Hi folks
Thought I'd better post again as it's been almost 2 months.
So, what's been happening in my world?
Personal stuff first.
I recently turned 50!!
It doesn't feel any different to me but others I've spoken to say it's a big turning point in their lives. I, on the other hand don't have time for turning points and have to plod relentlessly on the way I have been just to keep my life on track.
My partner, Jane, having family in Suffolk, has decided she'd like a weekend bolt-hole to relax in after a hard weeks work here in London. So the weekend just gone was spent moving into a little 2-bedroom cottage just outside Ipswich. My taxi was packed to the max with all her stuff and her little Fiat 500 was too. We left at 6am on Saturday morning and got there just before 8am. There wasn't a stick of furniture in the place so we spent the day getting a mattress to sleep on and lot's of soft furnishings to make the place look homely. The technical aspect of moving was my department so I had to try and get us some working TV stations. The roof ariel didn't seem to be connected to the sockets in the cottage but luckily the previous tenants had Sky TV and left the dish up. I was able to connect an old Sky box we had with a working card and we at least had all the basic digital channels to keep us amused. The internet and phone signals out in the country are weak to non-existant but I managed to locate a corner of the house that gave us the best signal for the internet dongle. The phone signal was a bit more tricky and we found that to be able to talk without getting cut off mid way you had to stand on the landing at the top of the
stairs, a bit of a pain but better that nothing at all. There is a nice pub literally next door and we went in there for a meal but everything else is at least a 15 minute drive away.
I had to return on Monday as I had to work but Jane has stayed on as she has a week off. Her daughter, who recently had a baby girl, has been enjoying seeing her mum and Jane has already babysat which is what she's always dreamed of doing. I'll be returning there probably tomorrow night after my shift for another few days and we'll return to London on Sunday afternoon as it's Mothers Day here in the UK and I haven't seen my parents for almost a month. (Shame on me as they only live 20 minutes away)
Once we cab drivers hit the big five O then we receive a letter from the Carriage Office inquiring into our health. We have 28 days to get a medical passing us fit to drive for another five (i think) years. Well, I never got that letter but I did get a reminder saying that they haven't received my medical form back in the allotted time. I had to call them up, get a new one sent out and then the fun began. My doctor, a very nice Chinese lady, decides everything has to be done to the letter. What's wrong with that I hear you all ask? Nothing is wrong with that but she is now sending me hither and thither for tests that I don't need just to satisfy what she already knows by reading my medical history. I went for an ECG the other day. She's looked at it and decided I have to see a cardiologist. The same thing happened last time I had an ECG and the cardiologist told me there was nothing wrong with me. I went to Specsavers yesterday for a very very thorough eye examination and passed with flying colours. She still hasn't given me an appointment for the actual medical where she will fill in and stamp the form for me because she has too many patients on her books. I've told her I have to get the form back to the PCO asap but it doesn't seem to make any difference so I have had to call the PCO and buy myself a bit more time. They've given me another month to sort everything out so hopefully by next post I will still be a working cabby and not a suspended one....on the breadline I might add!!
My cab has recently taken to spewing out loads of black smoke. I took it to the garage last Friday and they changed the air filter and told me to give it a good thrashing on the motorway when I went to Ipswich. I belted it all the way there and all the way back. Although the smoke did stop for a while it seems to start up again after I've restarted the engine. Whilst working last night the smoke was terrible, especially as cars behind me had their headlights on and made it look even worse. Occasionally for no reason at all the smoke would stop altogether and the cab would pick up speed and run smoothly then it would start all over again and run a bit lumpy. I've got a feeling it might be the fuel filter. The garage seems to think I may have filled the tank with contaminated fuel somewhere along the line. I'm due to go there tomorrow to pay my weekly rent so hopefully they'll have some answers as I need it to be ok for my trip back to Suffolk.
On the work front I can't really complain as I've had a couple of decent weeks. The Hailo service I told you about recently has been providing a steady stream of work to compliment the street work. The money goes in like clockwork every Friday and I'm very pleased with it.
I had a nice couple of runs out to Heathrow last week. 2 on one day followed by another the following day. I very rarely get jobs out that way during the day but it proves that they are out there and you just have to be lucky.
When Jane's away I take that opportunity to work a bit later into the evening. Before I met her I was always a night man and most of this blog prior to the last year was made up of posts where stuff had happened at night. Day work can be very boring and tedious with just normal people going to the office or the shops or the station. Traffic is horrendous and adds to the frustrations of most drivers.
Night work is always more eventful. You pick up more colourful characters, go to more interesting places and most importantly, earn your money a lot quicker. Having said all that I did a late one last night and all that happened was that I took my money a lot quicker, which is fine by me. It did give me an opportunity to catch up with my old mate Chris aka @titaniccabby to whom things have always happened and probably always will because he is such a volatile guy. We generally phone one another up and stay connected for pretty much most of the shift as it's free to talk on our present calling plans. During that time you'll probably hear Chris's horn blast about 20 times, hear him have three or four arguments, fare disputes, route disputes, hear him burst into song and generally keep me entertained for most of the shift.
Last night he picked a couple of guys up in town. They asked for the Canary Wharf area via a McDonalds for some food. Now, knowing Chris, I was surprised he agreed to take them to McDonalds as he doesn't like people eating in his cab but he never said anything and took them into the one at the Highway. They got their food, returned to the cab and started eating it. I should add that they were very drunk. By the time they arrived at Canary Wharf most of the food was all over the floor including fries, lettuce and a big blob of barbeque sauce. Chris being Chris couldn't let this go and started arguing about the mess and they all started a slanging match ending in the two drunken passengers refusing to pay. The doors were locked so they weren’t going anywhere until they did pay. Negotiations were taking place and they offered Chris half of the £20 fare. Not good enough. Chris threatened to call the police. They told him to go ahead and call them. At this point I had to hang up but after it was all over he told me that he had the police on the phone and the operator was listening to the ensuing argument and could clearly hear all the swearing and insults going back and forth and decided to send out a patrol car. At the same time a passing fellow cabby had witnessed the events, had pulled up next to Chris and got out to offer assistance. Now that there were two cabbies to contend with the two drunk guys came to their senses and produced the required £20 note. Chris's released them, slagging them off as they walked away, thanked the other cabby and informed the police operator, who was still listening that all was well. This sort of thing happens to Chris more often than any other cabby I know, as he just seems to attract all the undesirables. I'll be out there again tonight so let's see if it's as eventful (for him not me).
Take Care
L.C.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Knicked again!!
Hi folks
As the title says I was yesterday penalised for exceeding the speed limit in Regents Park.
The policemen were in plain view with their hairdryers extended but I was too busy faffing about with all my gadgets to see them. As I looked up from whatever I was doing I was being waved at by the copper to pull in. As he approached the cab I humbly said " sorry about that how fast was I going?" to which he showed me the speed gun which had 40mph on the display "forty miles per hour and I'm afraid that I'm gonna have to report you for that so can I see your drivers licence and bill (cab drivers licence)" That was it, so final!! No warning, no bollocking, no "don't do it again". Mind you, I have to say that over the years the police have been very fair with me and I've been let off more times than I can remember so I suppose it will eventually catch up with everyone but it's still hard to take. He'd taken my two licences back to his car to run some checks and he duly returned them to me also handing me a producer which means I have seven days to present my paper licence at a police station of my choice to recieve my 3 penalty points and to pay the £60 fine. He never said much more than that and from experience I never uttered a word although the word "jobsworth" sprang to mind. I drove away totally disillusioned with the job that has seen me incurring fines at an unsustainable rate recently.
Before being stopped I had been on my way to the cab garage to pay the weekly rent and to get new ads put on. They all had a laugh when I told them I'd been ticketed again as it is now becoming a joke. Maybe they think I'm a joke and were laughing at me. Well who can blame them it sure looks like I love laying out all of my hard earned cash to pay these fines.
On a happier note the cab owner had been due to knock something off the rent at Christmas but hadn't got round to it so I reminded him about it and he deducted £50 which is almost the cost of the fine so I was well pleased with that result. The new adverts are nothing to shout about either just a picture of a worn pair of shoes to indicate that the owner of the shoes would visit every client personally to discuss their investments.
As mentioned in the last post I recently signed up to Hailo and have now done a handfull of jobs both cash and account. The passengers have all been very enthusiastic about the service and I think it will grow to be something amazing. I think if you use London cabs you should get the app and try it out. When we are allocated a job we head straight for the address and the meter isn't started for 5 minutes after arrival at address or as soon as you get into the cab if before 5 minutes. Card payments don't incurr any charges unlike most of the radio circuits which charge between 10 and 12.5% so it's a win win situation. Give it a try you won't fail to be impressed!!
I'll end this latest post with the news that my partner Jane has just become a grandmother for the first time. Her daughter Anna had been in labour for the last four days and at 8.10pm yesterday a bonnie baby girl they've named Taylor Jane was born in Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk. Jane has been in Ipswich for the last five days awaiting the birth and as we speak she is babysitting young Taylor whilst Anna gets her first full nights sleep for five days. My best wishes go out to Anna and her husband Dan and to Taylor too.
Well folks that's all I have for now but check back soon for more news.
Take Care.
L.C.
As the title says I was yesterday penalised for exceeding the speed limit in Regents Park.
The policemen were in plain view with their hairdryers extended but I was too busy faffing about with all my gadgets to see them. As I looked up from whatever I was doing I was being waved at by the copper to pull in. As he approached the cab I humbly said " sorry about that how fast was I going?" to which he showed me the speed gun which had 40mph on the display "forty miles per hour and I'm afraid that I'm gonna have to report you for that so can I see your drivers licence and bill (cab drivers licence)" That was it, so final!! No warning, no bollocking, no "don't do it again". Mind you, I have to say that over the years the police have been very fair with me and I've been let off more times than I can remember so I suppose it will eventually catch up with everyone but it's still hard to take. He'd taken my two licences back to his car to run some checks and he duly returned them to me also handing me a producer which means I have seven days to present my paper licence at a police station of my choice to recieve my 3 penalty points and to pay the £60 fine. He never said much more than that and from experience I never uttered a word although the word "jobsworth" sprang to mind. I drove away totally disillusioned with the job that has seen me incurring fines at an unsustainable rate recently.
Before being stopped I had been on my way to the cab garage to pay the weekly rent and to get new ads put on. They all had a laugh when I told them I'd been ticketed again as it is now becoming a joke. Maybe they think I'm a joke and were laughing at me. Well who can blame them it sure looks like I love laying out all of my hard earned cash to pay these fines.
On a happier note the cab owner had been due to knock something off the rent at Christmas but hadn't got round to it so I reminded him about it and he deducted £50 which is almost the cost of the fine so I was well pleased with that result. The new adverts are nothing to shout about either just a picture of a worn pair of shoes to indicate that the owner of the shoes would visit every client personally to discuss their investments.
As mentioned in the last post I recently signed up to Hailo and have now done a handfull of jobs both cash and account. The passengers have all been very enthusiastic about the service and I think it will grow to be something amazing. I think if you use London cabs you should get the app and try it out. When we are allocated a job we head straight for the address and the meter isn't started for 5 minutes after arrival at address or as soon as you get into the cab if before 5 minutes. Card payments don't incurr any charges unlike most of the radio circuits which charge between 10 and 12.5% so it's a win win situation. Give it a try you won't fail to be impressed!!
I'll end this latest post with the news that my partner Jane has just become a grandmother for the first time. Her daughter Anna had been in labour for the last four days and at 8.10pm yesterday a bonnie baby girl they've named Taylor Jane was born in Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk. Jane has been in Ipswich for the last five days awaiting the birth and as we speak she is babysitting young Taylor whilst Anna gets her first full nights sleep for five days. My best wishes go out to Anna and her husband Dan and to Taylor too.
Well folks that's all I have for now but check back soon for more news.
Take Care.
L.C.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Hailo
Hi folks
Yesterday I signed up as a Hailo driver. It's a new service that enables you, the public, to call a cab via an app on your smart phone. It locates the nearest cab to you and sends it to pick you up. As of yet I'm still waiting for my first job on it. Download the Hailo app for iphones and android and I could be turning up at your door to pick you up!!
I recently had to swap cabs for a week whilst mine went to M&O's for a new radiator. It had got so bad I was refilling it twice per shift. The TX2 I was using was a right old cart and the suspension was non-existant. When I got mine back yesterday it felt like a Rolls Royce.
The work is slowly getting better but it's still taking me a whole shift and a few extra hours to earn my money. I generally try to be finished around 5pm and be in a position to collect Jane from work. Lately, that very rarely happens as a street hail can go anywhere. The last few days have seen my last job going to places suchas Tooting, Heathrow Airport, LCA (City Airport) and beyond all meaning that Jane has to walk home in the dark and often in the rain. My poor baby!!
Well I'm at present sitting on the Berkeley Square rank awaiting my next job whilst typing this on my iphone. Hope it's a good job!!
Take Care
L.C.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Yesterday I signed up as a Hailo driver. It's a new service that enables you, the public, to call a cab via an app on your smart phone. It locates the nearest cab to you and sends it to pick you up. As of yet I'm still waiting for my first job on it. Download the Hailo app for iphones and android and I could be turning up at your door to pick you up!!
I recently had to swap cabs for a week whilst mine went to M&O's for a new radiator. It had got so bad I was refilling it twice per shift. The TX2 I was using was a right old cart and the suspension was non-existant. When I got mine back yesterday it felt like a Rolls Royce.
The work is slowly getting better but it's still taking me a whole shift and a few extra hours to earn my money. I generally try to be finished around 5pm and be in a position to collect Jane from work. Lately, that very rarely happens as a street hail can go anywhere. The last few days have seen my last job going to places suchas Tooting, Heathrow Airport, LCA (City Airport) and beyond all meaning that Jane has to walk home in the dark and often in the rain. My poor baby!!
Well I'm at present sitting on the Berkeley Square rank awaiting my next job whilst typing this on my iphone. Hope it's a good job!!
Take Care
L.C.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Acacia Rd,London,United Kingdom
Monday, January 09, 2012
The Secret Life Of The Earl St. Maur
Hi folks
Got back from Scotland ok and went back to work this morning to find that the work was only marginally better than last week.I guess everyone is waiting for their first payday since Christmas before using us again, which is of no use to me or the thousands of other cabbies who have bills to pay.
I recieved a letter in the post from our licensing authority, namely, The PCO (Public Carriage Office). Inside were two ID plates that now have to be displayed at both ends of the cab. They will distinguish All London Drivers (Green Badge Holders) from Suburban drivers (Yellow Badge Holders) so you can expect to see these plates on display immediately although the official start date is March the 1st. See photo above.
Whilst at the 60th Birthday Bash in Scotland I got a chance to speak to my Uncle Joe about a book that he's had published. He's been researching it for years and finally put all the information together in a book. If any of you are interested in genealogy then you might like to check out this website. The Secret Life of The Earl St. Maur traces the pro-military, patriotic and amorous meanderings of the war-crazy, heroic, back-packing, 007-style, once-balloonist Earl St. Maur - son and heir of the Twelfth Duke of Somerset and Jane Georgiana Sheridan. Choosing war, rather than dukedom, parliamentary, estate and protocol duties, he refuted the concept of Christian marriage. Wars in Persia, the Indian Mutiny and Garibaldi claimed the Earl's youthful attention. There's a link to buy a copy of the book. Enjoy.Well I haven't much more to say tonight so check back soon.
Take Care.
LC
Got back from Scotland ok and went back to work this morning to find that the work was only marginally better than last week.I guess everyone is waiting for their first payday since Christmas before using us again, which is of no use to me or the thousands of other cabbies who have bills to pay.
I recieved a letter in the post from our licensing authority, namely, The PCO (Public Carriage Office). Inside were two ID plates that now have to be displayed at both ends of the cab. They will distinguish All London Drivers (Green Badge Holders) from Suburban drivers (Yellow Badge Holders) so you can expect to see these plates on display immediately although the official start date is March the 1st. See photo above.
Whilst at the 60th Birthday Bash in Scotland I got a chance to speak to my Uncle Joe about a book that he's had published. He's been researching it for years and finally put all the information together in a book. If any of you are interested in genealogy then you might like to check out this website. The Secret Life of The Earl St. Maur traces the pro-military, patriotic and amorous meanderings of the war-crazy, heroic, back-packing, 007-style, once-balloonist Earl St. Maur - son and heir of the Twelfth Duke of Somerset and Jane Georgiana Sheridan. Choosing war, rather than dukedom, parliamentary, estate and protocol duties, he refuted the concept of Christian marriage. Wars in Persia, the Indian Mutiny and Garibaldi claimed the Earl's youthful attention. There's a link to buy a copy of the book. Enjoy.Well I haven't much more to say tonight so check back soon.
Take Care.
LC
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Scotland!!!
Hi folks
Just a quick post to let you all know that I am currently with some of my family in Bonnie Scotland. I'm here with mydad, sister and 2 brothers to celebrate my eldest cousins 60th birthday. We travelled up from London yesterday in a hire car. I didn't think my year old TX4 would make it on acount of it having a faulty radiator which needs filling everyday. So we hired a Vauxhall insignia and made the journey in about 7 hours including a stop off for lunch.
We have just had our breakfast at the Premier Inn and are about to leave for home via a stop off in Newcastle to pop in to see Some family.
After a really bad week last week I am hoping for better next week so watch this space.
Take Care
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Livingston
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Busted Mirror
Just almost flattened a cyclist at the junction of Elgin Avenue and Shirland Rd. He cut across me, realized he wasn't gonna make it the pulled out of the turn in time to whack my mirror. The glass fell out and smashed on the road, he came off the bike and my female passenger screamed. I U turned and went over to him and he apologized claiming he never saw me. How could you not see a great big black taxi?
My mirror casing was also broken but as we all know cyclists get away with murder and the garage gets to pick up the tab. I was on my way over to the garage anyway to pay the rent and get new ads ( Heathrow Shopping this time). I rang the owner en route so he could order me a new mirror but on closer inspection the whole casing had to be replaced. I waited at the garage whilst he took my cab to get the mirror at a cost of £86 to himself and drove away an hour later with everything intact.
I did a few jobs but the Central London traffic at the moment is horrendous so called it a day.
Back to my normal routine tomorrow.
One more fixed penalty to report. I was penalized for waiting in the zig-zagged area just before the begining of the taxi rank at Harrods. £65 less to spend at Chistmas.
Incase i go missing again heres wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!
Take care out there.
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Latest Door Ads
Hi folks
I've just left my taxi garage with new advertising on the doors. They have, in the past, given samples with whatever the ads refered to. So I was excited to see that the latest ads were about beer. I had visions of recieving a few cases of the stuff to hand out to my passengers (yeah right). No such luck today.
I parted with the weekly cab rent of £205 and had a chat with the owner, the mechanic and the two guys putting the new ads on.
I also got old Pete to change a blown yellow indicator bulb and i was good to go.
I started late today as i went up to Leeds yesterday with my son to watch the home game against Coventry City. The weather up north was absolutely freezing and was discussed with the nice couple as they served me and Danny our curry and chips.
After a visit to the club shop to get Danny the latest blue away strip we sat in the warmth of Janes car (she'd generously offered it up to me instead of driving the taxi all the way up there) until it was time to take our seats in the east stand for the game.
We led for most of the game but threw it all away in the last few seconds of added time. You could hear the crowds exasperation as the goal went in and an immediate exodus was sparked. Oh well, thats football for you.
I'm now sitting on the rank at St Johns Wood hoping for a decent job. I'll let you know what I got later.
Take care y'all
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I've just left my taxi garage with new advertising on the doors. They have, in the past, given samples with whatever the ads refered to. So I was excited to see that the latest ads were about beer. I had visions of recieving a few cases of the stuff to hand out to my passengers (yeah right). No such luck today.
I parted with the weekly cab rent of £205 and had a chat with the owner, the mechanic and the two guys putting the new ads on.
I also got old Pete to change a blown yellow indicator bulb and i was good to go.
I started late today as i went up to Leeds yesterday with my son to watch the home game against Coventry City. The weather up north was absolutely freezing and was discussed with the nice couple as they served me and Danny our curry and chips.
After a visit to the club shop to get Danny the latest blue away strip we sat in the warmth of Janes car (she'd generously offered it up to me instead of driving the taxi all the way up there) until it was time to take our seats in the east stand for the game.
We led for most of the game but threw it all away in the last few seconds of added time. You could hear the crowds exasperation as the goal went in and an immediate exodus was sparked. Oh well, thats football for you.
I'm now sitting on the rank at St Johns Wood hoping for a decent job. I'll let you know what I got later.
Take care y'all
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Acacia Rd,Paddington,United Kingdom
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I'm sort of engaged!!
Hi folks
Since the last post I’ve had a few days away in Spain with Jane and my Mum and I also proposed to Jane to which she answered yes and the nuptials are now pending for some time in the future, probably 2013.
Since the last post I’ve had a few days away in Spain with Jane and my Mum and I also proposed to Jane to which she answered yes and the nuptials are now pending for some time in the future, probably 2013.
Me and Jane
I still continue to receive fixed penalty notices and have another 3 to add to the last 3 I received.
One was for driving through the bus only lane from Clifton Road onto Maida Vale, something I’ve been doing for years and years but now they have these little mobile scumbags that sit in their little cars unassumingly pointing their cameras at whoever is up to no good.
The second one was for not paying for a ticket to park in Iceland’s car park up in Kingsbury whilst buying stuff for my daughters 21st birthday party.
The final one was in Valencia, Spain. I parked the Hyundai hire car in a controlled street, paid a few euros for the ticket, placed it on the dash and walked away. When I returned a few hours later there was a penalty notice under my wiper. The ticket on the dash had some how flipped over rendering it unviewable. I’d also managed to leave the drivers window completely open so the parking attendant could have, if he’d felt charitable, reached in and turned it back over. Come to think of it, it may have been him who flipped it over thus guaranteeing his commission. In fact I’m convinced of that now as I always make a point of checking that the breeze from a slammed door doesn’t flip the ticket over. The bastard!!!
The front brakes on the cab had started grinding recently so I had to find time to get them looked at. This took about a month in which time the noise had become quite disturbing. When Old Pete the Greek mechanic at my garage finally removed the off-side wheel and peered down between the callipers he exclaimed in his Greek accent “Holy shit, there’s nothing left. Metal to metal!!” There was indeed nothing left of the brake linings and only the base of the pad remained. The discs were also pretty badly scored and Pete said they’d need to be changed on the next service. Funnily enough the nearside wheel, which has the low brake-warning sensor, had plenty of meat left on its brake pads so if I’d have waited for the warning light to appear on the dash well…I’d still be waiting.
Work has now returned to normal and as I’m still working days I’m able to earn my money between the hours of 8am and 5pm. I drop Jane at work every morning then drive round to the Cab rank at St John’s Wood where I hope to pick up my first fare in minutes. Working from the same place everyday inevitably means that you will pick up the same people from time to time. Today I picked up, for the seventh or eighth time, a young lad of around 15 who goes to Westminster School next to Westminster Abbey by cab every day. I know he takes a cab every day as he may often get into the cab in front of mine, if not mine. The fare is approximately £14 making it around £70 per week he spends and that’s providing he doesn’t take a cab home as well. His parents are obviously well to do. Good luck to the guy, I’ve never spoke more than a few words to him but he’s very polite and well mannered and always tells me to have a nice day. I’m yet to get a tip off him but who cares?
The Taxi rank I start at is opposite St Johns Wood Underground Station. Attached to the station is The Beatles Café where one can buy a selection of coffees and pastries while perusing a large collection of Beatles memorabilia and also be directed nearby to the famous Abbey Road Studios to be photographed on the world famous Zebra Crossing.
Talking of The Beatles it was nice to see Paul McCartney has tied the knot again for the third and hopefully final time. I doubt whether Nancy Shevell will be at all bothered by Maccas Millions as she has a few mill of her own. Anyway, what I was leading up to was that Maccas house is only two streets away from where I start my shift every day. Apparently he’s owned it for forty odd years and wrote some of his biggest hits there at number 7 Cavendish Avenue. I drove past it the day after the wedding and the clear up was under way with various vans and vehicles loading up and taking away all the seats and tables and other stuff needed to entertain the guests. I read that his neighbours had complained about noise on the night of the party. What a sad bunch!!!! After the crap he’s had to deal with in recent years you’d think they’d have wished him luck instead of complaining.
Anyhoo, I’d better get to bed as Jane is tutting beside me as she wants to go to sleep.
Take Care
LC.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Sick Britain
Hi folks
In spite of the riots gripping the country I have managed to avoid getting into any sort of trouble and my cab remains untouched.
It’s been terrible to see the events of the last three or four days where rioting and looting have taken a hold in some of our major cities.
Our Prime Minister has labelled these people as sick and I have to agree with him.
The most sickening thing I’ve seen (on TV) was the young Malaysian student who lay injured with a broken jaw and a bunch of rioters looked as if they were going to help him but instead they robbed him of his phone and wallet. There’s no hope left in this world, I truly despair sometimes.
I have had a bad week work wise. Being August the work has dried up and there are thousands of us driving around looking for the same work. If you can’t get on a rank then you’re going to find it difficult to make any money. On top of all that I have managed to receive a record (for me) three fixed penalties in the same week. My taxi proprietor keeps ringing me with the words “sorry mate there’s another one”. The first one was for stopping in the box junction on New Kings Road on the junction with Bagleys Lane. £65. The second one was for another box junction offence exiting Berkeley Street onto Piccadilly. Another £65. The third one I just found out about today but the garage owner said it was for stopping on zigzags and the only one I can think of is the one on Gillingham Street whilst trying to get on the cab rank for Victoria. Another £65 making the grand total of £195 I will have paid out this week. Not acceptable by any standards. To add insult to injury the cab owner rang me up and told me the weekly rent would have to go up by £10 as the insurance premiums have been increased by 60%. I should be angry but I haven’t got the energy.
Another negative thing that happened to me recently was when I was asked by a passenger if I accepted credit cards, as he never had any cash on him. I said I did and off we went from Euston to Barbican. On arrival he produced the card, I processed it but nothing happened. We tried two other cards but nothing happened with them either. I ended up letting him walk away with £12 on the meter. On closer inspection I noticed there was no provider logo (Vodafone) on the display so I simply turned it off and on again, the logo appeared and I did a test job for a pound with my own card and voila it worked!! You live and learn.
I did have one nice job in the midst of all this despair.
I was on point at Victoria Station when an elderly American couple approached me with a bit of paper. I get all excited when I see a bit of paper because there could be anything written on it. More often than not it’s a hotel not a million miles away but on this occasion it was the Hilton London Dartford Bridge. “You do know this is outside London” I said to them. “Oh no it’s in London” they assure me. There was a DA postcode on the paper and I assured them it was outside London and the fare would be in the region of £90 to £100. They had a little think, people were going round them to the cabs behind and I was worried that they’d change their mind and seek alternative accommodation but they eventually acquiesced and we set off towards the A2 and the County of Kent. Being a big job I quickly removed the “Credit Cards Accepted” sign so as to make sure they paid cash, which they did.
We are now in the month of Ramadan and I’m expecting the work to slow down even more than it already has. Who’d be a cab driver in London?
Hopefully my next post will be more upbeat. Until then be good to each other.
Take Care.
L.C.
In spite of the riots gripping the country I have managed to avoid getting into any sort of trouble and my cab remains untouched.
It’s been terrible to see the events of the last three or four days where rioting and looting have taken a hold in some of our major cities.
Our Prime Minister has labelled these people as sick and I have to agree with him.
The most sickening thing I’ve seen (on TV) was the young Malaysian student who lay injured with a broken jaw and a bunch of rioters looked as if they were going to help him but instead they robbed him of his phone and wallet. There’s no hope left in this world, I truly despair sometimes.
I have had a bad week work wise. Being August the work has dried up and there are thousands of us driving around looking for the same work. If you can’t get on a rank then you’re going to find it difficult to make any money. On top of all that I have managed to receive a record (for me) three fixed penalties in the same week. My taxi proprietor keeps ringing me with the words “sorry mate there’s another one”. The first one was for stopping in the box junction on New Kings Road on the junction with Bagleys Lane. £65. The second one was for another box junction offence exiting Berkeley Street onto Piccadilly. Another £65. The third one I just found out about today but the garage owner said it was for stopping on zigzags and the only one I can think of is the one on Gillingham Street whilst trying to get on the cab rank for Victoria. Another £65 making the grand total of £195 I will have paid out this week. Not acceptable by any standards. To add insult to injury the cab owner rang me up and told me the weekly rent would have to go up by £10 as the insurance premiums have been increased by 60%. I should be angry but I haven’t got the energy.
Another negative thing that happened to me recently was when I was asked by a passenger if I accepted credit cards, as he never had any cash on him. I said I did and off we went from Euston to Barbican. On arrival he produced the card, I processed it but nothing happened. We tried two other cards but nothing happened with them either. I ended up letting him walk away with £12 on the meter. On closer inspection I noticed there was no provider logo (Vodafone) on the display so I simply turned it off and on again, the logo appeared and I did a test job for a pound with my own card and voila it worked!! You live and learn.
I did have one nice job in the midst of all this despair.
I was on point at Victoria Station when an elderly American couple approached me with a bit of paper. I get all excited when I see a bit of paper because there could be anything written on it. More often than not it’s a hotel not a million miles away but on this occasion it was the Hilton London Dartford Bridge. “You do know this is outside London” I said to them. “Oh no it’s in London” they assure me. There was a DA postcode on the paper and I assured them it was outside London and the fare would be in the region of £90 to £100. They had a little think, people were going round them to the cabs behind and I was worried that they’d change their mind and seek alternative accommodation but they eventually acquiesced and we set off towards the A2 and the County of Kent. Being a big job I quickly removed the “Credit Cards Accepted” sign so as to make sure they paid cash, which they did.
We are now in the month of Ramadan and I’m expecting the work to slow down even more than it already has. Who’d be a cab driver in London?
Hopefully my next post will be more upbeat. Until then be good to each other.
Take Care.
L.C.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Michael "Mick" Brown 1945 - 2011
Mick Brown & his guitarIt Is with much sadness that I open this latest post with the sad news that my father-in-law Michael “Mick” Brown sadly passed away on Tuesday the 19th of July after a short battle with cancer. The speed of his passing from diagnosis to death was truly frightening and if any of you have any niggling complaints (as he had for several months) then I urge you to see your doctors and get it checked out.
I met Mick in 1981 when my girlfriend and later my wife took me home to meet the parents. Mick was having a kip on the settee. He was a big man and was often compared to Giant Haystacks, the British Wrestler of the 70’s and 80’s. He looked like him too in those days as he used to sport a full beard and moustache. As he awoke to see who had disturbed him I got a bit worried as he had a bit of a reputation as a hard man down at the pub. I needn’t have been concerned as it turned out because he was one of the nicest guys you’re ever likely to meet anywhere. We became friends and used to go out drinking together and often got into scrapes. Being a builder he would often need a labourer and I helped him out on several jobs and got well paid.
Mick & Jan
Mick loved cars and was always buying second hand ones, doing them up, putting engines in etc. One Ford Granada he bought gave him quite a bit of trouble and we went through three or four second-hand engines and gearboxes before he was satisfied with the results, often working on it well into the night and being supplied with a constant flow of tea and sandwiches from my mother-in-law and his beloved wife Jan.
As all the grandchildren started arriving it was plain to see he was a natural as a grandad. He loved nothing more than to be surrounded by them all and he used to tell them stories, draw them pictures and sing them songs often with his guitar.
Grandad Mick
The game of darts has been a big part of our lives in recent years and I along with my two sons have been members of several teams along with Mick and Jan and we have travelled all over London to compete against other teams. Mick took it so seriously that if he ever performed badly he would snap his darts in front of everyone, throw them on the floor in disgust and vow never to play again. He was always there the following week with a brand new set of darts stating that the new darts were going to make all the difference. Sometimes they did sometimes they didn’t but we did manage to pick up a few trophies along the way.
Mick "chalking"
In recent years the business of day to day living and earning a crust has meant I never spent as much time with him as I would have liked and I regret that now. But you can’t turn the clock back and I have to cherish the memories I have of him.
He was larger than life in every way and one of life’s great characters and I will really miss him. God bless him and may he rest in peace.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Royal Wedding
Hi folks
I felt prompted to do another post since it’s been almost a few weeks and also because GBCINTHEVITO, a fellow cabbie and Tweeter, indicated that he enjoys my posts.
At this point I have just leaned back on the bed to think of my next sentence and have put my hand on something wet. Cats piss!! She’s never done that before but then again we haven’t had her long. I now have to change the sheets and dry the mattress. Luckily Jane isn’t here till the 13th as she’s away in Cornwall working so I can sleep on her side for a few days. This is exactly why I didn’t want pets as at some point in their lives they’ll piss and shit all over the place. I’ve got the hump now and will have to leave this for a bit. Later.
(Some time later after calming down and eating a Tesco Paella and a coffee)
As everyone will no doubt be aware, the Friday just gone was The Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. I have to say I am a bit of a Royalist and thoroughly enjoyed the coverage. It was quite an emotional occasion and although I am but a mere peasant I felt really happy for the couple and even had to dab a bit of moisture from my right eye, probably caused by a fly or something :o)
The trip from Buck House to Clarence House in the Aston Martin was also a nice touch.
The fly past was a bit disappointing. It would have been nice to see a Vulcan bomber and a lot more jets from all eras, as it was we had to settle for a handful of planes old and new.
For my second job tonight I picked up X Factor winner Matt Cardle and his current girlfriend Sarah Robinson who was a dancer in the show according to Google. It was a fairly long ride and he took telephone calls from several people and spoke about his forthcoming single and album due around September time. When we arrived at Shoreditch House there were a lot of people queuing to get in and he asked me to drive past. He was wearing that silly hat and some thick-rimmed glasses and to be honest I doubt many people would’ve recognized him but he got out several yards past all the crowds and paid me. Meter fare was £27.80 and Matty Lad gave me £28 in notes and coins. It’s good to see that all that success hasn’t gone to his head and he still knows the value of a pound note.
Being a Mayday Bank Holiday weekend the Sunday often replaces the Saturday as the night everyone goes clubbing. I was kept extremely busy for around 6 hours and took a decent amount of money.
One of the last jobs of the night took me from Kensington High Street to Homerton. What an ignorant pair of A-holes these two turned out to be. All the way there quibbling about the route and how it would’ve been cheaper to go another way and that I was ripping them off. It makes me so mad sometimes but I think I’m mellowing with age because a few years ago it would have been handbrake on and “OUT!!”
Several years ago I blogged about a row I had with a beggar. He’d called me a few names when I refused to give him any money and as I had a passenger on board I went looking for him after dropping off. We had a mildly violent altercation, which was broken up by a few people on the cab rank at South Kensington Station. I never saw him again after that until a few days ago whilst dieseling up at the Old Brompton Road Shell garage. I never knew it was him at first but after I again refused to give him any money he started with the insults and we were soon trading insults of the most terrible kind. I told him to get a job; he said he had one…begging!! It went on for several minutes and the other patrons in the garage looked on in disgust at the language used by both of us and in some cases awe that someone could do what they didn’t have the bottle to do. It got to a point where there was nothing more to say, every possible insult had been traded and we parted company once again. At least this time I never manhandled him. Muppet!!
Anyway, I hope the work will now return to normal after a very quiet few weeks.
Take Care.
L.C.
I felt prompted to do another post since it’s been almost a few weeks and also because GBCINTHEVITO, a fellow cabbie and Tweeter, indicated that he enjoys my posts.
At this point I have just leaned back on the bed to think of my next sentence and have put my hand on something wet. Cats piss!! She’s never done that before but then again we haven’t had her long. I now have to change the sheets and dry the mattress. Luckily Jane isn’t here till the 13th as she’s away in Cornwall working so I can sleep on her side for a few days. This is exactly why I didn’t want pets as at some point in their lives they’ll piss and shit all over the place. I’ve got the hump now and will have to leave this for a bit. Later.
(Some time later after calming down and eating a Tesco Paella and a coffee)
As everyone will no doubt be aware, the Friday just gone was The Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. I have to say I am a bit of a Royalist and thoroughly enjoyed the coverage. It was quite an emotional occasion and although I am but a mere peasant I felt really happy for the couple and even had to dab a bit of moisture from my right eye, probably caused by a fly or something :o)
The trip from Buck House to Clarence House in the Aston Martin was also a nice touch.
The fly past was a bit disappointing. It would have been nice to see a Vulcan bomber and a lot more jets from all eras, as it was we had to settle for a handful of planes old and new.
For my second job tonight I picked up X Factor winner Matt Cardle and his current girlfriend Sarah Robinson who was a dancer in the show according to Google. It was a fairly long ride and he took telephone calls from several people and spoke about his forthcoming single and album due around September time. When we arrived at Shoreditch House there were a lot of people queuing to get in and he asked me to drive past. He was wearing that silly hat and some thick-rimmed glasses and to be honest I doubt many people would’ve recognized him but he got out several yards past all the crowds and paid me. Meter fare was £27.80 and Matty Lad gave me £28 in notes and coins. It’s good to see that all that success hasn’t gone to his head and he still knows the value of a pound note.
Being a Mayday Bank Holiday weekend the Sunday often replaces the Saturday as the night everyone goes clubbing. I was kept extremely busy for around 6 hours and took a decent amount of money.
One of the last jobs of the night took me from Kensington High Street to Homerton. What an ignorant pair of A-holes these two turned out to be. All the way there quibbling about the route and how it would’ve been cheaper to go another way and that I was ripping them off. It makes me so mad sometimes but I think I’m mellowing with age because a few years ago it would have been handbrake on and “OUT!!”
Several years ago I blogged about a row I had with a beggar. He’d called me a few names when I refused to give him any money and as I had a passenger on board I went looking for him after dropping off. We had a mildly violent altercation, which was broken up by a few people on the cab rank at South Kensington Station. I never saw him again after that until a few days ago whilst dieseling up at the Old Brompton Road Shell garage. I never knew it was him at first but after I again refused to give him any money he started with the insults and we were soon trading insults of the most terrible kind. I told him to get a job; he said he had one…begging!! It went on for several minutes and the other patrons in the garage looked on in disgust at the language used by both of us and in some cases awe that someone could do what they didn’t have the bottle to do. It got to a point where there was nothing more to say, every possible insult had been traded and we parted company once again. At least this time I never manhandled him. Muppet!!
Anyway, I hope the work will now return to normal after a very quiet few weeks.
Take Care.
L.C.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
To bilk- 1: to block the free development of, 2: to cheat out of something valuable, 3: to slip away from
Hi Folks, back again.
Since my last post I’ve had a few episodes with passengers that need to be discussed.
For the last few weeks there have been road works on a major South London traffic system called The Elephant & Castle. I first found out about them whilst doing a job from Clapham High Street all the way up to Clapton in the north. On that occasion I informed the passenger that it would be best to detour, he agreed and I started a series of lefts and rights, which even amazed me. I got him out of having to lose at least 30 minutes of his life by sitting in solid traffic. He was happy, I didn’t get stressed and all was well as we proceeded on our way. My efforts were rewarded at the destination with a nice tip on top of the already nice fare.
A few days later I picked up two ladies in Great Portland Street who asked to be taken to East Dulwich. Straight away my mind was calculating the route, which, inevitably, would take me through the Elephant again. Were the works still going on? Would it be as bad as the other day or even worse? Being a Twitter user and following loads of fellow cabbies I decided to tweet the question as I still had time to get an answer. As sometimes happens the answers never come back in time and as I approached London Road I could see it was still chaos down there. At that point I should have veered left into Borough Road and made my way via Harper, Old Kent, East Street, Albany Road etc. Instead I entered London Road with all the other traffic and stewed…..and stewed. The two girls in the back were chatting away oblivious to what lay ahead. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes later that they realised we hadn’t travelled very far that they started murmuring to each other. As we neared the bottom of London Road I took it upon myself to take the left into Newington Causeway. “Where are we going?” piped up one of them. “I’m gonna go down Harper Road and Old Kent Road” Says I. “The traffic there is a nightmare because of the road works”. “OK” she replies. Harper Road was clear as was Old Kent Road, East Street and Thurlow Road. As I took the right into Albany Road it came to a grinding halt. A completely different set of road works with temporary traffic lights thrown in for good measure. 15 minutes later and we’re still there and the stress is building. They are now whispering to each other, something along the lines of that I was taking them on a massive detour to get to where they would have already gotten to had I stayed at the elephant. I took the opportunity to butt in to their whisperings and the girl who’d piped up earlier took my butting in as her opportunity to start telling me it would have been quicker (and cheaper) to come via the Elephant and Walworth Road. I told myself not to lose my cool as it would be counter productive and we embarked on a very gentle exchange of words with her the more heated one. She seemed to totally not understand the fact that had we stayed at The Elephant we would still be there now and also failed to understand that it wasn’t me who’d placed these other road works here. You just can’t reason with some people. I eventually got through the road works and the remainder of the journey was effortless. Once you’ve had crossed words with a passenger there is a bad atmosphere until they get out. Eye contact is minimal or non-existent and then you wonder if they’re going to start up the argument at the destination, often looking for you to knock a few quid off the fare. The eye contact was non-existent but lucky for her she never asked for a discount, as she would have been sorely disappointed. I don’t like having my routes questioned as I feel I know best and on this occasion I did what any other cab driver would have done and I would do the same again tonight if I get a similar job.
Last Saturday was extremely busy. I took my money plus half again in 8 hours, something I haven’t done in quite a while. Most of the jobs were people going out to bars and clubs and later on those same people coming out of the bars and clubs much worse off than when they went in. It’s part and parcel of working nights that you pick up the drunks and have to put up with their antics. Sometimes you refuse to pick them up by locking the doors and driving away. Other times you pick them up, take a bit of abuse then throw them out. Sometimes you pick them up, take them all the way home then get abused and questioned about the route but you always get paid because no drunk leaves the cab without paying. I’ve locked them doors and driven like a madman, slamming on my brakes and throwing the passenger who refuses to pay about the cab, they generally always pay unless circumstances beyond my control dictate otherwise.
Like the time I was on my way home and an Australian guy flagged me down in Lisson Grove and asked for Earls Court. All the way there he was chatting to me about life in general, and was I a body builder (yeah right!!) and other such nonsense to make me think he was a good guy. He directed me down a dead end street called Mornington Avenue. It was a tight street and I had to keep to my right to let him get out on the left, effectively boxing myself in, which he obviously knew about. He exited the cab and ran up some stairs, which led on to West Cromwell Road and was gone as was my fare.
Then there were the two guys I picked up in Shirland Road who asked for Burnt Oak. Again, chatting all the way there even asking me for a light for their cigarettes. They led me down another dead end street behind some garages got out of the cab and legged it along with my £14 fare (about £30 in today’s money as that one happened around 1992.)
Another bilker I had hailed me down at Victoria. As he approached the cab he made a point of counting some money he had in his shirt pocket to show me he had some on him. He asked to be taken to an address in North Kensington where he would pop into a house then return to carry on the journey to St Charles Hospital. Needless to say he never returned having taken another route to avoid me seeing him. More lost money.
I’ve got better over the years spotting the potential bilkers (non payers) but occasionally get caught out. I’m only human after all.
Just a quick Chris update. After a few years driving his own Mercedes Vito Taxi he has decided to sell it and go back to renting. He is currently renting an old W registration TX1 from the same garage as me with a view to getting the garage owner to buy him a brand new TX4.
A few nights ago I was on the phone to him. I was ranking at Victoria Station and he was ranking at Quagalinos Restaurant in St James's. As his passenger came out of the restaurant he went to statr the engine and the battery was flat. As this is a family blog I won't write down what he said but the air turned blue and even the poor passenger felt his wrath after asking why Chris wouldn't be able to take him. Hearing all this on the phone I decided to pull off the rank at Victoria and make my way there. He had jump leads and after several attemps we managed to start the cab. Several warning lights were alight on the dashboard and it was obvious a major electrical problem was happening so he decided to call it a night and sort the problem the following day. He now has a replacement cab and managed a trouble-free shift with me last night. We stopped for some food in Ladbroke Grove then continued our shifts. After a sub-standard shift I finished £15 ahead of him but still £50 les than I would've liked. Let's see what happens tonight!
Take care out there.
L.C.
Since my last post I’ve had a few episodes with passengers that need to be discussed.
For the last few weeks there have been road works on a major South London traffic system called The Elephant & Castle. I first found out about them whilst doing a job from Clapham High Street all the way up to Clapton in the north. On that occasion I informed the passenger that it would be best to detour, he agreed and I started a series of lefts and rights, which even amazed me. I got him out of having to lose at least 30 minutes of his life by sitting in solid traffic. He was happy, I didn’t get stressed and all was well as we proceeded on our way. My efforts were rewarded at the destination with a nice tip on top of the already nice fare.
A few days later I picked up two ladies in Great Portland Street who asked to be taken to East Dulwich. Straight away my mind was calculating the route, which, inevitably, would take me through the Elephant again. Were the works still going on? Would it be as bad as the other day or even worse? Being a Twitter user and following loads of fellow cabbies I decided to tweet the question as I still had time to get an answer. As sometimes happens the answers never come back in time and as I approached London Road I could see it was still chaos down there. At that point I should have veered left into Borough Road and made my way via Harper, Old Kent, East Street, Albany Road etc. Instead I entered London Road with all the other traffic and stewed…..and stewed. The two girls in the back were chatting away oblivious to what lay ahead. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes later that they realised we hadn’t travelled very far that they started murmuring to each other. As we neared the bottom of London Road I took it upon myself to take the left into Newington Causeway. “Where are we going?” piped up one of them. “I’m gonna go down Harper Road and Old Kent Road” Says I. “The traffic there is a nightmare because of the road works”. “OK” she replies. Harper Road was clear as was Old Kent Road, East Street and Thurlow Road. As I took the right into Albany Road it came to a grinding halt. A completely different set of road works with temporary traffic lights thrown in for good measure. 15 minutes later and we’re still there and the stress is building. They are now whispering to each other, something along the lines of that I was taking them on a massive detour to get to where they would have already gotten to had I stayed at the elephant. I took the opportunity to butt in to their whisperings and the girl who’d piped up earlier took my butting in as her opportunity to start telling me it would have been quicker (and cheaper) to come via the Elephant and Walworth Road. I told myself not to lose my cool as it would be counter productive and we embarked on a very gentle exchange of words with her the more heated one. She seemed to totally not understand the fact that had we stayed at The Elephant we would still be there now and also failed to understand that it wasn’t me who’d placed these other road works here. You just can’t reason with some people. I eventually got through the road works and the remainder of the journey was effortless. Once you’ve had crossed words with a passenger there is a bad atmosphere until they get out. Eye contact is minimal or non-existent and then you wonder if they’re going to start up the argument at the destination, often looking for you to knock a few quid off the fare. The eye contact was non-existent but lucky for her she never asked for a discount, as she would have been sorely disappointed. I don’t like having my routes questioned as I feel I know best and on this occasion I did what any other cab driver would have done and I would do the same again tonight if I get a similar job.
Last Saturday was extremely busy. I took my money plus half again in 8 hours, something I haven’t done in quite a while. Most of the jobs were people going out to bars and clubs and later on those same people coming out of the bars and clubs much worse off than when they went in. It’s part and parcel of working nights that you pick up the drunks and have to put up with their antics. Sometimes you refuse to pick them up by locking the doors and driving away. Other times you pick them up, take a bit of abuse then throw them out. Sometimes you pick them up, take them all the way home then get abused and questioned about the route but you always get paid because no drunk leaves the cab without paying. I’ve locked them doors and driven like a madman, slamming on my brakes and throwing the passenger who refuses to pay about the cab, they generally always pay unless circumstances beyond my control dictate otherwise.
Like the time I was on my way home and an Australian guy flagged me down in Lisson Grove and asked for Earls Court. All the way there he was chatting to me about life in general, and was I a body builder (yeah right!!) and other such nonsense to make me think he was a good guy. He directed me down a dead end street called Mornington Avenue. It was a tight street and I had to keep to my right to let him get out on the left, effectively boxing myself in, which he obviously knew about. He exited the cab and ran up some stairs, which led on to West Cromwell Road and was gone as was my fare.
Then there were the two guys I picked up in Shirland Road who asked for Burnt Oak. Again, chatting all the way there even asking me for a light for their cigarettes. They led me down another dead end street behind some garages got out of the cab and legged it along with my £14 fare (about £30 in today’s money as that one happened around 1992.)
Another bilker I had hailed me down at Victoria. As he approached the cab he made a point of counting some money he had in his shirt pocket to show me he had some on him. He asked to be taken to an address in North Kensington where he would pop into a house then return to carry on the journey to St Charles Hospital. Needless to say he never returned having taken another route to avoid me seeing him. More lost money.
I’ve got better over the years spotting the potential bilkers (non payers) but occasionally get caught out. I’m only human after all.
Just a quick Chris update. After a few years driving his own Mercedes Vito Taxi he has decided to sell it and go back to renting. He is currently renting an old W registration TX1 from the same garage as me with a view to getting the garage owner to buy him a brand new TX4.
A few nights ago I was on the phone to him. I was ranking at Victoria Station and he was ranking at Quagalinos Restaurant in St James's. As his passenger came out of the restaurant he went to statr the engine and the battery was flat. As this is a family blog I won't write down what he said but the air turned blue and even the poor passenger felt his wrath after asking why Chris wouldn't be able to take him. Hearing all this on the phone I decided to pull off the rank at Victoria and make my way there. He had jump leads and after several attemps we managed to start the cab. Several warning lights were alight on the dashboard and it was obvious a major electrical problem was happening so he decided to call it a night and sort the problem the following day. He now has a replacement cab and managed a trouble-free shift with me last night. We stopped for some food in Ladbroke Grove then continued our shifts. After a sub-standard shift I finished £15 ahead of him but still £50 les than I would've liked. Let's see what happens tonight!
Take care out there.
L.C.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Perfume Ads, Wrong Ways and WiFi Dongles
Hi folks I'm still around just not alot happening. Nothing going on but the rent as that song title suggests, it's all pay pay pay these days.
The weekly cab rent comes round so quickly and involves a trip to the new premises just off Camden Road. The new TX4 (Chinese Version) I am currently driving is going ok but it has a minor water leak somewhere which involves a weekly topup. I have had 3 sets of advertising on the cab since my Paris post. The second lot was a new Vivienne Westwood perfume called Naughty Alice and they gave me a great big bag of samples to hand out to passengers. I managed to hand out a few samples but most people wern't interested so the rest went to friends and family. It did attract quite a lot of attention and I was photographed by passers by at least four or five times a day. The lastest ads were put on yesterday and they are for a clothing store called The Kooples who have a few branches around town.
On the work front I have been flitting between days and nights again. I drop Jane at work every morning at 8am then sit on the rank at Acacia Road until I get a job, which sometimes can be half an hour wait.
The other morning a lady came up to me with a bit of paper and asks for St Chads Place in the Kings Cross area of town. For some unknown reason I went a totally different way to to what I would normally do and got myself into a whole heap of bother. Instead of Hanover Gate, Regents Park, Euston Road etc I went over the top of the park, thru Camden Town, Bayham Street then, the worst bit, I had to sit in Midland road for ages as Goodsway and Pancras Road have been shut for a good while. Well, she moaned and moaned and I had to fob her off with excuses. When I finally did the left into Euston Road I thought the rest of the journey would be ok. To get to St Chads Place you have to go round the one way system and back into Grays Inn Road via one of the small roads off Kings Cross Road. I chose the first one, Field Street, which looked doable on the map but it looked like a dead end when I got further into it. I think at this point she must have thought I hadn't a clue what I was doing ( she wasn't wrong, I was having an off day for sure). The final insult to this hurried woman was that I told her there was an alleyway at the end of Field Street and it would take her straight into St Chads Place. She paid me, ran up the road heading for the non-existant alleyway and I reversed out of Field Street at top speed before she could turn round and slag me off.
I have been experiencing problems with my credit card machine and after months of umming and ahhhing I contacted the company who provides it and got them to send me out a power pack. Now that it works correctly nobody is asking to pay by card. I have signs up in the cab but the 10% service charge must be scaring them off. It's still cheaper than queueing at an ATM but people don't seem to see it that way.
I have a new toy to tell you all about. I recently got a new iPhone4 (that's not the toy by the way) and the pay as you go chip and service plan only gives me 500megs of data, which doesn't last long if you like to stream radio like I do. So, I signed up this week to 3 Mobile's wireless dongle and it gives me 5gb's of data and I can use it on any pc or wifi enabled phone so all in all I'm quite pleased about that.
The weekly cab rent comes round so quickly and involves a trip to the new premises just off Camden Road. The new TX4 (Chinese Version) I am currently driving is going ok but it has a minor water leak somewhere which involves a weekly topup. I have had 3 sets of advertising on the cab since my Paris post. The second lot was a new Vivienne Westwood perfume called Naughty Alice and they gave me a great big bag of samples to hand out to passengers. I managed to hand out a few samples but most people wern't interested so the rest went to friends and family. It did attract quite a lot of attention and I was photographed by passers by at least four or five times a day. The lastest ads were put on yesterday and they are for a clothing store called The Kooples who have a few branches around town.
On the work front I have been flitting between days and nights again. I drop Jane at work every morning at 8am then sit on the rank at Acacia Road until I get a job, which sometimes can be half an hour wait.
The other morning a lady came up to me with a bit of paper and asks for St Chads Place in the Kings Cross area of town. For some unknown reason I went a totally different way to to what I would normally do and got myself into a whole heap of bother. Instead of Hanover Gate, Regents Park, Euston Road etc I went over the top of the park, thru Camden Town, Bayham Street then, the worst bit, I had to sit in Midland road for ages as Goodsway and Pancras Road have been shut for a good while. Well, she moaned and moaned and I had to fob her off with excuses. When I finally did the left into Euston Road I thought the rest of the journey would be ok. To get to St Chads Place you have to go round the one way system and back into Grays Inn Road via one of the small roads off Kings Cross Road. I chose the first one, Field Street, which looked doable on the map but it looked like a dead end when I got further into it. I think at this point she must have thought I hadn't a clue what I was doing ( she wasn't wrong, I was having an off day for sure). The final insult to this hurried woman was that I told her there was an alleyway at the end of Field Street and it would take her straight into St Chads Place. She paid me, ran up the road heading for the non-existant alleyway and I reversed out of Field Street at top speed before she could turn round and slag me off.
I have been experiencing problems with my credit card machine and after months of umming and ahhhing I contacted the company who provides it and got them to send me out a power pack. Now that it works correctly nobody is asking to pay by card. I have signs up in the cab but the 10% service charge must be scaring them off. It's still cheaper than queueing at an ATM but people don't seem to see it that way.
I have a new toy to tell you all about. I recently got a new iPhone4 (that's not the toy by the way) and the pay as you go chip and service plan only gives me 500megs of data, which doesn't last long if you like to stream radio like I do. So, I signed up this week to 3 Mobile's wireless dongle and it gives me 5gb's of data and I can use it on any pc or wifi enabled phone so all in all I'm quite pleased about that.
Talking of streaming radio I have been listening to Outlaw Radio with Magic Matt Alan and his Demons of Decadence. It's is a very non-politically correct radio station broadcasting from the hills of Encino California. It can get very rowdy on there and it's well worth a listen.
So that's all for now folks, hopefully I'll have something to tell you pretty soon.
Take Care.
LC.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Paris
Hi folks
The following day we visited the beautifull Cathederal of Notre Dame. I'd wanted to come here for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. This is where "Gothic" was invented for sure!!
this post is only slightly cabbie related in as much as this cabbie (moi) just spent the weekend with his fantastic girlfriend in Paris.
We left on Friday morning and were picked up at my house by my mate Chris aka titaniccabbie's brother. He dropped us at Saint Pancras railway station to take the Eurostar train to Paris. We had to check in in pretty much the same way as you would at the airport, well maybe not as severe. After a short wait in the departure lounge we boarded the train and were soon on our way. I was very impressed with the speed and smoothness of the journey. The time spent in the tunnel under the sea was about 20 to 25 minutes and the French country side on exit was pretty much the same as England. After another hour we reached the suburbs of Paris and were soon pulling into the Gare Du Nord. From there we boarded the metro (having previously purchased a book of 10 metro tickets on the Eurostar) and headed to the La Defense area in western Paris where we were staying at the Ibis Hotel. After checking in and getting our bags unpacked we set off for some sightseeing. We went straight to The Louvre and spent a few hours checking out the famous and not so famous paintings. If you're not particularly an art lover (like me) it can become a bit monotonous after a while so after only having really seen a quarter of what was on display we left for a bite to eat.
The Mona Lisa at The Louvre
We crossed the Seine via one of the many bridges and had a meal in a pretty non-descript restaurant on the Boulevard Saint Germain. We had French onion soup, Lasagne, crepes, diet coke, brandy and a coffee for the princely sum of €78 plus a few more Euros tip. That's a lot of money in my book for somethinng that would have cost half of that here in England. With a full belly we walked on to the Eiffel tower and marvelled at the fantastic awesome structure that has stood there for almost 150 years.
The Eiffel Tower
Later that evening we headed back to La Defense and sought out a shopping centre to buy some goodies to have at the hotel. There is an enoumous building there called the Grande Arch and next to it there are plenty of shops and a supermarket.
We bought enough food and snack items for a few days and left there with 2 carrier bags each. The distance back to the hotel was enough to warrant a taxi ride so we headed for the nearby taxi rank. Being a cabbie myself I know some guys get pissed off at local journeys but they still do the job. The first guy on the rank point blank refused to do it citing that he was busy waiting for someone. The next guy started to refuse as he said it was too short a journey and that we should walk but when I offered him €10 for what I thought would be a €5 journey he accepted. The route he took seemed a bit suspect as we passed our hotel on the left and headed in towards the Arc de Triomph and then back out again. The meter total was €9.20 but I gave him the €10 I had promised him. Needless to say after all the walking we'd done that day we slept soundly.
The following day we visited the beautifull Cathederal of Notre Dame. I'd wanted to come here for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. This is where "Gothic" was invented for sure!!
Notre Dame Cathederal
More walking followed and we ended up at The Bastille memorial where the French Revolution kicked off.
The next port of call was the Sacre Coeur Basillica in Montmartre. We took the funicular railway from the bottom to the top and entered the church where there was some sort of service in progress with a choir of nuns doing their thing.
The Sacre Coeur Basillica in Montmartre
There are lots of little winding streets behind the church with gift shops and restaurants and artists vying for your custom. After another major trek we made it to a Metro station and headed back to the hotel. Sunday morning was my birthday (49) and check out was to be at 12pm.
We took the metro to the Gare Du Nord and checked our bags into to a locker as we had 8 hours to kill. We had another expensive meal at another non-descipt restaurant then went walkabouts down the Rue La Fayette and Boulevard Haussman to L'Opera and Place Vendome where the Ritz Hotel is and into the Tuilieries gardens where we had a chocolate waffle and coffee. We bought a few souvenirs, took more pictures, crossed another bridge and picked the metro up at the Nationale Assemblie station back to the Gare Du Nord for the last time. The Eurostar took a bit longer on the journey back and for whatever reason wasn't as smooth a ride but it was nice to be back in London where Chris picked us up in his Mercedes Vito Taxi and took us home. So all in all a pleasant if pretty cold weekend spent in a lovely city other than London.
Back to work in a few hours.
Check back soon.
Take Care.
LC.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Trying it on
Hi folks
I left my house around 8 yesterday hopefull that I'd make some money. As I ventured towards Paddington Station I felt it would be ok. The bridge was empty and I did the left onto the ramp which is fast becoming known to us Twitterers as PPH or Piss Pot Hill due to the fact that it stinks of piss. After a short wait I got off the mark with a job to south London. As I exited the station the guy informed me that he only had £22 on him and would that be enough to get him to Streatham. Now depending on which part he wanted it would definitely be more than £22 and probably nearer to £30. He said to stop when it hit £22 and he would walk the rest of the way. I couldn't help thinking he did this regularly and hoped the drivers goodwill would see him all the way home. I call it " being mugged off" and knew there was no way he was going a penny further than the money he had. All the way down there he was asking if I thought the £22 would get him home and I was answering we'll see. The meter hit £22 at Stockwell, a good few miles from his destination. Am I a charitable institution? Am I a soft touch? Was I in a giving vein this day? It was also raining quite profusely as I applied the handbrake and announced this was as far as I was going. He hesitated for a moment, thought about saying something then thought better of it and handed over the £22. he had a long walk in the rain ahead of him. He should've taken the bus as it would've been way cheaper and got him all the way home. Am I a miserable old git? I felt pangs of guilt but the thought that he regularly tried this on brushed that guilt away.
The rest of the shift panned out ok and apart from almost getting knocked (unpaid) by 2 drunk girls I made my money and was home and tucked up next to my partner by 3am. Oh the joys of being back on nights.
Take Care
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I left my house around 8 yesterday hopefull that I'd make some money. As I ventured towards Paddington Station I felt it would be ok. The bridge was empty and I did the left onto the ramp which is fast becoming known to us Twitterers as PPH or Piss Pot Hill due to the fact that it stinks of piss. After a short wait I got off the mark with a job to south London. As I exited the station the guy informed me that he only had £22 on him and would that be enough to get him to Streatham. Now depending on which part he wanted it would definitely be more than £22 and probably nearer to £30. He said to stop when it hit £22 and he would walk the rest of the way. I couldn't help thinking he did this regularly and hoped the drivers goodwill would see him all the way home. I call it " being mugged off" and knew there was no way he was going a penny further than the money he had. All the way down there he was asking if I thought the £22 would get him home and I was answering we'll see. The meter hit £22 at Stockwell, a good few miles from his destination. Am I a charitable institution? Am I a soft touch? Was I in a giving vein this day? It was also raining quite profusely as I applied the handbrake and announced this was as far as I was going. He hesitated for a moment, thought about saying something then thought better of it and handed over the £22. he had a long walk in the rain ahead of him. He should've taken the bus as it would've been way cheaper and got him all the way home. Am I a miserable old git? I felt pangs of guilt but the thought that he regularly tried this on brushed that guilt away.
The rest of the shift panned out ok and apart from almost getting knocked (unpaid) by 2 drunk girls I made my money and was home and tucked up next to my partner by 3am. Oh the joys of being back on nights.
Take Care
LC
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Happy 2011
Hi folks
I'm using the mobile poster from my iphone again so it won't be too long a posting.
Happy New Year and all that jazz.
Well I think I've been caught out after so many recent days off. There's little to no work out here tonite and after six and a half hours I'm struggling to make my money.
Most of the jobs are short hops and ive been mainly working between South Kensington and Victoria. I think it will take at least another week before the work picks up.
The best job of the night was four guys from Victoria to Wharfedale Road round the back of Kings Cross which went twenty quid but all the others have been much less.
I stopped off at Earls Court earlier and treated myself to a meatball sub from Subway. I've switched from Subway melt recently and now I can't resist the meatballs. It's not doing my figure any favours and all my jeans are starting to tighten up but what can I do? A man has to eat!
I went to the cinema yesterday with my daughter to see "The Tourist". I didn't think much of it to be honest. I'm not a lover of Americans trying to do English accents, and vice versa for that matter so it just didn't provide me with the escapism I was seeking but I made up for it with a Hot Dog, some popcorn and a McD's afterwards. (more waistline stretching nourishment)
Anyhow, just thought I'd check in and do the New Year thing.
Watch out for more tales from my cab.
Take Care out there.
LC
I'm using the mobile poster from my iphone again so it won't be too long a posting.
Happy New Year and all that jazz.
Well I think I've been caught out after so many recent days off. There's little to no work out here tonite and after six and a half hours I'm struggling to make my money.
Most of the jobs are short hops and ive been mainly working between South Kensington and Victoria. I think it will take at least another week before the work picks up.
The best job of the night was four guys from Victoria to Wharfedale Road round the back of Kings Cross which went twenty quid but all the others have been much less.
I stopped off at Earls Court earlier and treated myself to a meatball sub from Subway. I've switched from Subway melt recently and now I can't resist the meatballs. It's not doing my figure any favours and all my jeans are starting to tighten up but what can I do? A man has to eat!
I went to the cinema yesterday with my daughter to see "The Tourist". I didn't think much of it to be honest. I'm not a lover of Americans trying to do English accents, and vice versa for that matter so it just didn't provide me with the escapism I was seeking but I made up for it with a Hot Dog, some popcorn and a McD's afterwards. (more waistline stretching nourishment)
Anyhow, just thought I'd check in and do the New Year thing.
Watch out for more tales from my cab.
Take Care out there.
LC
My sister is back posting again. Check out her blog This Is Real Life
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:South Kensington UK
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
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.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Arise The Shard
We've had a right old time here in London. What with the cold weather, tuition fee protests and Charles and Camilla being set upon by a bunch of yobs in Regent Street its a small wonder anyone wants to come here at all.
I drove round Parliament Square the day after the protests and was disgusted at the damage I witnessed. All the traditional type phoneboxes were devoid of any panes of glass. All the lower windows of the treasury were boarded up. There was grafitti everywhere and once again poor old Winston Churchill had been defaced. Absolute animals!!
London and Europe's soon to be tallest building is coming along nicely.
I drove round Parliament Square the day after the protests and was disgusted at the damage I witnessed. All the traditional type phoneboxes were devoid of any panes of glass. All the lower windows of the treasury were boarded up. There was grafitti everywhere and once again poor old Winston Churchill had been defaced. Absolute animals!!
London and Europe's soon to be tallest building is coming along nicely.
The Shard Of Glass as it will be known has yet to top out but is already taller than the previous tallest building at Canada Square in Canary Wharf, East London. Check out Shard London Bridge on Wikipedia.
Well I'm sitting on the rank at the Cumberland Hotel typing this and the Twitter cabbies are saying this is the busiest week before Christmas. I've done 2 jobs in 3 hours so where's all the work?
I am now driving a brand new 60 plate TX4 Elegance. A very nice cab. One complaint......the right chanel on the stereo isn't working so i'll have to have a word when I go up to pay later on. I also can't get the DAB to work so any ideas welcome. Its a JVC fitted to all new cabs and it doesn't seem to scan for stations.
Finally at the front of the queue so should be away soon.
Regents Park Mosque. Oh well.
Check soon for more rivetting posts.
LC
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Brrrrrrr!!!!!!! It's Cold
Hi folks
These last few weeks have seen the return (with a vengeance) of the cold and icy weather that winter brings with it. We woke to snow just before the weekend and as usual London ground to a halt. It didn't really affect Central London too much as the gritter lorries had been out and done a good job but the side roads were treacherous every where and anywhere with a slight incline was a no-go area as it's very easy to get stuck.
The cab I am at present using has what I would describe as a crappy heater. The guv'nor at the garage told me that the thermostat had been removed as the previous driver had complained about it being too hot in the summer. Hello!! Its now winter!! Why couldn't he have put it back? The result is that the temperature gauge barely rises resulting in luke warm air at best. Ever the DIY enthusiast, I found a suitable piece of board and wedged it between the radiator and another smaller rad, probably the oil cooler, and low and behold I have heat!! It certainly makes all the difference and my passengers are kept warm and happy to boot!
I will nowadays be found using the rank at St John's Wood Station. Gone are the days of sitting on South Kensington as that whole area is a nightmare during the day. From SJWR (as I call it in my notes) I have gotten jobs all over the place and it's much easier to get from A to B from there.
I picked up a lady yesterday who asked to be taken to York Gate, Regents Park where I would have to wait for her whilst she crossed Marylebone Road disappeared down some alley behind the church, got me worried whether she was coming back (which I'm pleased to say she did) and then bring her back to SJWR. All the way there and back she was telling me of a stalker friend of hers that she'd once helped out by letting her live with her for a year whilst she had some problems and now couldn't get rid of her to the point where it was making her life a misery and put her on anti-depressants. She even started getting emotional whilst telling me and I tried to offer her some pearls of wisdom I'd gleaned from 20 years of talking bollocks to my punters. I think it helped her see things a bit more philosophically and she thanked me for listening and talking to her, gave me a five pound tip and went on her merry way.
I now stop for a bite to eat with the other Chris, aka @Silvercabby on Twitter whilst my other mate Chris aka @Titaniccabby continues on nights. We'll generally wait until we're near the Euston area and go for a bite to eat at the Double Six Cafe at 66 Eversholt street. In my opinion it's one of the better greasy spoons around and you can park for 45 minutes for £2 on the taxi bays in Phoenix Road.
Any way I better get out to work as I've only just popped back after dropping Jane at work and I'm losing the morning burst of work whilst sitting here typing this.
Catch you all later and remember to wrap up warm.
Take care.
L.C.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Mobile App
Testing 123
Hi folks, just downloaded an app for Iphone to blog on the move so you may start seeing shorter posts but on a more regular basis.
Its bloody cold and frosty out thrre and they say snow is iminent so wrap up warm.
I gave my TX4 back to the garage today and went back to a former garage. They've started me on a 55 plate TX2 and are ordering me a new TX4 Deluxe which should arrive in a few weeks. The guvnor at the garage I just left was a bit miffed at my leaving even though i gave a weeks notice. The TX2 is £50 a week cheaper and the new TX4 will be £40 cheaper so its a no brainer really.
Any way i'm gonna post this to see if it works.
Expect more soon.
LC
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