text:
Think of this as my whingeing Facebook page
Just some random thoughts and observations
When I have a 'For Crying Out Loud' moment I will add this to the Weekly Whinge page. Most entries will be just that, and not worthy as a post, but enough for the need to get it off my chest, and hopefully it will stir some emotion in you after you have read it.
At times it might even make you smile at the absurdity of human nature.
7th September 2017 The work to replace the 160 yards long Ardleigh Green Bridge on the A127 in Romford began on the 24th September 2014, almost three years ago. TfL says they 'hope' it will be completed by October 2019. So the very minimum this small bridge replacement will take is 5 years. In comparison, the QEII Bridge when completed at Thurrock was the longest cable stayed single span suspension bridge in Europe. A 4-lane road deck is carried by two pairs of steel and concrete masts 276ft tall, founded on 175ft high concrete piers sunk into the Thames. An overall length of nearly 2 miles and took only 3 years to build. We should never let the hapless TfL near another bridge project again.
31st August 2017 Just returned from a short break in Norway. Bergen a small city of less than 1 million, has up to 3 cruise ships disgorging 5,000 passengers each every day. Hardly any litter in the streets or rubbish left on trains, the eating areas and beauty spots are, well, spotless. Back in London rubbish litters the gutters, bins overflow and there's graffiti everywhere. Why?
24th August 2017 From the 30 or so Public Carriage Officers we had patrolling the streets when I first started, we now have over 300 which goes to show how much illegal private hire there is out there.
17th August 2017 Dropped off at St. Pancras Station and became the subject of an vehicle inspection. Was stopped from using cab as it didn't have a credit card cradle in the back. The fact that they are not made seems lost of the idiots at Transport for London.
10th August 2017 With the rush to go electric, the AA have warned that the National Grid will have trouble coping with the demand of the electric cabs 'plug in'. A report by the National Grid concluded that another 30 gigawatts would be needed to power all future electric vehicles. That's almost 10 times the total power output of nuclear power station Hinckley Point C now under construction after decades of debate regarding the advisability having it built.
3rd August 2017 The new electric cab named the TXe City has been given a purchase price – £55,599. What a bargain only £25,000 more than a C-Class Mercedes. What cabbie in their right mind is going to commit to that, especially as our income is falling year-on-year thanks to the new editor of the Evening Standard when he commanded a position of power?
27th July 2017 Well at long last they have unveiled the new electric cab. We now know its name, a TXe City. We're told it will save us £100 per week in fuel (but, of course, put up our domestic electricity bills), it has a range of 70 miles and 400 miles using petrol/battery. The order book opens in 5 days, but one essential specification is missing – the price!
20th July 2017 We've all seen them, feral kids riding stolen bikes looking for trouble. Rumours of the police's reluctance to chase this vermin since the death of Henry Hicks in December 2014 would seem to be borne out. Despite two cars chasing Hicks' moped through traffic with their sirens and blue lights flashing, at speeds of up to 50mph, apparently, he had not been aware that they were following him. As a result, they said, the chase did not meet formal police guidelines for a pursuit that would have required them to seek authorisation to continue. Now we seem to have got the situation which liberals have contrived to create for years. Lawless streets.
13th July 2019 I've just been on holiday in Dorset: banks of wildflowers by the side of the road; manicured roundabouts; and clean streets. Upon my return, I realised that I missed a Festival of Litter when the local populace gets the opportunity to decorate their streets with brightly coloured wrappers, break up the monotony of grey pavements by liberally peppering them with chewing gun, and ensuring the survival of local wildlife by distributing chips and half eaten burgers. Next year I'll ensure that I don't miss this important event.
6th July 2019 I don't wish to be indelicate, but while visiting the Iron Lung in Regency Place, the Westminster Coroners Court next door, which usually looks deserted, was taped off with red police tape, guarded by at least three police officers and a cover had been erected over the entrance, so presumably a vehicle may reverse in away from prying eyes. I would like to think these precautions are facilitated to give the deceased a little dignity. But the cynic in me wonders whether it is to cover up the number of deaths.
29th June 2017 So Sadiq Khan has set up a 'brains trust' to look into ways of reducing congestion in London: more bikes; banning cars on certain days; you know the sort of thing. It would be less risible if he wasn't at the same time issuing 600-700 Uber licences a week.
22nd June 2017 So I get this letter from Taxi and Private Hire informing me that on 1st March a complaint was made again me:
Hi There I was parked outside scotts restaurant on mount street W1 ,when a Mercedes Vito Taxi hit my mirror and drove off causing minor damage .
Reg of cab :LD 63 OUN.
The incident happened about 21.00 on the 1-3-2017.i did try to confront the driver of what he had done ,but he sped off [sic].
I managed to view his vehicle type and registration.
This is not acceptable behaviour for a London taxi driver plying for hire with his light on .
TfL reminded me that:
. . . we expect drivers to demonstrate a high standard of driving at all time, and trust you'll ensure these standards are maintained.
Fine words, except since UBER arrived in London all regulations have gone out of the window and it's pretty lawless out there; and it wasn't my cab and I wasn't the driver.
15th June 2017 Transport for London has been successful in their aim to erode black cabbie's income and business. Queues at ranks now stretch sometimes the longest I've seen in my 20 plus years of driving around the Capital. Now the busiest rank, that of Paddington, has a camera on Harrow Road designed to catch vehicles over ranking and produce even more income from beleaguered drivers. Thanks Sadiq.
8th June 2017 So they have just disclosed the worst street in Britain for parking fines. Is it London's longest – Green Lanes at nearly six-and-a-half miles, or maybe a major thoroughfare say, for instance, Bishopsgate. No the narrow street which isn't a thoroughfare as it's one-way in opposite directions and only about 400 metres long is Rivington Street which receives the dubious award. Motorists on Britain's worst street for parking fines forked out a staggering £1.3 million last year, issuing 19,365 tickets – an average of 50 a day – on Rivington Street in Shoreditch, East London.
1st June 2017 So Sadiq Khan has extended Uber's license for 12 weeks, thus averting putting thousands of unskilled private hire drivers out of work. You would think there was a General Election coming up.
25th May 2017 on London Bridge northbound
At any time
and taxis
Midnight – 3 pm
9 pm – Midnight.
Can you run that past me again.
18th May 2017 My local Lloyds Bank closed this week. Having been a customer since 1970 I will now have to travel over 4 miles and incur parking charges just to join the queue which will be longer than the line waiting for service was when my local branch was open. Thanks, Lloyds as you say in your current advertising campaign: 'For Your Next Step'. My next step will be four miles long.
11th May 2017 As the time come for Uber's operator's licence to be renewed Transport For London continues to appease this technology company allowing it to operate outside the law. To date there are 116,000 private hire drivers in London clogging the streets, this equates to almost 5 minicabs to 1 taxi, the result has been the complete demise of the London taxi trade. It has been proven that false residency medical and criminal documentation is easily created for individuals to obtain a private hire licence and work for Uber yet Mayor Khan and Transport for London still continue to allow them to operate in London.
4th May 2017 It looks like the Boris Bridge is consigned to oblivion. This vanity project, known by luvvies as the garden bridge has already used £37.4 million of public money and by cancelling will cost a further £9 million. The bridge, which only served to obscure London's best view and wasn't even open to the public all year, should never have been considered. I know it's heresy to say these days when we all should be cycling to work, but the £46 million could have been spent on a traffic bridge at Beckton thus reducing congestion at the Blackwall crossing. he new ECO cab has been unveiled with a £60,000 price tag. Assuming you write down the cost over 10 years (private hire come off the road at 10 years); spend £2,000 on insurance; £1,000 on maintenance; it cost you £10 per day on fuel and electricity to charge its batteries; and another £1,000 on one's licence, plating the vehicle, medicals and sundry extras you arrive at £12,4000 per year. This is probably an underestimate, then, let's be generous, you can earn £20 per hour for every hour that you are working, and that you work 5-day-a-week for 48 weeks a year you get a back of an envelope sum thus:£12,400÷48 weeks=£310 weekly overheads which equal 15.5 hours or 2 days' work before you have earned a bean. With 700 licenses issued a week for private hire, it's just not viable.
27th April 2017 Users of London buses have fallen by 2.3 per cent this year and the revenue has decreased by £99 million. Apparently, it's down to speeds on a third of the routes falling by more than 4 per cent, while some journeys have declined by 10 per cent or walking pace. So what are the geniuses at Palestra House dreaming up? Well banning cabs from Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road and Bank Junction. That should improve the bus travel experience.
20th April 2017 Boris's brave new world was to reduce traffic congestion; encouraged bike use, and get more people to use buses. Thus, so his reasoning went, an improvement in air quality was assured. Now thanks to pressure from Downing Street we have 120,000 unskilled numpties cruising London's streets using their phones and satnavs and earning pennies. Traffic speeds are now down to 4mph in some places causing an 8 per cent reduction in bus usage And the perpetrators have quit Parliament to "pursue other interests", roughly translated make a fast buck elsewhere. sign of London's cab trade today, Radio Taxis who I've been writing for these past 6 years has decided we part company. I predict there will be a lot of detrimental changes for cabbies in the next 5 years.
13th April 2017 How much should a pedestrian bridge across the Thames cost? Well, according to The Garden Bridge Project about £200 million, just to cross 400 yards of water. That is nearly £14,000 per inch. So it is hardly surprising those Hell bent on destroying the view from Waterloo Bridge now face a funding gap of £70 million. And to think, when – or if – it opens we can't use it every day.
6th April 2017 Once our high street had four banks – and busy they always were. Over time two were consumed into the behemoth of corporate takeovers. Now in just a few weeks, Lloyds Bank will close on 16th May and not be usurped by its rival NatWest now plans to pull down the shutters on 21st September. Added to this our Post Office, with its queues out the door into the street waiting to get served, is looking for somebody to incorporate its services in their small shop, so they then can also walk away from their customers. Thank God we have kebab takeaways to fill our empty shop fronts.
30th March 2017 From these seemingly diverse cities spot the odd one out: Barcelona, Spain; Buffalo, New York; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Vancouver, Canada; Frankfurt, Germany; Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Oslo, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; London, England. Yes, you guessed it – London. The city voted many times as having the best cabbies, and with the most stringent taxi licensing regulations in the world has allowed Uber to operate with predictable consequences. Just read the Daily Mail this week who have forensically looked into the 'digital disruptor's' murky dealings with politicians. The only thing missing was bags passing hands stuffed with money. Sorry forgot, shopping bags have been banned!
23rd March 2017 The new ECO cab has been unveiled with a £60,000 price tag. Assuming you write down the cost over 10 years (private hire come off the road at 10 years); spend £2,000 on insurance; £1,000 on maintenance; it costs you £10 per day on fuel and electricity to charge its batteries; and another £1,000 on one's licence, plating the vehicle, medicals and sundry extras you arrive at £12,4000 per year. This is probably an underestimate. Then, let's be generous, you can earn £20 per hour for every hour that you are working, and that you work 5-day-a-week for 48 weeks a year you get a back of an envelope sum thus:£12,400÷48 weeks=£310 weekly overheads which equal 15.5 hours or 2 days' work before you have earned a bean. With 700 licenses issued a week for private hire, it's just not viable.
16th March 2017 Boris Blue Paint has proved as slippery as the politician that instigated the cycle lanes which were daubed with this azure colour, £200 million has been spent on this vanity project and now two people have now tragically died, apparently after losing traction on the thin blue line.
9th March 2017
A lightbulb moment
You have to give Leon Daniels credit for succeeding where others have been found wanting. Since Cromwell licensed the London cab trade in 1654 – and in so doing making it the oldest regulated public transport system in the world – and the advent of The Knowledge after the Great Exhibition of 1851 many have tried to destroy London's cab trade and been proved singularly unsuccessful.
The watermen plying the Thames were the first to try their luck when the first bridges were built claiming that cabs couldn't 'go South of the River'; in 1961 exploiting a loophole in the 1869 Carriage Act, Michael Gotla spent £560,000 buying 800 red Renault Dauphines expecting that the drivers could 'ply for hire'. Unfortunately for Gotla within a year, the courts begged to disagree with his interpretation of the law.
His rather costly enterprise did have one consequence, and that was encouraging anyone with a rusty Datsun to attach an aerial to its roof, sign on at a dodgy 'mini-cab' office and chance his luck on London's streets at the weekend. It would be many years before their act was cleaned up.
Others have called for a truncated Knowledge, fast-tracking students to increase the numbers on the road or of allowing those final year students to be let loose on the capital's streets in the hope they know where they were going. All of these cunning plans have come to zilch.
Enter Leon Daniels, Transport for London's Managing Director: Surface Transport. Like his namesake, he entered the lions' den unafraid.
He had a lightbulb moment when realising the way to destroy London's cab trade was to work with a third party – as Daniel said after encountering the feline predators: "because I was found blameless before him" – and indeed the ploy seems to have exonerated him of any blame.
After clandestinely contacting an American 'digital disruptor' more than 20 times a battle plan was formulated.
Using a company who uses their 'offshore' status to avoid paying most UK taxes; a company with close association with the then prime minister; dispensing with the cumbersome criteria of having experienced driving in England at some point; abandoning comprehensive criminal record checks; using drivers with a lack of understanding the geography of London's labyrinthine roads; and who have limited ability in understanding the capital's native tongue, you could flood London's streets with thousands of rented vehicles purporting to be 'cabs'.
The result?
After so many failures in the past, a comprehensive destruction of an independent cab service, once the envy of the world, is within grasp.
All you need is a continual supply of compliant poorly paid drivers waiting to get what scraps they can from a diminishing market as more and more enter the fray.
And for the architect of this? A knighthood has been awarded for less, though I doubt he will be going to receive his gong in a black cab.
As a footnote: Icelandic tourists recently told me that a similar scam was tried in Reykjavik with a population of less than a quarter of a million. The local cabbies objected and the American company was given the cold shoulder and shown the door.
2nd March 2017 As a sign of London's cab trade today, Radio Taxis who I've been writing for these past 6 years have decided we part company. I predict there will be a lot of detrimental changes for cabbies in the next 5 years.
24th February 2017 According to a new study – with all the 'improvements' TfL have made to London's roads – research has found 73 hours a year are spent in traffic jams, which ranks London the seventh worst city in the world for congestion. Two of the six ahead of London are South American cities with little spent on their infrastructure.
18th February 2017 You couldn't make it up, after spending many millions of pounds, causing gridlock with numerous roadworks to encourage cycling in London and presumably better health. It is now more dangerous to sit on a bus due to pollution than any time since the 'pea-soupers' of the 1950s.
24th July 2015 When I buy my Kingsmill sliced from my local supermarket (£1) I wouldn't trust it if there was no wrapper even if the shop was pristine. So why is it that on Borough High Street with its constant traffic jams of vehicles churning out diesel fumes while waiting to cross London Bridge one maker or should that be creator, of 'artisan' bread displays his wares on a bench in the street?
25th June 2015 Kosher cocaine: What you see in London never fails to surprise. Crossing Blackfriars Bridge I see a group of police vehicles, a number of coppers and sniffer dogs. And the subjects of all this attention? A group of hasidic jews.
12th December 2014 For this little anecdote I'll pick my words very carefully for it starts at the Hilton Metropole. An African family come out and demand Westfield, I take them to Wood Lane, "No this is not the entrance". Then it's off to a second entrance in Wood Lane, "No take us to the cab rank", next it's on to Shepherds Bush Station cab rank, "No this not this entrance we want – take us back to the hotel". If they though with £16 on the meter I was going to retrace my steps they were sorely disappointed. I ask them to get out, suspecting it was a ruse used before leaving them – without paying – having to waddle all of 150 yards into the shopping emporium. Driving on to the Hilton Kensington a Swedish woman gets in "Please take me to Hilton Olympia" (there are a lot of Hiltons in London). She has apparently been taken to the wrong Hilton by the private hire driver. "You cabbies are marvellous", she intones. I drop here off and receive a generous tip. One hundred yards later a hand goes out and two ladies ask for Gibson Square, it's the first 'run' of The Knowledge. You could say it was: The Ugly, The Bad and The Good!
15th November 2014 It is nine o'clock on a wet Saturday night and I've parked the cab in the London Zoo's deserted car park, when a police car pulls up beside me. "What are you doing, cabbie?" Hoping it was a rhetorical question I reply truthfully, "eating my lunch officer". He retorted "you can't do that here!" It's good to observe that the long arm of the law is cutting crime.
5th August 2014 I've just seen today a perfectly effective way of shortening your life. Riding a unicycle (yes the one with one wheel) a man was wobbling down a busy road carrying a Sainsbury's shopping bag in each hand.
30th March 2014 Spent 30 minutes negotiating my way through rush hour traffic trying to find the quickest route in one of the most congested cities in the world. My passenger enjoys the warmth and comfort of my cab. Fare £16.40 – I'm given a 60p tip – fare enough. Doorman of hotel opens door for my passenger and gets £1 for his inconvenience.
29th March 2014 Get a T4 Heathrow. Dropping off bewildered arrivals ask if 'I'm available?' I explain that I cannot pick up without joining the rank. Minicab gets the job. I'm penalised by TfL if I accept, he's not. That's transport regulation for you.
28th March 2014 American tourist: "Just what kind of vehicle is this". Me: "A cab".
22nd March 2014 Just when you think you have seen it all and been asked every motoring question imaginable along comes one out of the blue. Filling up at the end of the day a young man asks "how do I fill up my car". I then have to show him how to select the fuel; unhook the nozzle; insert said nozzle into car; pull trigger; and what to say to the cashier. Oh! And "Don't forget to lock your doors if you want to come back to your vehicle".
1st January 2014 I have written previously about 'How to Hail a Cab', but upon embarking upon your journey there are certain rules of etiquette it might be wise to adopt.
The beginning of the year is known as The Kipper Season for reasons that have been lost in the mists of time. Traditionally it is one of the quietest times in London for the cab trade, so with a frustrating time trying to earn living cabbies can tend to be, shall we say, a little tetchy.
Yes, I know the inside of a cab is spacious, but seeing a passenger moving from seat to seat is extremely distracting when negotiating heavy traffic or travelling down a motorway.
McDonald's go to extraordinary lengths to protect their corporate colours – they are red and yellow in case you haven't noticed – a cab is black they shouldn't be confused. Eat-in McD's not in a cab.
It is said the perfect dinner guest avoids religion and politics when engaging in conversion. This is the polar opposite of the perfect punter in a London cab. The merest hint on either of these subjects could unleash a torrent of polemic from the guy up front – discuss at your peril.
One of the greatest inventions towards the end of the last century was the mobile phone. It's not a novelty anymore. Don't use it while trying to instruct the cabbie as to your destination or making payment.
And speaking of tendering payment, wait until the vehicle has stopped before thrusting the readies through the partition.
1st November 2013 Had my favourite punter in the cab, close to completing a 25-minute journey, while thrusting his i-phone at me, proclaims that I've "taken the wrong way". I patiently point out that he is holding the map upside down and if I had taken his route we would be drowning in the Serpentine by now. The conversation ended at that point.
28th October 2013 Tesco the ubiquitous retailer has its shops in almost every location. Take the one in Covent Garden it has because its loading bay in a road so small I defy most cabbies to be able to locate New Row. To stock, their store Tesco despatch an articulated lorry the size of a small house, its driver just about managing to manoeuvre his vehicle into the tight space. If that wasn't enough the geniuses in charge of logistics send their lorry at the height of the evening's theatre going public arriving, so the driver has to contend with negotiating the vehicle as hundreds of people try to squeeze past and then try vainly to get into Strand past dozens of parked cars.
24th October 2013 After re-opening Farringdon Road to vehicles after 6 months, so concerned were they that traffic would start to flow again, they have changed the sequence on the Blackfriars Bridge southbound lights to remain green for only 12 seconds.
26th August 2013 Boris is planning to impose a 20mph limit on all of London's residential streets, despite average speeds in the Capital hardly above Victorian horse drawn vehicles. The speed limit is already in place on 19 per cent of London's roads and supporters claim major benefits in road safety and improvement on the quality of life. Islington became the first London borough to impose a 20mph limit on all the roads that it controls and Camden are consulting residents on the same policy. If adopted by all of London's boroughs it will mean 95 per cent of the Capital's roads will have this restriction imposed upon them.
Driving in Islington now has become tedious at best and painful should one have a back condition. The council's road calming measures in the form of 'sleeping policemen' are ineffective as many large cars just straddle the obstruction.
However, my observation is that those drivers most willing to get up to higher speeds quickest are usually found to be the ones that need to rely upon their brakes most. Hence turning most of that kinetic energy into heat and ultimately hot air!
I feel the only way to realistically keep speeds down to that magical 17 mph (as odometers are inaccurate at slow speeds), would be to remove all speed humps and invest in a network of average speed cameras, as their installation seems the only measure to work motorists adhere to the speed limit.
21st July 2013 It's twenty minutes past midnight and just when you think you've seen every possible stupid trick a cyclist can make one comes along and leaves you agog. I'm joining Piccadilly from Bolton Street and a cyclist jumps the lights heading towards Hyde Park Corner. But unlike most of the kamikaze light jumpers he has his mate sitting on the handlebars. Without lights – naturally – he peddles furiously around one of the world's busiest intersections, wobbling as his 12 stone passenger is preventing him move the handlebars effectively.
18th July 2013 Had a punter in the cab today who said that the labyrinth of one way streets in Pimlico was a security construct for MPs who live in the area. According to him they were afraid that the IRA could easily exit the area if they had targeted someone. So a group of highly motivated individuals who are prepared to murder a Member of Parliament to further their cause would scrupulously adhere to the Highway Code. A likely story, but it at least answers why so many call girls and mistresses reside in Dolphin Square a stone's throw away even today.
14th June 2013 Some dozy twat of who goes under the grand name of the junior Lib Dem Business Minister has seriously suggested that all verbal undertakings offered by tradesmen to their customers should be enforceable by law and to that end the customer should record this on their mobile phone as evidence. It means that if Ms Jo Swinson's proposal makes it to the Statute Book I could be prosecuted if I tell a punter "Hop in, Guv, I'll get you to the airport in 30 minutes", and the Westway is jammed solid.
16th April 2013 What's the chances? Twice this week I've had a job right out to Richmond. Went to the same expensive road both times, they lived 6 doors away from each other.
18th February 2013 Boris does come up with some great wheezes. His latest is that within 6 years all commercial vehicles entering London during the working day (whatever that means) should be emission free. Considering the only 'emission free' vehicle is electric, does he expect all cabs to be replaced with a vehicle which cannot travel over 80 miles a day? A vehicle which is still on the drawing board? And every existing cab will be replaced by its owner – making his old cab worthless – with one costing £60,000? Boris remove your head from up your backside and look at reality.
8th December 2012 Went to fish and chip shop today. Old lady standing by counter eating her lunch. Did she need the company or just the warmth of the shop?
30th November 2012 I've just seen a man riding a customised bike up Tottenham Court Road with two children on board, one in front of the handlebars the other as a pillion passenger, none wearing head protection, and no rear lights in the dark.
16th November 2012 Today I saw 10 coppers at Admiralty Arch engaged in preventing crime by pulling over cyclists jumping the red lights.
9th November 2012 Conversation overheard of woman on phone while on the way to Royal Hospital: "My friend got so drunk that she fell down the stairs and they think she has broken her neck". Oh dear, these youngsters.
7th November 2012 In Oxford Street they only have the Christmas decorations up, featuring that well-known seasonal ingredient – Marmite!!
6th November 2012 I had resolved to stop writing up my diary, and then some irascible old trout gets into the back. It's 6 o'clock in the evening and she asks "Baker Street", now if somebody says "London Bridge" I don't drop them off half way across the River, I naturally assume they want the station. So after she has watched me head for Baker Street Station she waits until I stop outside the station to tell me she wants the Sherlock Holmes Hotel and then accuses me of being "A wrong'un".
27th February 2012 Occasionally, just occasionally a rather strange series of events play out in a working day. My first job was to pick up actor Ralph Fiennes and take him to an editing suite in Soho. Within yards from dropping him off I was hailed by a guy in a wheelchair. As I was lowering the ramp he told me, and you'll just have to suspend disbelief here, he had just been asked by a beggar for £15. Whatever happen to "Got any spare change Gov'nr?" Half an hour later , in the back of the cab, I found a camera case with a digital camera memory card within, but no camera. I inserted the card into my own camera that I always carry for the blog. Returning to the rather swish restaurant where my fare was dining I proffered my phone showing the punters image to the Maître'd and got him to scour the darkened restaurant. Errant punter found I returned to my cab with a self satisfied smug look and little else.
4th February 2012 A very satisfying moment, at the front of a long queue of freezing people at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge are four snobby women with a dusting of snow on their expensive coats and each carrying a half full Champagne flute. "No sorry", perplexed expressions all round on their cold faces. "No drinking". Couple behind jump gratefully into cab – made my day!
14th January 2012 I don't think a day has gone by since the Romans arrived that Bishopsgate has been free of roadworks.
12th January 2012 At the front of the rank at King's Cross, 3,000 yellow hire lights in line behind me, punter asks "are you available?". Sigh!!!
10th January 2012 When you want West Central Street you don't wait until you get to Clerkenwell before telling the driver that you have mumbled "West"Central Street.
8th January 2012 Walked through the Blakemore Hotel's foyer as water started pouring from the ceiling the manager was booking a minicab at the time poetic justice
6th January 2012 Beware shoppers in Covent Garden in mass suicide pact – jaywalkers
4th January 2012 Large police presence outside Foot Locker in Oxford Street. What are they expecting déjà vu?
2nd January 2012 Just noticed that the Meridien Hotel's rank is so far from the hotel's entrance it might just as well be situated on Hyde Park Corner.
15th December 2011 Passed a new development on North Woolwich Road today; it offers "Peace and Tranquillity". City Airport is next door, 4-land road outside and the Docklands Light Railway runs overhead. Peace Man.
14th December 2011 A man knocked on our front door today. It was a Churglar. A chugger who call at your home. I'm a reformed offender can you . . . No. Thanks.
13th December 2011 Central St. Giles development at the end of Oxford Street looks like it's been designed in Lego by primary schoolchildren, not by a world class architect.
12th December 2011 Admiralty Arch for sale, could be the opportunity for McDonalds to create its most prestigious drive thro' outlet, its shape a perfect M.
10th December 2011 Christmas shopping in full swing and what do we get? Demonstrators from Congo reducing Parliament Square and shutting off half the West End causing gridlock. What has this to do with us?
6th December 2011 Is it me? Why do people thrust the money through the small aperture of the partition with any small change wrapped in a banknote? The consequence of this action is that the coins drop unto the floor, lost forever in the driver's compartment.
22nd November 2011 Went into my local Lloyds Bank today; redecorated and now with surround sound, a continuous broadcast of their television adverts. So the last bastion of quiet on the high street has gone.
10th November 2011 I would have liked to make the excuse for not writing much in the Diary this past month as being the result that I haven't much to moan about. Unfortunately most of my spare time has been taken up trying to get my head around my shiny new
i-phone. What is it with these geniuses in Silicon Valley, can't they make anything simple? You need to have a Masters in Computing to just import your address book let alone sending an e-mail.
5th November 2011 I was on Downing Street's Petition website today and was surprised to find that there wasn't a petition to ban rickshaws. You would have thought that our Association would have taken it upon them to propose one, 24,000 drivers with their families and friends should manage the required 100,000 needed to make the Government sit up and listen.
12th October 2011 Called off the Langham Hotel rank (a 5 star no less) to be asked by the doorman if I could take his Japanese guest to a red light district "Soho is your best bet" I say in my best Mandarin, and show him a telephone box in said district with its ubiquitous adverts. Not understanding how girls have become hi-tech in offering their services he wanders off into the night.
11th October 2011 Went past the Apple Store on Regent Street today, and apples and candles are being left outside in memory of Steve Jobs – iSad.
10th October 2011 I read today that Big Ben is starting to lean. Underground excavations have allowed it to lean 0.26 degrees from the vertical in 400 years it will look like the Leaning Tower of Piza. That should help the tourist industry.
8th October 2011 Here is a turn up for the books, an Aussie man gets in the cab wearing a drop earring and sporting a rather nice shade of egg-shell blue nail varnish. And what is more he gave me a tip. What is the world coming to?
6th October 2011 Had a "Lady of the Night" asking for £1.50 today, strange amount for begging or is that the going rate in these days?
16th September 2011 I see TfL is running newspaper adverts warning Londoners of disruption during the 2012 Olympics; flexible working, working from home are advised and err . . . stockpiling food. What is this the siege of Leningrad?
24th August 2011 Earlier this year, when Barack Obama visited London, the police closed off half a dozen streets in Mayfair and brought the entire area to a virtual standstill. The restrictions proposed for the Olympics will bring far worse problems over a much larger area. If TfL and the Olympic bodies cannot come up with concessions for the taxi trade, they will likely find the public's only real alternative to the overstretched Underground system vanishing from the streets. Sitting in traffic all day is one thing, having an irate passenger scream that there must be another route when you know there isn't is another.
22nd August 2011 The news recently that the No. 10 Petition site is to be improved with the added incentive that if 100,000 signatures are recorded our MPs might debate the motion, could work to London cabbies advantage. It's an open secret that the biggest complaint that we have is the continued tolerance by TfL of rickshaws on London's streets, and if my passengers are anything to go by, many Londoners as well. Surely it can't be hard for us to raise the required number of signatures; 24,000 licensed cab drivers, their spouses, friends, partners and pets, it might just might, force MPs to address the banning of these death traps.
12th August 2011 London is inundated with police from every force in Britain 16,000 of them after the riots (Sorry! Protests over the Government cuts) earlier in the weekS. In Upper Street, Islington they were gazing at a Foxtons, probably they haven't seen an estate agent with a monster flat plasma screen, 1960s psychedelic chairs and a bar before;. Also saw in the West End constables from the north of England being asked directions, they had no idea where Trafalgar Square was let alone a theatre.
8th August 2011 I was in Hackney today having a coffee when a riot broke out in the High Street. Women running away pushing prams, shop windows were broken, people not able to work. What on earth are the police playing at? Law and order as the rest of society understand it has broken down, only politicians and senior police officers believe that our society in London is normal.
1st August 2011 After what seems like a year the cobbles have finally been laid in Maiden Lane. The slowest builders in the world have even been featured on numerous articles about their incompetence.
20th July 2011 When I was a lad we had a local road sweeper by the name of Charlie, he had developed breathing problems, probably as a result of the war, and preferred to work outdoors. Armed with just trolley containing his bins and brushes he kept the neighbourhood clean. Now today my local street cleaners have arrived, after an absence of many months, not for them one man and his barrow, one drives the lorry, the second holds the bin while the third has a broom. Could that be the reason why I pay over £1,500 Council Tax?
8th July 2011 St. James's Street has recently been made 2-way, but for some traffic still moves in only one direction. One was a Mercedes travelling towards me, a standoff ensured with each of us not wanting to back up. Eventually, Mr Mercedes took the pragmatic view and relented.
7th July 2011 Tonight I was hailed as I drove through Eaton Square and shown a picture of a car park taken on an i-phone. Do I know where we have parked our car? The usual question and answer game ensured whereupon we were all agreed that it was under Kingston House opposite Hyde Park and we were proved right.
5th July 2011 I read recently that Harrods and Selfridges have opened their Christmas departments,
four months before December. Even more bizarrely there're opened early for Muslims who shop frantically in the days before Ramadan. You couldn't make it up.
1st July 2011 In Preston in an attempt to reduce their expenditure councillors have insisted that taxi drivers who struggle to understand English will no longer be given the help of a taxpayer-funded interpreter to save money. Hackney and private hire drivers currently get help with translation at town hall meetings, such as when they are applying for a licence. The service has been used several times since 2008 but licensing chiefs are considering scrapping the service to save cash. Cabbies who can't speak English you couldn't make it up.
24th June 2011 Advert seen on the back of a coach: Downton Abbey £36; only problem it doesn't exist! I suppose they will be taken to Highclere Castle, no Hugh Bonneville here just some Egyptian galleries.
16th June 2011 Talking to a passenger she told me of the time she was in labour sitting in the back of a cab on-route to hospital, fearing her waters would break, and in agony every time the cab went over a road hump.
14th June 2011 A major fire in Aldwych closed up Waterloo Bridge, Stand, and all approaches all day, so what do the TfL management (being paid £500per day) do, they then close up Blackfriars underpass, so nothing moved all night, gridlock at midnight.
11th June 2011 If the traffic wasn't bad enough in London, today we had a group protesting about rape, 1,000 nude cyclists cruising around the West End and Trooping the Colour, great – gridlock.
3rd June 2011 "Haitfield House, Sowth Wawlk" was the instruction when he got into the cab, and continued his conversation with a colleague about futures, options and takeovers with an accent of Received English which would have made Brian Sewell sound like Del Boy. South Walk? "I'm not sure where Hatfield House is", I ask. My passenger informs me that it might be Stamford Street. "Oh! Southwark", with a silent w.
26th May 2011 Lots of traffic as there often is in London after heavy rain. Trying to join a major road the brand new red Ferrari next to me has stuck his shiny nose into the bike lane. Lycra Man on his bike spits on his bonnet as he passes – only in London eh?
20th May 2011 I saw today a cab with an imitation pirate ship's prow and stern, I suppose it's an advert for Pirates of the Caribbean Part IV. Dear God, what will they think of next?
19th May 2011 Our most precious things in life are our children, so why do the eco warriors in London persist on transporting them on their bikes? Today, I saw one which had a plastic cradle attached to the handlebars with a 3-year-old perched on top.
16th May 2011 I found a Blackberry in the back of the cab today, its screen helpfully informed me of its owner's name and a number to be phoned to return the device. Ringing it the Blackberry sprung into life. Yes, the contact number given was the mislaid phone's number.
27th April 2011 I have read today that the Olympic Delivery Team has given Camden Council £145,000 to re-phase a set of light; install two no left turns, and lengthen a pedestrian island by 10 foot. The site is 10 miles from the Olympic Park and is designed to hinder people travelling to and from St. Pancras Station by cab. The station, of course, connects with the Javelin Train to Stratford Station and the Olympic Park. One wonders if that much is spent on a set of traffic lights just how much has been wasted in the stadia's construction.
16th April 2011 I had a member of the pro-AV team in the cab, he naturally asked what way I would vote in the referendum. I asked would the vote be conducted under AV or First Past the Post rules. Looking surprised he replied, "under First Past the Post rules of course". QED.
10th April 2011 I read that residents of Nice have a new energy-efficient option for getting to work. Nice has become the first city to have a rental scheme using electric cars. More than 200 cars are available to 70 docking stations for a rate of €8 an hour. Just don't tell Boris.
23rd March 2011 A recent article in the Evening News stated that all spectators will be issued with one-day travel cards when they buy a ticket to the 2012 Games, so bang goes any chance of many jobs to and from the Olympic Village for cabbies. We all know about the Olympic Lanes that cabs enter into at their peril, but have you heard about the advertising restrictions? Strict rules mean only Olympic sponsors, known as partners, can advertise within 300 metres of a Games venue. Such is the anxiety to prevent "ambush" marketing by non-sponsors that an Act of Parliament is set to enforce the ban; perversely an exception is made for the Barclays-sponsored "Boris" bikes that will be allowed within 300 metres, despite the bank not being an official sponsor. The ban will mean that ANY cab displaying advertising other than for Olympic sponsors will not be allowed to drop off or pick up at any Games venue, not only will cabs with super sides and full livery advertising be prevented from plying for hire it will of course prohibit those radio taxis carrying the ComCab/Dial-A-Cab and other roundels advertising their radio circuit.
17th March 2011 Nothing exercises MPs minds more than themselves. Take how they are voted into their privileged Commons seats. Soon they will try to elicit your vote on the AV Referendum. Most of us don't really understand just how it works so here is CabbieBlog's suggestion: Ask them will the Referendum be conducted under AV rules or first past the post? If it's first past the post – why?
14th March 2011 The indignity of being kicked out of a Thistle hotel recently has been exercising my brain. "The toilets are only for guests" I was told. So where to find a Goldilocks Hotel: Not too posh (no scruffy cabbies allowed); not too cheap (no toilets in the foyer); but just right. In central London the opportunities are fast disappearing, soon I'll be forced into McDonald's.
5th March 2011 Spotted this sign: Notice to Cabdrivers. Any Cabman skylarking or otherwise misconducting himself while on the Managing Committee's premises or Smoking whilst his Cab is standing alongside the Platform will be required to leave the Station immediately. By order.
24th February 2011 In the 17th century the most popular leisure activity was to go to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Lambeth Council has taken it upon them to spend a small fortune recapturing the former glory of the park. Now after installing two black concrete pillars and a granite path they want to fell two ancient mulberry trees. These 70ft trees are the same species that King Charles II planted in an effort to kick start London's silk industry. Questioned why these trees should be removed the Lambeth Council's response was:
"The mulberry trees have red berries that will stain the new granite sets which will therefore require additional cleaning to maintain the newly paved surface." Council bosses are worried that the mulberry trees will not just stain the pavement, but that the roots from the trees will affect the wiring of the illuminated pillars. It also said if the trees were kept it would have to re-design the entrance and spend more cash, adding: "The entranceway design was finalised and is committed to a contract. If the trees were to remain, the entranceway would require redesign work which would delay the project by an estimate of two weeks, and cost an additional £1,500 – £2,000."
It would be a strange paradox that they should be felled as part of a plan to beautify the entrance to the gardens and I think a more proper response would be to work with nature.
23rd January 2011 An age of austerity is what we have been promised and it's going to be tough, so we must all pull together for we are all in one Big Society. But have you noticed that those who complain loudest about the current Hard Times are not the ones currently experiencing it?
18th February 2011 Why does the paying public's stupidity always surprise me? "The Korean Cultural Centre 123 Strand please." We get to Strand drive its full length then she tells me it is 1-3 Strand and according to her GPS phone the building is on the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Trafalgar Square. She doesn't want to pay for the cruising up and down Strand, and then asks for a receipt. No chance, my receipt machine doesn't do discounts!
17th February 2011 Went past One New Change that ugly shopping centre built opposite St. Paul's. And look protruding out of the roof is an alien robot, very in keeping with this heritage site. Just how do they get planning permission to build these ghastly buildings?
15th February 2011 How is this for progress? We once had our milk delivered, you picked up the bottle from your doorstep, pressed down the foil top and there was your morning's milk. Now it is a trip to the supermarket, multiple choice of milks – full cream whole milk semi skimmed, skimmed, 1 per cent fat milk, organic milk, milk from Jersey and Guernsey cows, flavoured varieties, pasteurised, sterilised, Ultra heat treated, evaporated, condensed, untreated, filtered, dried milk powder and homogenised – we then have to carry the weighty stuff home. The heavy container with its contents of 1.136 litres has a tight fitting screw top, and then the seal below has a pull tab which never works and you have to use a knife to pair it open.
5th February 2011 It's got to be the most pointless street-scaping in the Capital; Pall Mall is now a dual carriageway. Not only will the central reservation encourage pedestrians to stop using the zebra crossings, when drivers reach the western end many find themselves on the wrong side of the central reservation, they then have to cut across traffic to turn either left or right.
3rd February 2011 Today the fate of one of London's last surviving medieval streets will be decided. Hanway Street connecting Oxford Street with Tottenham Court Road with its narrow curving streetscape has against all the odds survived and is worth seeking out for its unique intimacy and charm. But these qualities could be lost if that purveyor of cheap tack gets its way for Primark needs space for . . . a loading bay!
2nd February 2011 I heard today that Westminster Council parking enforcement is operated from Warrington. Could it be possible that they fear retribution so much they have to locate themselves 160 miles from London?
29th January 2011 I must be getting old and mellowed for very little has annoyed me this month. But today at the South Kensington junction I saw an uncontrolled King Charles spaniel puppy, its owner was so incapable of giving the dog basic training it nearly got run over.
26th January 2011 The cab trade in which the punter starts using the service without the means to pay must be unique; for who would say to a plumber I haven't any money as he commences the work? Then after requesting we find cash point (they never want to pay by card in a cab) blame us for our inability to find one, or worse still decide they don't like the cash point we stop outside.
21st January 2011 I read an interesting item regarding the fuel rises of late. Someone with more time on his hands that is really healthy, he came up with these interesting figures. Being the same age as me he started driving in 1965 and according to his calculations, the national average wage was £700 a year or around £13 a week (I was on £5 per week, but no mind), and I was paying four shilling (20p) for a gallon of petrol. That meant I could buy a total of 67.5 gallons with my salary. The national average pay today is £22,000 a year or £423 a week and the average price of petrol is £5.81 a gallon, so I could now buy 73.15 gallons of fuel with a week's wages. As a percentage of my earnings, I'm paying less for petrol than I was 46 years ago. So why do I get angry over the cost of motoring or is it that as a cabbie I'm buying over £120 of the stuff a week?
18th January 2011 I'm not usually a lover of modern buildings but the latest skyscraper emerging from London Bridge looks to be a stunner. While critics of the Shard of Glass are worried by its impact on St. Paul's they should reflect that when Wren's cathedral was proposed there was huge opposition to his baroque design. St Paul's was considered out of place in Protestant England, but built it was, and London is the better for it. The Shard may not be its architectural equivalent but its skilful design, using angled glazing, reflects the sky to onlookers and thus minimises the impact the building has on its surroundings. We live in perhaps the greatest capital in the world, which has long had the role of a driver of global trade and finance. To subordinate that purpose for the sake of protecting a view is not in this city's historic spirit. I love St. Paul's but I love London more.
31st December 2010 Another year over and I suppose a New Year's Resolution needs
to be made – and kept. So for next year I've chosen one that I can keep: To paraphrase
P. J. O'Rourke: In an election: don't vote for them; it only encourages the Bastards. After being lied to by my Conservative Member for Parliament, I'm going to spoil my voting paper in future.
30th December 2010 In the new version of Upstairs, Downstairs, the "Belgravia" porticos of Eaton Place aren't the real thing; they're filmed in Clarendon Square, Leamington Spa. Westminster Council have allowed too much traffic, parking and street furniture in present-day Belgravia. Luckily the architect responsible for the terraced Eaton Square townhouses – P.F. Robinson – built identical properties in elegant Leamington – Thanks Westminster.
22nd December 2010 The world-famous zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios, immortalised by The Beatles' Abbey Road album, has been given Grade II listing, now we are going to have even more jaywalkers crossing in front of my cab having their pictures taken. Those wishing to be photographed just like the Fab Four would be disappointed to learn that Westminster Council moved the original one several yards south from its original site, and replaced all its components, and so no original features remain.
20th December 2010 No one does chaos and queues quite as well as the English, in fact in 2012 we should make it an Olympic sport, and we would get gold. All we need is several inches of snow and low temperatures and we can show Johnny Foreigner a thing or two about how not to handle a crisis. I was at St. Pancras station yesterday and in freezing conditions some 6,000 people snaked back along the Euston Road past the British Library and back again, it was claimed you had to wait up to eight hours to catch a train, and get abuse from a yellow jacketed official into the bargain.
30th November 2010 New York has now been officially confirmed as having the slowest-moving traffic in America. On a positive note, road fatalities in the city are apparently at an all-time low, presumably because no vehicle now goes fast enough to cause any damage. Given the shocking way London has also been grinding inexorably to a halt under the guiding eye of our cycling mayor, Boris Johnson, perhaps this is his secret game plan too – saving lives by making all cars go three miles an hour.
24th November 2010 Here we go again, the great unwashed are "demonstrating" against the removal of student grants. It's a shame the rest of us were prevented working in London, preventing us paying more tax to fund them to sit around university for three years scratching their collective bums. And why are the tutors thee, surely they should lose a days' pay; we're paying them to teach NOT protest.
22nd November 2010 A nautical adventure today. I'm outside the Howard Hotel and a guy with lots of heavy photographic equipment wants to be taken just quarter of a mile up the Victoria Embankment to a ship. I help him carry said equipment on board and he tells me a previous cabbie, a woman at that, when asked to do the job told him to f**k off. It's good to see courtesy is still alive in our trade.
12th November 2010 I had a cold call from an energy company today, endeavouring to get me to switch suppliers. I asked the man if when I had switched away from my supplier he could arrange that I could pay more so I could help save the planet. After five minutes of animated discussion he said that I was wasting HIS time and rang off – do call again British Gas.
10th November 2010 How long should it take to pay by card? I've just spent 45 minutes, first the three proffered cards were rejected, and then the cash point wouldn't cough up. He was eventually bailed out by his girlfriend.
9th November 2010 Today I was given directions by photo. "Can you take me to this car park?" Brandishing his i-phone – thanks Steve Jobs.
5th November 2010 They say that like attracts like, I've just had a couple in the cab, he with the affected plumy tones of Brian Sewell, while his companion, an American lady, sounded like an extra from Gone with the Wind.
4th November 2010 Reading in my trade journal today of a man walking down the taxi rank until he came to an old fashioned Fairway cab. Apparently after 20 years of development the seats in current models (TX1, TX2, TX4 and Mercedes) are less comfortable. Only with the manufacture of cabs could you achieve that.
25th October 2010 This sign found in a bookshop on the Charing Cross Road in Soho shows that you really can final whatever turns you on in this little are of London.
21nd October 2010 In just about every other European city tourists have to pay to visit museums and art galleries while local citizens are admitted free. So why not here? The Tate, National Gallery and the British Museum, free to British subjects, £10 to tourists. Let's face it they queue up to pay for rubbish like Madam Tussauds; they can well pay for decent exhibitions. We're skint, remember.
21st October 2010 Yesterday we had George Osborne spelling out the cuts he is making to local government budgets, today I can disclose I've made a £60 contribution to Camden Council's shortfall in the guise of a Fixed Penalty Notice.
12th October 2010 Stopped and asked by a pedestrian for the location of a bus stop, what am I a roving tourist office? He told me he wanted Tenison Way, I did not know it, "That's worrying" exclaimed my enquirer. I looked it up later, Tenison Way SE1 is a bus lay-by and nothing else!
1st October 2010 Absolutely pouring with rain today, so what do I get? I get an idiot crossing the road in front of me with a cardboard box over his head; he hadn't even cut out some eyeholes so he could see me bearing down upon him.
29th September 2010 Three years in the making, the Mother of All Traffic Jams, local side roads blighted with cars and God alone knows how much money; the Gants Hill roundabout is nearly finished. And do you know what, as I predicted, apart from traffic lights and a few plants it doesn't look any different nor does it benefit and motorist nor pedestrian any better than when they started.
28th September 2010 Future London buses could be made from cola and beer cans I read at the weekend. "Bicycle clips" Boris is working on introducing to the capital's streets a futuristic light-weight high-tech hybrid version of the classic Routemaster made of aluminium. Expensive to make but cheap to recycle (Boris like anything to do with cycle) 150,000 aluminium cans are needed for each vehicle. It has been suggested the Mayor's office gets the capital's schoolchildren to collect cans to build Boris's new fleet of eco-buses. You heard it here first.
27th September 2010 Two men get into the cab, one stating the destination in poor English, they then proceed to snog. On arrival at the place I thought they asked for they inform me that I have misheard their request. I ask them why they didn't tell me we were going five miles in the wrong direction, to which I get the reply "I haven't seen my boyfriend for a week and was greeting him". I should add here they were over 40 years old, just grow up lads.
3rd September 2010 Today started with seeing Boris Johnson racing down our high street with all his lackies and local Tory councillors in hot pursuit; you can always tell when elections are on the horizon. I should have asked him why the Government is hell bent on destroying the Royal Mail. Having missed a package delivery from a well-known courier company I was obliged to wait 45minutes listening to musak just to tell them I would pick up my parcel at their depot, on arrival it took another 40 minutes for them to locate my delivery. How knowing I was going to pick it up, wouldn't you think it would be put to one side? It makes the Post Office look the model of efficiency.
29th August 2010 Why do we put up with this Carnival every year? Notting Hill boarded up and residents barricading themselves in, they tell me they have do it to stop people urinating in their front gardens, or breaking into their homes.
28th August 2010 Remind me not to get too excited if I get another Heathrow this year. Arrived at Terminal 4 and passenger wouldn't pay the full fare, not much I could do once we have arrived.
24th August 2010 I swear my passengers are becoming more stupid. Today I'm asked to stop at a cash point, my fare gets back into the cab and we proceed down the road; after two minutes I'm asked "can you go back to the cash point, I've left the money hanging out of the machine, and it might be still there". Needless to say it wasn't.
15th August 2010 The BBC in their modern interpretation of Sherlock Holmes moved 221b Baker Street to North Gower Street. Well done BBC, the real modern Baker Street is a horrible, faceless mix of glum Thirties architecture and shiny, pointless office boxes. What residential space there is tends to be noisy and dusty. By contrast, the very slightly grimy street they use in the series, North Gower Street behind Euston Station has the sort of striking early 19th century architecture of which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and certainly Homes's landlady Mrs Hudson, would have approved. It added atmosphere to an already enjoyable atmospheric series.
11th August 2010 I read today that a penthouse at One Hyde Park has recently been sold for £140 million, a world record price. Personally I can't wait for them to finish the development so that traffic can flow past this builder's site again after three years of 24 hour traffic jams.
6th August 2010 How do they get away with it? Under the Disability Discrimination Act exemption has to be given to owners of assistance dogs, allowing the animal into private premises which is open to the public. But here in Regency Place while Westminster Council are zealously booking any cabbie who stops to use the public toilet and parks on a yellow line for nanosecond, here at this rag bag corner shop is a notice declaring illegally, presumably on religious grounds, STRICTLY NO DOGS ALLOWED.
3rd August 2010 So the right to travel in a priority lane at the Olympics will be extended way beyond athletes and officials to thousands of sponsors and "VIPs" who could perfectly well plan their journeys to events to allow more time. Has the cost of these arrangements to London business been included in the Games organisers' calculations? And no, cabs aren't allowed in the proposed lanes.
1st August 2010 So London could switch off its speed cameras, before they do can some reliable research be undertaken on the likely effect. Since the police stopped patrolling the roads, I suspect the cameras have been the last thing between us and anarchy, as selfish, aggressive driving becomes the norm, with much of it drug-influenced.
31st July 2010 The strangest sight crossing London Bridge, at first a thought it was a small demonstration of about 25 men, but there were more police surrounding the demonstrators than protestors, then I realised that the group had been arrested and instead of being put into police vans, they simply corralled them up and walked them to the police station.
27th July 2010 It's the balmy ideas season, first out of the gate has to be the suggestion that Oxford Street should have a two-speed pavement, slow on the inside and an outside lane for fast walkers. Pedestrians can't be bothered to use the road correctly let alone keeping to the correct side of the pavement.
23rd July 2010 I've just heard that Selfridges are about to open their Christmas grotto. Dear God! It's not even August yet.
21st July 2010 Transport for London, with considerable encouragement from Bicycle Clips Boris have certainly ensured that cyclists won't lose their way. New Superhighway 7 seems to be embossed every few yards with a route number. Often, as on Southwark Bridge, there are 15 panels within a 100 yards stretch and how patriotic when you have a red route with a blue ribbon and a proliferation of white painted panels.
5th July 2010 So glad Boris is holding talks to raise £25 million for a Thames cable car. If only he could think about upgrading the Woolwich Ferry, it hasn't been fully operational since the old King died.
3rd July 2010 What a great idea are the countdown timers on pedestrian crossings being trialled at some locations? It gives BMW drivers a heads up to when they should gun their engines to fly away from the lights.
1st July 2010 I'm really getting mad when I see parents carrying their little children in carts pulled or pushed along a main road by the adult's bike, just to show everyone the green credentials of the parents. Don't they realise how venerable they are?
23rd June 2010 BT is saying it will soon be able to provide us with broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second; I'm so looking forward to receiving my extra 99.
15th June 2010 Just received a parking ticket from Westminster Council; it seems that after overcoming a few legal and technical problems the council have installed almost blanket camera coverage, not to prevent crime you understand, but to provide a revenue stream from the hapless motorist.
12th June 2010 Just have come home from a long break in Dorset, can't believe how many St. George's flags have appeared on cars and houses. None in Dorset, does that not say something of Londoners?
25th May 2010 Transport for London Police are worried about a resurgence of "East European pick-pocketing gangs"? Look, these guys are merely doing the crime that British criminals are too lazy to do.
20th May 2010 More fallout as a result of Gordon Brown's incompetent running of Britain's economy. Due to authorities reining in on expenditure, Morris Singer Art Foundry which has cast public monuments for over 150 years has today gone bust. Its legacy includes: Two of Landseer's lions in Trafalgar Square; the Figure of Justice atop the Old Bailey; and Boudicca opposite the Houses of Parliament. What other fall out will this outgoing bunch of chancers leave us?
14th May 2010 I read in the Evening Standard today that Westminster Council have spent £1.1 million on a parking enforcement contract bidding process, that has seen Westminster award the contract to a new firm, revoke the award, fight a law suit, and re-open the expensive tendering process for a second time. No why does that not surprise me?
12th May 2010 Further proof that the paying public are stupid, while pulling up at a fashionable Notting Hill diner, my passenger thrusts a £20 notes through the partition, as if I can take it from him while I'm trying to park the cab. Later that evening I'm asked "Do you know the temperature?" My reply "It's cold".
11th May 2010 It seems like a good idea at the time when Microsoft claimed I could upgrade my laptop in one hour to Windows 7. Here we are more than one week later still trying to get everything to work.
2nd May 2010 Some of the more curious of you might have looked into the Back of my Cab and read that I had Grayson Perry in there, an interesting encounter, as a transvestite, he was dressed as Alice in Wonderland. But some cabbies have all the luck, this guy Jon Horsley, had Damien Hirst in the back and Damien took a shine to him and drew this sketch for his boy. Like an idiot he's only going to send it to auction, it will be worth a fortune in years to come.
28th April 2010 its amazing 26,000 cabbies in London and my two neighbours are on the Paddington rank with me. Mind you it's not surprising, hardly any work out here.
22nd April 2010 Just come across a blog, described as "part art project, part labour of love, part experiment, part mission to highlight how shit our roads are" the pothole gardener wants to brighten up a few peoples lives momentarily, and creating mini-gardens in pot holes is my means. He does this by planting out potholes, well if you can't get rid of potholes, why not?
16th April 2010 It's 8.30 at night and I witness a scooter being hit by a car in Roseberry Avenue. Both bike rider and pillion passenger get up and ride off without a backward glance. Obviously a stolen bike, pity they didn't end up in hospital.
11th April 2010 Warmer weather has arrived and the girls are shedding their outer clothes and it would seem their brain cells. An air head sat in the back today singing to herself, then when we had travelled ⅓ mile she told me to stop, when she started paying me she changed her mind requiring me to go on to the original destination. When I told her the meter had been stopped she waltzed off in a huff.
22nd March 2010 I paid my rates today at the local bank. Gave them a £50 note, which turned out to be a forgery, great! Why don't they punish counterfeiters more harshly?
20th March 2010 I heard of an app for i-phones today, it's called Meter Down. Apparently it tells you if you're being overcharged by your rickshaw driver in Mumbai, India. Using GPS and the time of day it calculates how much you should have been charged for your journey. Now that's a good idea for London's pedicabs.
9th March 2010 Don't ever believe that radio signals are weak. Stopped 100 yards from Paddington Green Police Station today, then could not get the cab to start, the immobiliser wouldn't work. The radio signals had knocked out the beam from my key fob and silly me I had forgotten my pin number override. Eventually found it and away we went.
12th February 2010 I'm often asked why don't you cabbies like going South of the River. I had a perfect example today, upon dropping off in Herne Hill; a young man walked up to the lowered window and asked if I could give him change. When questioned he ran like Hell for he didn't even have a note to change in his hand, just a scrap of paper.
26th January 2010 I'm sorry, but I have to moan about stupid punters again. If you had wanted to pay me through the glass partition, would you balance, yes balance, the notes and coins on the very narrow ledge which supports the glass? Some people have no common sense.
21st January 2010 "I must not ask stupid questions". If that was his New Year's resolution, the man who asked me where number 17 Queensbury Terrace has already broken his promise, for we were in Queensberry Terrace, as he stopped me to ask where exactly was number seventeen, as if I would know.
13th January 2010 Snow still bad and now the Government say that councils must reduce their use of salt by 25 per cent, stock are running low, there is talk of gritting lorries driving around with the spreaders turned off as they have no salt, but seeing them on the streets reassures the public.
11th January 2010 I have just been phoned by our trade newspaper to inform me that I've won a competition for a SatNav designed for London cabbies, I will report on its merits – watch this space.
22nd December, 2009 It's good to see the roads are now safe enough for the police to venture out on, they are using a speed camera on a stretch of road under the Westway that pedestrians have no access, well it's better than catching criminals.
21st December, 2009 Two inches of snow today (or should that be 5.2cm?) and every hill in London is impassable. Adverse weather conditions blamed, lets hope we don't have a winter like 1963. Oh! Yes the police have not been allowed out of their stations apparently it's too dangerous out there in the snow, scared of snowballs I suppose.
18th December, 2009 Occasionally small things can put a smile on my face, Gants Hill toilets has a certificate displayed proudly announcing the "Toilet Attendant of the Year".
16th December, 2009 In a debate in the House of Lords, peers have expressed outrage at plans to review their expenses. Lord Palmer, was horrified by plans to cap hotel bills at £140 a night, which he said, "would force noblemen and women to take taxis to the outskirts of London; a scary experience" – Thanks your Lordship!
14th December, 2009 I'm really getting fed up with people wanting to eat in my cab. If that was not enough they invariably cannot locate their mouths and the food ends up lying on the back seat for the next passenger to find.
11th December, 2009 Look what they have done to Eros – imitation snow in a plastic bubble, ho hum!
10th December, 2009 Blackwall Tunnel closed southbound tonight. No contraflow system in place. Gridlock in East and South-East London. Some people taking 5 hours to complete a half-hour journey. Some cars have been abandoned. Brilliant joined up thinking at TfL.
8th December, 2009 It's that time of year, London full of drunks who use a cab once for Christmas. They tried to get in my cab by Admiralty Arch, even when I said I wasn't working. Roll on January.
7th December 2009 Just noticed a new hotel has opened at the eastern end of Long Lane, called The Bermondsey Square Hotel; it's located where London's largest antique market used to be held. If the market is still held early Friday mornings nearby, will the guests like to be woken at four in the morning to stalls being erected and the smell of fried onions?
24th November 2009 Driving north up Drury Lane, a one-way street much favoured by cabbies, a police car was coming towards me in the opposite direction. No light or siren, he just couldn't be bothered to go the long way round.
16th November 2009 I'm really getting fed up with all this drinking in the street. Someone dropped a bottle in the middle of Charing Cross Road, a cab drove over it and shrapnel cannoned across the road into everyone standing on the pavement. Luckily no one was hurt.
13th November 2009 Fridays in Bethnal Green. Waiting at a red light in Bethnal Green Road a man and two women emerge from a public house. Man knocks first woman to the ground and is attacked by the second, his punch misses its target. Good to see traditional Fridays in East London are being maintained.
12th November 2009 Some peoples' honesty I find truly humbling. An elderly woman when alighting my cab at Waterloo station gives me £1.30 she has found on the back seat. Maybe there is hope for Mankind in London . . . just don't hold your breath.
11th November 2009 In an attempt to prop up the ailing finances of the Olympics, I see they have installed a speed camera set to 30 mph on the six lane dual carriageway of the A12 which passes the Olympic site. No roadworks, just another money grabbing exercise.
10th November 2009 While stopped at the lights outside Borough Station a young man completely spaced out on drugs stands stopping the traffic. He then proceeds to lie backwards across my bonnet. Where are the police, inside the police station opposite of course?
2nd November 2009 I was hailed by two Australians last night. They opened the door and without getting in, then proceeded to talk to their friends who had just hailed an illegal minicab on a mobile phone. The conversation ensued about the price and having established the rogue cab was cheaper than me slammed the cab door without saying anything. What is it with these people from the Antipodes, have they no idea of manners or courtesy?
23rd October 2009 I had a family of Germans in the cab tonight. Dad wanted to know what is Foxtons? He was quite surprised when I told him they are just estate agents. He couldn't work out why an estate agent would have a plasma screen and a bar at the entrance.
22nd October 2009 Three major roadworks tonight: Camden Town, Bloomsbury and Cromwell Road absolute chaos, with half of London gridlocked, and it will only get worst nearer 2012.
20th October 2009 Saw a blind woman tourist near Paddington with an old video camera around her neck. Bet those holiday shots will be great.
16th October 2009 I'm really getting fed up with the traffic jam at Scotch Corner. Its just because two rich brothers want to build apartments for, well the rich. Urban Legend now has it that the penthouses of said apartments are changing hands for, wait for it, £180 million.
14th October 2009 Out walking the dog today and saw a 4 inch long goldfish swimming happily in the River Rom. Might sell the story to Disney Studios they could call it . . . I know Finding Nemo. Who would put their goldfish into a river? At least there are no pike in the upper reaches of the Rom, but if he goes into the River Lea, goodbye Nemo.
2nd October 2009 Travelling through Gants Hill every day is getting very tedious, first they decide to "improve" the roundabout telling us it will be finished by next spring. Now, and I'm not joking, they have found an unknown wartime factory bang in the middle of the roundabout. It will have to be removed along with all the unused services attached and taking care not to damage the Central Line Underground running below. And the finish time? One and a half years' at least.
19th September 2009 Had a job to Courtfield Gardens, it's one of those locations in London that's split into many different parts. We need number 22 and as I'm looking around for it, the idiot gives me the full postcode. What possible use is that, have I to memorise every postcode in London?
18th September 2009 Pick up two men the worst for wear, drop them off at King's Cross. I give a receipt to be told that it's blank. The idiot was looking on the back, I had to turn it over to reassure him there was printing on it. God I despair of them sometimes!
10th September 2009 Just have come back from Public Carriage Office demonstration. Can you believe it, they have allowed a convicted wife killer to sign on to start the Knowledge of London training scheme? The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.
25th August 2009 I didn't look twice at a mini roundabout and a bloody van came swinging around from my right. Oh well will have to put my hands up to this one, first prang in 13 years which was my fault. Don't these delivery drivers ever slowdown?
10th August 2009 As a frequent user of hotel toilets (thank you very much chaps), I'm getting perplexed at the devices used to save water. The taps have a sensor to turn them on and off, but for some of them you have to wave at the sensor and then get your hands under the flow before the water turns off as the sensor doesn't scan the washing area. Thats progress?
7th August 2009 I'm sitting in the back of my cab, cup of tea in my hand, eating a sandwich and reading a book. Two American cretins ask me if I'm available, sure I always look for punters from the back of my cab.
31st July 2009 Some cyclists really do have a death wish. Southwark Bridge has two very substantial bike lanes, with what looks like anti tank traps between riders and motor vehicles, as a consequence the road is much narrowed for cars. Fair enough we can all get long just fine. So what do some of the idiots do? Why they cycle in the narrowed section designated for cars and lorries.
30th July 2009 A question. How long does it take to get out of a cab at the end of a trip? Well some people are so lazy/brain dead they can take up to 10 minutes.
28th July 2009 I'm really getting annoyed at seeing Romanians selling The Big Issue. When John Bird founded the publication in 1991, it was meant for the homeless, not freeloading immigrants.
16th July 2009 In heavy traffic a BMW (what else, they all drive like lunatics) bumps my rear bumper, doesn't get out to apologise just tries to run me off the road when we get past the jam. If only I had a gun . . .
15th July 2009 Sitting in my cab in Regent's Park I heard a loud thump. On of those Lycraed Lunatics, not looking on his bike has ridden into the back of a car. People stop and offer assistance, then leave not worrying about the poor bastards 08 VW. Well at least he'll be off his bike for a while.
13th July 2009 Are they all mad? Driving down Marylebone Road with its 6 lane dual carriageway at 28mph (honest officer) having just passed Baker Street Station, some idiot runs across the road and he has to swerve to avoid me. There were at least 30 people by the pedestrian crossing waiting for the lights. He just couldn't wait his turn, must have a death wish.
12th July 2009 Wrote demanding my money from the bilker (that's what we call them) who didn't pay me for Ealing job. Doubt if I will get a reply.
6th July 2009 Saw a new Rolls Royce today with minicab roundels on the back, I think it's a scam to avoid Congestion Charging, or may be a very expensive ride after a few beers and a curry on a Saturday night.
3rd July 2009 Got a job from The Angel to Ealing, "can I use a credit card" he enquires. Got to destination, card was declined, he had no money. Don't these people think before they go drinking? Well me thinks I can kiss goodby to £42.
27th June 2009 Invited to an old friend's 60th birthday party at a golf club in deepest Essex. Not being sure of the way I asked the future son-in-law to guide us there with his SatNav. The infernal machine took us into Chelmsford town centre, and then into a bus lane with no through road for cars. We turned around and were directed by TomTom into a cul-de-sac. Remind me never to buy this gizmo whenever I'm tempted with all this new technology crap.
23rd June 2009 Nil Penile Carborundum Every institution needs a motto and CabbieBlog is no exception. I have decided that the above quote is a suitable choice for this blog. For no sooner had I started this diary your humble scribe was nobbled, but I won't be gagged. Thieves have stolen 300 yards of pristine BT telephone cable between the exchange and my laptop causing a crisis with no internet for five days. With no Wikipedia to plagiarise this diary entry has been produced using, heaven help us in this day and age, a pencil and notepad. I'm now beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms through a lack of internet surfing, no Facebook, Bebo or Flickr. Oh! Yes and for all of you without the Latin, my motto translates as: Don't let the pricks grind you down.
18th June 2009 Just come back from a few days on the south coast, its all pretty 1950s down here, just as it should be, perfect for a family holiday. Well, it was until I found this chocolate box thatched cottage (once owned by Bob Monkhouse), but look what the council has allowed to be built on each side of it.


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This chart and map track recent movements in single-family home sales in Harford County by ZIP Code. The chart lists sales volume and median price for May 1991, the most recent month available, and for all of 1990, and compares those figures to 1990 statistics.
In future weeks charts and maps will appear as follows:
* Baltimore and Baltimore County (Aug. 4).
* Carroll and Howard counties (Aug. 11).
* Anne Arundel County (Aug. 18).
The next metro-wide roundup of sales activity will appear in late September. Information is provided by Rufus S. Lusk & Son Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


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- Regular Art classes for adult
- >
- 4 Art classes for Adult (Materials ARE included in this price)
4 Art classes for Adult (Materials ARE included in this price)
These are Classes for adult Art lovers who draw complex long-term Artwork in oil paints under the guidance of an instructor. There are Day and Evening groups of four people in each one.
Join any Group:
Day Group on Tuesdays from 11 am to 1 pm, or
Evening Group on Thursdays from 7 pm to 9 pm.
You can always get into any existing Group by calling or writing to me. Groups do not have a single task for everyone; everyone can draw what he wants before discussing the plot with the instructor.
You choose a plot and I will help you bring it to life!
The duration of each session is 2 hours.
Materials are included in the cost of this classes.
You will have:
- Canvas about 16"× 20" or paper
- Acrylic/Oil paints
- Pencils with eraser
- Brushes
- Solvent, linseed oil and varnish – if Oil paints
You take your Artwork home, or you can donate it to the studio Fund :)
It is always provided:
- Easel
- Chair
- Stand for materials
- Apron
- Palettes (disposable plates)
- Container: for water - if Acrylic paints / for solvent, linseed oil and varnish – if Oil paints
- Napkins
You can pay by check for Snowstorm LLC or credit card right in the Studio, or online by PAY-PAL:
- You can use all 4 classes within 2 months from the date of purchase of the Subscription.
- If for some reason you missed a lesson, then by agreement it can be used on another day of the week (month) within 2 months from the date of purchase of the subscription.
- After 2 months unused classes are canceled.
If circumstances allow you to come to class 10-15 minutes earlier, then do it! :) You will have enough time to prepare the workplace and tune in to the Session :)
Bring your snacks and drinks! :)
Disposable plates, disposable cups, napkins, a corkscrew and music are provided :) No ice.
Must be 21 and older to consume alcohol!
Classes are held in the Studio at 13625 Pond Springs Road, Austin, TX 78729, Suite 102, first floor.


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From 50 € free shipping on national orders!
6,00 € tax incl.
tax incl.
New product
Lycra® covers
Warning: Last items in stock!
Availability date:
Lycra® skate covers to protect your boot and combine them with your skating clothing: dress, shorts, skirt, leggings, etc. A wide variety of colors and prints are available


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Planning a Tour?
Gallia County and Gallipolis have numerous attractions and places of interest to visit, the Bureau and its staff will help you arrange custom tours by providing the following:
- Directions to and from each destination
- Familiarization (FAM) Tours specialized to help educate the group coordinator with the area prior to bringing a tour group. The FAM would provide choices of attractions, lodging, conference facilities, restaurants and retail choices to help ease the planning
- Step on Guides with experience and knowledge about the area
- Suggested group itineraries and themed tours
Meeting and Convention Assistance
The staff of the GCCVB will assist and help make your event a success by providing the following:
- Brochures, area maps, visitor's guides and welcome packets
- Informational speakers or event staff that will answer questions and provide local information
- Tours, entertainment ideas and agendas for attendees and guests
- Coordinate press releases to promote your event
- The Bureau staff will work with attractions and venues to help package your trip, making the destination and meeting experience more complete. Reservation confirmations will be presented well in advance.
Visitor Services
Make the most of your visit by contacting us ahead of time for any of the following:
- Contact information, hours of operation and costs of our area attractions
- Directions and maps of Gallia County, Gallipolis and other surrounding areas
- Visitor Guides with a complete list of attractions, accommodations and area information
The Gallia County Convention and Visitors Bureau is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a goal of attracting and welcoming visitors to the area, as well as educating tourists and locals of the regions history and infrastructure. The GCCVB has developed several incentives over the years to bring this information to those interested individuals in a unique way. We offer a variety of driving, and walking tours of Gallia County and the City of Gallipolis.


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Frequently, our house is crazy, bustling, and there doesn't seem enough hours in the day to "Get 'Er Done!" It is on those days that I break out my crock pot, so that dinner will be ready and waiting for us. It's one less thing to think about for me, and my punks always seem to like the grub that comes out of that trusty appliance. This recipe is so easy, it's re-donkulous. Here we go:
Take some chicken (drumsticks, wings, bone-in breast, boneless) out of your freezer. Honestly, I like this recipe with bone in cuts of chicken. My punks fav is drumsticks and the meat will literally fall off the bone.
Put the chicken in your crock pot (still frozen).
Buy a jar of this stuff.
Drizzle the entire jar over the chicken. Yes, the entire jar.
Put the lid on and forget about it for 6-8 hours. Wonderful things happen below that lid, and when you are ready, it will be ready for you… and your punks… and your man…and they will love you forever and ever, Amen.
I like to serve this with some rice and a tossed salad. Yum! If you make this, let me know your thoughts in my comments. I'd love to hear from y'all!