Compliments Of The Season To You All.

Hi folks

Thought I’d get a quick post in before the festivities commence.

As you may or may not know I have been working days in order to have some sort of normal relationship with my partner, Jane. It takes twice as long to earn the money I need but means I get to spend the evenings with her watching TV and canoodling and what not. Last Friday she was set to visit her family in Suffolk when it started snowing quite heavily. She got into a panic about the thought of possibly getting stuck in her car overnight, as has happened to quite a few motorists recently. I decided I’d go with her just in case and return the next day on the train. The snow stopped as soon as it started but I went anyway and we had a nice time that evening taking in a movie (Unstoppable with Denzel…..very entertaining indeed) at the local multiplex. I returned on the train the following day but was only able to travel to Stratford as Liverpool Street Station was closed. I took the tube to St Johns Wood and as I exited the station I walked into a blizzard. Luckily I had all the right winter clothing on and the half hour walk to mine was quite enjoyable. The snow settled and is only just melting now 5 days later.

The upshot of this tale is that since then I have returned to working evenings / nights and I forgot how many arseholes are out there. Last night I saw a guy flagging me down in the distance and I prepared to stop but as I got nearer I saw his plastered girlfriend sitting unladylike on the wet pavement so I drove on by, as had many other cabs I’m sure. The pissed off guy threw what I could only assume was a stone which cracked off one of my nearside windows but failing to break the glass. I never bothered stopping but put a tweet out warning my colleagues.

On a more pleasant note I picked three guys up in town and dropped them off at various destinations including Clapham, Wandsworth and finally Roehampton. The last guy started chatting to me about where he used to live in Pimlico and it turns out he knows all my old pals from the neighbourhood. I used to live there until 1976 then moved away but continued seeing my pals at school and for a short few years after. Then, as often happens, we drifted apart but I recently met up with a few of them after tracing them on Friends Reunited. Anyhow, we had a great half hour reminiscing about the old days and then parted company in Roehampton to promises of meeting up one day in the neighbourhood pub The Pride of Pimlico. I doubt it will happen but who knows?

The work was a bit thin on the ground last night when I ventured onto the rank at Victoria Station. A young lady came out asking if I’d take her out to Romford and how much would it be. I told her about £70 to which she said that’s how much she had on her so I said that would be enough. We set off and I started messing about with my satnav. Seeing me do this she offered her postcode. I entered it and found that it was the far side of Romford; in fact it was Harold Hill and would probably be more money. It was a nice clear run up the A12 and I was there in about 35 minutes. As I was doing the last few lefts and rights to her road a deer crossed my path, which surprised and startled me. The girl in the back said it had probably wandered out of the nearby park. The fare hit £83 as I arrived at hers and I prepared to get the £70 we agreed but she gave me the full amount, which gave me my target for the night. The drive home was uneventful but I was tweeting and checking in on Facebook the whole way

I have now been driving my new TX4 for a few weeks. Overall it’s a great cab, as any new vehicle should be but there are two faults starting to niggle me and will need attention in the New Year. One is that the rear off side door doesn’t lock. I’ve had this problem with other cabs and it isn’t a big job but it will need to go to M&O (main dealers) to get put right. As will the second problem, which is that the right channel on the stereo isn’t working. Not a big deal to some people but being brand new it should work. It’s also supposed to be a DAB radio but I can’t seem to get it to scan for stations (it’s a JVC) so FM has to suffice.

Well, I’ve just been down to my local Sainsbury’s to get part of the shopping for Christmas. There’s stuff everywhere and I have little or no space to store anything. Luckily it’s colder outside than my fridge and it’s likely to remain so for a few days so I can store stuff out there with out anything spoiling.

All that remains is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year 2011.

Take care out there and wrap up warm.

LC.