear Sarah
I don't know if you remember me or not but I picked you up in my cab in Baker street last night and drove you out to Osterly Park View Rd W7.
The fare was £31.60 and you never had any money on you so you gave me your business card and told me to come to your place of work today to collect the money. I explained to you that I am a night driver and do not go anywhere near that part of town till well after 8pm in the evenings but you started crying and were worried that your partner was going to beat you up. I was worried for you but you told me it would be ok. I was just wondering if you were ok and is there any way you could send me a cheque or something?
Hope to hear from you. Best Wishes. C. My Mobile Number is 078........
"
=============================================
This is the sort of thing that happens from time to time. It's not often for that much and more often than not I don't chase it up but £31 is a fair bit. I wouldn't mind but I only went out after the dismal England game at 10.30pm and every penny was needed. Still, I may hear from her otherwise i'll have to go to Farringdon to get it in person.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Went to Coventry

Now then, what's been happening?
I took a day trip up to Coventry last Saturday as my son and his cousins wanted to go and see a wrestling event up there. While they were in there me and my daughter went to see a film with Buffy in it. It was so crap that I can't even remember the name but it took place in Japan and these " Scary " faces kept popping up frightening the life out of all the punters. There was more excitement in the cinema with lot's of people being thrown out for making noises and different groups of girls shouting across the cinema at one another.
Work is picking up now on the run up to Christmas.
I had yet another "Puker" last week. I picked up 2 Oriental type men from Victoria. One of them was rat-arsed drunk. They asked to be taken to Croydon and then onto Sutton. I'm not too familiar with Croydon and the guy who was drunk was no help so I had the A to Z on my lap as I tried to find his road. I was driving over tram lines and expected to be pulled up by the police at any moment. I finally found his road and his wife was waiting on the doorstep. Her and the other guy pulled the drunk one out and carried him indoors. I took the opportunity to get out and look in the back as I'd been hearing some funny noises on the way down. The floor was full of what looked like egg fried rice and as they hadn't been eating anything it must have come out of his mouth. As the Sutton guy returned I exagerated a little and started holding my head and saying how this was going to mess my nights work up. He told me not to worry as he would pay for it. He climbed in over the sick and sat down on some more of it. When we got to his house the meter read £56. He said "and how much extra for the cleaning of the vehicle?" , "That's £40 mate" says me. "Forty pounds!!!" he exclaimed. I got out and showed him the tarriff and he couldn't really argue with that so he rounded it up to £100 in total and asked for a receipt. I still had to get it all cleaned up so I drove all the way home to North West London from Sutton and as it turned out I had it all spic and span in about fifteen minutes but that was the end of my nights work. There'll probably be a few more spewings to report once the Christmas parties start in a couple of weeks so watch this space.