Hi folks
I was just thinking how long it was since my last post and
felt the urge to do another one.
Well the weather seems to have finally made its mind up and
here in London we have been enjoying some record sunshine. Previously, we had
been treated to two weeks of constant rain, which bought some relief to the
beleaguered water companies, some of which have had to impose hosepipe bans.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is almost upon us and the final
preparations are being put into place for this weekends festivities. What does
that mean to us cabbies? Roads closed left right and centre. The main route
from the Victoria area to the west end is via Buckingham Palace but the whole
area has been shut now for almost two weeks. Traffic is now squeezed into smaller
roads that can’t cope and the resulting chaos adds stress to an already
stressful job.
I did a job from Paddington Station to the Haymarket Hotel
on Monday. Normally a £12 ride. I pulled up at the hotel with £28.60 on the
meter and she wasn’t a happy camper I can tell you but funnily enough I still
got a tip!!
Back to the festivities and Sunday promises to be a
difficult day for us as all the bridges across the Thames ( except Vauxhall
Bridge so I’m reliably informed) will be closed to traffic from morning till
night. So if someone gets in on The Strand and wants say Waterloo Station
they’re going the long way round and will have to pay for the pleasure.
Jane and me plan to go into town on one of the days but I
think we’ll take the tube.
Last time I spoke of the cab there were three or four major
faults that would need to be sorted out under the warranty. I’m pleased to
announce that they were indeed sorted and my cab now doesn’t emit any black
smoke or have any leaks and runs like a dream.
The day after I got it back I dropped Jane at work and went
to sit on St John’s Wood Rank to get my first job of the day. An American
customer came to the window and asked to be taken to Merrill Lynch in Newgate
Street. I told him to jump in and then watched him struggle to open the door.
The handle came away in his hand and he handed it in to me through the window
apologising for trashing my cab. I told him it wasn’t his fault but he would
have to take the cab behind me. I pulled away and called my garage. The door
handle would be another warranty job but it would make financial sense for the
garage to buy the part and fit it themselves, which is exactly what they did.
Anyway, I pulled out of the garage and drove towards Camden and another
passenger flagged me down wanting to go into the centre, Piccadilly I think. I
noticed that the door swung out more than it usually did and wondered if the
safety strap had broken. When they got out I checked it and it had indeed
become unstitched and would need fixing before a strong gust of wind doubled my
door back on itself. Back at the garage they got the emergency kit out for
fixing safety straps…….a tube of superglue and a stapler!!! I had to laugh. The
old mechanic put a generous dollop of superglue on the strap, pressed the two
pieces together and fired about five staple into it to finish the job. Sure
enough it looked like a proper job. He opened and shut the door several times exclaiming,
“job done!!” I drove away again and eventually trapped a job and guess what? It
snapped as soon as they opened the door. I haven’t bothered to say anything as
I’m waiting till I have to pay the cab rent next week but I’ll be interested to
see what they attempt next.
I got an email today from Hailo. If you remember previous
posts they are a company I subscribe to to get work. Well they said in the
email that I’ve only been accepting 10% of the jobs offered to me and that wasn’t
acceptable to them so they might have to cancel my subscription. What they don’t
seem to realize is that most of the job offers are way too far away and are not
viable if it’s busy on the streets. I’ve had some job offers up to 2.7 miles
away!! They must be having a laugh if they think I’m gonna run for that.
Anyway check back soon for more riveting gossip from my
world.
God Save The Queen!!!!!
Take Care.
L.C.
