Moaners & Drunkards

Hi folks

I think Spring has finally arrived!! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the traffic is solid!!

I just had an old dear in the cab. I picked her up from the St Johns Wood rank and took her down to Great Peter Street in Westminster. Moan moan moan all the way. I shouldn't have gone this way I should've gone that way. I almost threw her out but I had too much on the meter.
You have to take these situations with a pinch of salt because not everyone is the ideal passenger. I tried explaining that all the routes in that direction were busy but she just talked over me. They tell you about people like that at the carriage office before they give you your badge and believe me you get them!!

Back in January I parked the cab on the rank outside Koko's in Camden and went into the Sainsbury's there to buy some food. I knew I shouldn't be on it at that time but took a chance. On exiting the shop with two bags of shopping I spotted a traffic warden by the cab so I hurried towards it. As I was getting in he uttered something about having issued the ticket to which I replied " you can stick your effing ticket" and speeding off before giving him a chance to put the ticket on my screen. I had forgotten all about it until I paid my cab rent last Friday. The owner told me I'd got a ticket and I could then see it was from the afore mentioned incident. It was at stage 3 of the process (£195) which would mean I would have to appeal on the grounds that I hadn't recieved the initial ticket. The garage was busy on Friday and advice on how to proceed was freely offered by drivers and mechanics alike. By the time I left the garage I had spoken to TFL (Transport for London) who had a report from the warden saying I had been abusive and had sworn at him and then driven off, not strictly correct but near enough. They told me I had the right to appeal and that's where I am at the moment after having put my case in writing. Watch this space!!

I picked a guy up earlier from Old St. "Do you want a really sweet ride?" he asked me in a strong and quite drunk Cockney accent. "Where to?" say I warily, imagining a trip out to the sticks. It was basically a little runaround ending up back at Old Street. As soon as we pulled off he started talking. He was a racist, he'd just lost his job, he was splitting from his wife (i'm not surprised), he almost became a London cabby, he knew all the routes to everywhere ( at this point he advised me he wouldn't have chosen the route I was in the process of driving), he loved to drink, he wanted to leave this country because it was going to the dogs (I agreed with him there) and basically he never stopped talking and we were only at the second stop on the runaround. I would describe him as Danny Dyer on speed.
He left the cab again to check in at the Mercure Hotel on Southwark Street offering me a deposit in case he never returned. He was gone 10 minutes then returned sporting a clean shirt. I thought I'd get a few questions in before he started rabbitting again. I asked him why he was staying at a hotel if he lived nearby to which he said he was persona non grata in his house on account of becoming an animal everytime he had a drink in him. He then asked me to find a shop where he could buy some cigarettes and I stopped by the Tesco on New Bridge Street ( under the red route camera!!) He returned with the cigs and a family size pack of Maltesers which he passed through the payment hole in my partition. I told him I shouldn't be eating stuff like that on account of me being Diabetic. This triggered a new topic of conversation whereby he informed he his dad was diabetic and since he found out he'd really tackled the disease head on by quitting smoking and going to the gym every day. "He ain't arf lost some weight my old man!!" he declared proudly and I humoured him some more. We were still ten minutes away from Old Street when he asked me to put some music on, preferably some Rod Stewart. I told him that my iPod had recently been stolen and I would have been able to oblige. "No problem mate have you got a connection?" He then selected the Bonnie Tyler classic "It's a heartache" sung by Rod himself and passed his iphone 5 through to me for connection. As the music blared out of the speakers he was bobbing about in the back singing along to the song "I effing love this song!!" he exclaimed. I couldn't wait to get the guy out as he was doing my head in.
We arrived at the Old St pub where the journey had started and he gave me thirty pounds for my trouble. I wished him luck in all his future endeavours and headed off at speed to collect Jane from work.

I made a Spanish omelette and grilled pork sausages for dinner tonight. I watched football with my son Michael and his mates then went up to keep Jane company. The whole time I was up there I could hear the microwave door opening and closing and the hum of it in motion. I just went down for a snack and found that all the omelette and hot dogs have been demolished by my kids leaving me nothing to snack on. Oh well! It's probably for the best.

Catch you all later.

Take Care.

L.C.



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The Shard

Hi folks!
We have light drizzly rain in town at the moment so hopefully I'll be busy.

I'm starting a bit later this week as Jane is housesitting till next week. As I've recently re-discovered that I like Star Trek it gives me the chance to start from the very beginning. I watched the first 10 episodes of "the original series" on Sunday and a few more last night. I've still got to get through all of "The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise plus all the films so i've plenty to be getting on with.

Last week my daughter was doing a four day nail course at the Jury's Hotel on Pentonville Rd so I was dropping her off and going straight round to Kings Cross Station to pick up my first job.

I hooked up with my mate Chris aka @titaniccabby in Lincoln's Inn Fields to give him back an ipod I had been restoring for him. It needed wiping clean of all old songs, a software upgrade and a reloading of all his favourites which I've had backed up on my hard drive for several years. He was mainly keen to know if I'd added all the Alan Parsons Project albums which I had. Now if he calls me on the phone you will hear APP music in the background.

The Shard, Europe's tallest skyscraper, which also happens to be in London, opened for business recently.




There's a viewing station near the top called The View which is all the rage and at £25 a pop it's the new in-place to be seen in. So it was only a matter of time before people needed to take cabs there. Now theres always a fear of the unknown in all aspects of life which also applies to cab drivers. When somebody asks for a destination we like to draw a certain amount of comfort from the knowledge that we know the place and how to set down at the right spot. So a couple with two teenage kids hail me in Old Bond Street and inevitably ask for The Shard. Now, I've seen that building go up since the foundations were laid, from a distance. All surrounding roads have been closed for ages and I've always given the area a wide berth to avoid getting bogged down in the chaotic traffic that building has caused. So now I have to get this family there and I have to look professional about it. I have at least 25-30 minutes to resort to my various gadgets and to phone a friend and find out where the drop off is. To make matters worse the route through Trafalgar Square is in gridlock. The older female passenger pipes up at 15.50pm that they need to be there at 4pm. I answered with "not a chance in hell love" which didn't go down too well. "Why not?" she practically bit my head off. "Because you've left it too late. The whole route to the shard is going to be solid." That just shows you how an already stressfull journey can become worse. They rang someone up to let them know they would be late and I was frantically waiting for somebody to get back to me on Twitter with drop off directions. The journey took a further 25 minutes as the whole route was saturated. Twitter eventually came through for me with instructions to drop in St Thomas St which was partially open to allow traffic to reach The Shard. They got there 15 minutes late and slightly flustered. The moral of this tale is to give yourself enough time when crossing town and don't snap at your cabby when you've got it wrong.

I wasn't doing particularly well during yesterdays shift when I decided to sit on the rank of the Jumeirah Carlton Tower. After waiting 35 minutes the doorman called me over, placed a large case in the front and a large lady in the back and announced "Terminal 5 please driver". Well you could've knocked me down with a feather. I always thought that hotel was bent meaning you have to give the doorman money to get the nice jobs, something i've refused to do over the years. Well this job was mine fair and square so off we went. Traffic was bad. It seemed worse than normal. Something was afoot. I turned to Twitter, my new best friend, and it informed me that a truck had broken down on the M4 elevated section. The only alternative was the A4 but from what I could see it looked just as bad. Nothing for it but to maintain present course. Traffic crawls along. I've passed the point where I can take another route. Next she's banging on the window saying something about Terminal 5 and she's gonna be late. As the broken down truck appears everything becomes clear and so does the traffic. I sped past the truck and encountered no further obstructions on the remainder of the journey. On arrival at the airport the fare is a good £15 higher than it should be. I contemplate knocking something off but it wasn't my fault, so I don't. She hands over 2 fifty pound notes and I give her back 21 and another stressfull journey comes to an end. That concluded my shift yesterday.

It's now Wednesday morning and I have just watched 6 episodes of Original Star Trek and I'm bushed. I need to be out at work by 9am as I am getting new adverts later on and will have to pay the cab rent.

I'd just like to send my best wishes to Skippy Mom, a regular reader and commenter of this blog. She's had a tough time recently with illness and has recently had some good news so all the best to you Skippy Mom.
Well as I said I'm bushed so catch you all on the flip side.

Take Care

L.C.

Coin Dispensers & Spicy Chicken Baguettes

Hi folks!
It feels like a spring day today with the sun shining away in the sky with hardly a cloud in sight. But let's not kid ourselves as its only February the 8th and still a wee bit chilly round the kneecaps.
I recently turned 51 and my dear old dad will turn 82 this coming Wednesday. It's really easy when it comes to getting him presents as we all get him a few bottles of his favourite tipple, namely, Harveys Bristol Cream sherry. Between Christmas, his birthday and Fathers Day he can amass 20 to 30 bottles which keeps him going throughout the year.
The cab rent was due these last few days so I had to make the effort to get over to Camden to pay it. Minutes from the garage and I get a call from Chris aka @titaniccabby asking if I could pay his cab rent whilst I was there. Chris lives out near Watford and being an evening driver finds it awkward coming all the way in early to pay his cab so I have paid it for him in recent weeks. Whilst I was there the owner informed me that all cab rents will be a tenner more from next week bringing my rent up to the princely sum of £215 pw. It's still pretty good value for a 2 year old TX4 and knowing the owner as I do I know he's only doing it as a last resort because of whats happened recently with the makers of London taxi's going into administration and cancelling all warranty work. Theres many a cab owner been left severely out of pocket recently. Before I went to the garage I took the cab through the hand wash at Leake St in Waterloo. £5 plus tip for an outside wash was money well spent as it is now gleaming.
I am sitting on the RAFT awaiting my next job. That stands for Rail And Freight Terminal. It used to be that years ago and the name stuck but it's now the main exit for passengers from the Gatwick Express train. One would normally expect to pick passengers just arriving from gatwick but yesterday a guy came running out asking how long it would take to get TO Gatwick and how much. I said it would take an hour and would cost the best part of a hundred quid. He had a think about it, jumped in and said "lets go". He spent the entire journey ringing everyone in his phone book and telling them that he was taking a cab all the way to Gatwick Airport and that it was costing him a £100. The journey went according to plan. The route through Brixton, Streatham and Purley Way was suprisingly freeflowing. It took the whole hour and a few extra minutes to get there and the meter clicked onto £102 as I applied the handbrake at the South Terminal. "Do you take credit cards?" asks my punter. "Cash only" says me. I do actually take cards but 1. He never asked before hand and 2. I needed cash. "well I'm going to need a cash point" says the man begining to sound stroppy. Now if you're a world traveller there must surely be certain things you plan for. Having money on you should surely be top of the list. Or at least make the driver stop at a cashpoint en route as there is definitely no hanging around allowed by police at terminal drop off points. We exchanged a few words along those lines and the upshot was that I made him leave his bags in the cab whilst he went into the Terminal in search of cash. I sat there waiting for the inevitable "move along" from the police but he was back after £3 more had accrued on the meter and paid me the £105 and said "thanks for nothing" whilst snatching his bags out of the back. What a strange and miserable fellow!!!
One of the features of the rank for Paddington Station is that you can purchase, from a guy called Mark the pad, receipts and various other items ie bulbs, fuses, window signs and something i've been in need of since my cab was broken into, a coin dispenser. At £12 it's not cheap but after struggling with a "purse type" thing Jane gave me to use I was over the moon to be able to easily view and select the coins needed to give change. I would even go as far as to say my life is now complete......for now anyway.
When it comes to stopping for food I suppose I'm spoilt for choice. I have my prefered places and in general it will be Prêt à Manger, one of 3 better class kebab shops, The Astral down at Horseferry Rd (Tony's) or the New Oak. Tony has recently taken over a cafe on Harrow Rd next to Paddington, named it the Sao Vicente Cafe and put his stamp on it.


I tried it for the first time today and found it as I expected, as good as the Astral. I had a spicy chicken baguette, a coffee and a pecan tart all for £5.60.
I've been writing this blog throughout the day and it is now twenty past seven in the evening. Jane's driving us to the cottage for the weekend and the M25 is fairly busy as you would expect on a friday night with everyone getting out of town. We have to go via Tesco at Martleshem in East Ipswich to pick up some special ecologs for the fire. Can't seem to find them anywhere else.
I've also brought my blueray player along with half a dozen films to keep me occupied while Jane goes off to a baby shower tomorrow night.
Oh well, thats all my news.
Check back soon for more updates.
Take Care.
L. C.
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HNY 2013

Hi folks
Happy New Year to you all!!
We're having a serious cold snap at the moment. We've had snow, it's melted and now it's on its way back again.
I'm due to go to Suffolk tomorrow with Jane to celebrate her grandaughters first birthday and I can see us getting stuck down there. We still rent the cottage just north of Ipswich so at least we'll be nice and cosy down there if we do get snowed in. There's a lovely wood burner in the front room which heats the place up nicely.
In the news this last week you will have heard about the helicopter that clipped a crane on a new residential skyscraper and crashed onto some poor bloke arriving for work in Wandsworth Road. Both he and the pilot died and the effects of the ensuing chaos are still being felt this week with Nine Elms Lane still closed. The skyscraper is next to the St George's Wharf apartment complex where my niece Vicky (hi Vix!) currently resides and she, along with everyone else was evacuated whilst they assessed whether the crane was going to topple over onto their building. They were eventualy allowed back in but as I mentioned the whole area is far from back to normal.
As I awoke on Sunday morning I went to the bedroom window to take a photo of Janes car and my cab covered in snow to post on Facebook. All seemed normal. About 4 hours later I left the house with Jane to grab a Roast Beef dinner at the Weatherspoons in Kenton then an overdue visit to my parents nearby. As I shut my front door I immediately noticed my nearside front window had been smashed and the door partially left open. The perpetrator/theiving bastard had had a good rummage about and taken a little pullstring bag I had in the front containing my beloved 80g ipod and my Taxi Licence amongst other sundry items. From the compartment in my arm rest they had taken my coin dispenser containing about £50 in float for work. Both the vizors were down and everything had been closely scrutinised before making off with their spoils. I suppose, given the area I live in 12 years without a break-in is good going and a timely reminder to never leave any valuables in or out of sight. Anyhoo!! The upshot was that come Monday morning I had to wait till 10am before anyone was even at the garage, then they had to ring around to find the glass. I gave them an hour to sort that out before I made my way to the garage. When I got there they were still ringing around looking for a poxy bit of glass. In the end they rang a windscreen repair company who had one window left in stock and they would come round and fit it for £70. Only problem was they couldn't come till the afternoon. The garage owner decided to give me a spare cab so I could get to work and earn his rent, which was overdue, as usual! About an hour later the phone rings and he's telling me to come back as my cab's fixed!! ffs I'm in Victoria Station waiting for a job. The passenger comes out, where does he want? London Bridge Station, even further away. Nothing for it but to do the job and run light all the way to the garage in Camden. The owner always likes you to give the cab back with the same amount of diesel he gave you it with. I couldn't be bothered and just swapped them over. He was far to busy to notice. My cab stank of garage fluids. There was lube oil all over the window sill but at least they'd vaccumed out all the glass. I put my id's in their holders and went back to work with my nice new window. Let's see how long before it happens again.
The work is slowly returning to normal after Christmas so my resolution for this year is to try and get a month ahead with everything. But maybe not the cab rent!!
"Good luck with that Carlos" I hear you all saying.
Take Care out there.
L.C.
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Location:St Johns Wood

An autumn day

Hi folks

I'm sitting in the cab on a rest rank round the back of the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch. It's sunny but clouding over now and it's crisply cold. I'm eating a roast beef and horseradish baguette and drinking a skinny latte from Prêt à Manger.

I started at around 9am and have done about six jobs till now ( its 12.30)
Most of the jobs have come from the St John's Wood taxi rank outside the tube station. I've taken passengers from there to Harley Street (doctors appointment), the Royal Acdemy of Music (with her violin and panicking because she was extremely late), to Priory Road off Abbey Road to meet prospective house buyers (he was the estate agent), to Christies Auction House in South Kensington where she was anticipating buying a painting (heard snippets of her phone conversation). From there I took a chance on South Kensington rank and was rewarded with a nice job up to Camden Town (3 excited French girls going to the market). Back on the Johnnys Wood rank for a regular rider who goes down to Crawford Place by cab every day of the week (he owns a persian restaurant).

So what else have I done today? Oh yes! I have been due a mobile phone upgrade since August. I've been stalling because of all the 4G hullaballoo. Now it's all been sorted i've gone for the new Samsung Galaxy SIII (pebble colour). I receive it tomorrow and am anxious to know if i've made the right choice tariff wise. I have gone for the 3 network whose package includes 2500 any network minutes, unlimited texts and best of all unlimited data. A quick q&a session on twitter confirmed i've probably made the right choice for London but elsewhere service can be excellent to patchy as are all the others, we shall see soon enough.

I owe 2 weeks cab rent again and hope to have it paid by close of business on Friday.

Jane wants to take me on an all expenses trip up to Leeds on Saturday to watch the Mighty Whites in action against Watford but in return I have to be up to date with all my bills. Even as i'm typing this on the iphone she's texting to see if I'm on target. At the rate the shekels are coming in today I'll still be at it at midnight.

Check back soon for more updates.

Take Care Out There

L.C.

Location:Marble Arch

Fish & Chips and trips to Wembley.

Hi folks

So, the Olympics came and went. It was all very pleasing to the eye but for us cabbies it was a non-event and I for one was glad it all ended. I did manage to attend a paralympic event and I was really impressed with the stadium and the atmosphere created by the full house. It will be interesting to see who gets it next and what sort of atmosphere their fans can generate. The football teams in the running for it are Leyton Orient FC ( geographically, the nearest but poorest supported club) and then the two Premiership Big Guns, West Ham United FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC (arguably the better supported club out of the two). Lot's has to happen before one of them gets it and I won't bore you with all the details so watch this space for updates.

I've been working days and nights recently depending on whether Jane is around or not. She occasionally has to house-sit whilst her bosses go away on trips to Malaysia or the States. They are currently in Kuala Lumpur so Jane has been house-sitting there for the last week and has another to go. I visit her when I like but, although it's a luxury townhouse worth millions, I don't like to spend the night. I always prefer my own bed and home comforts. We still have the bolt-hole in Suffolk until Christmas but plan to set up home together on the fringes of London so I can carry on cabbing. Nothings been decided yet and for the moment I remain a Londoner.

On the work front it remains busy-ish. Day work still sees me starting around 8am and finishing at 6pm.Its normally pretty uneventful hence the lack of postings recently. I work, I stop for a break, I continue until 6ish and if I'm in a position to collect Jane from work I do, otherwise she has a mile to walk home. The most excitement I get is when the cab rent is overdue and the guvnor of the garage is on the warpath looking for me. I've never really been good with money and frequently fall behind. He'll generally wait till I'm two weeks overdue (£410) before he starts ringing. It generally goes like this : "Hello Carlos, I'm a bit skint this week are you coming in today?" if I haven't got it I'll say something like "Oh sorry mate I'm out of town till Wednesday I'll come and see you then." He'll reply with "OK mate see you then then" he never gets any tougher than that and that's probably why people take liberties with him. He always gets it in the end. I've ended up owing him as much as 5 weeks rent before now and he still never said much about it. Mind you it was tough getting over a thousand quid together in a week and I try not to fall too far behind but there's always loads of other bills to pay as well.

I've put a few marks on the cab in recent months. One was a tight turning off King Street in Hammersmith. I got in OK but had to reverse out and managed to scrape a two foot gash on the two offside doors. Luckily the adverts took the brunt of it and by the time the next lot of adverts were stuck on the dents can hardly be seen. Whether they get passed by the examiners in the forthcoming overhaul is another matter and thankfully one that doesn't concern me or my wallet.

The next one happened by Bishops Park in Fulham. I'd just dropped off a fare and as there were people milling about the park gate I decided to hang about to try and get a job. Before I knew it I was surrounded by four teenager yobbish looking types. "How much to Southfields mate?" asks one of them cockily. "I ain't going to Southfields" says I. "Why not?" says he. "Because you don't look like you can afford it" Says me.  Then one of the others asks me something from the other window. I'm starting to get alarmed as they look like they're going to make a grab for one of my phones which I have held in those stick on grip things on the windscreen. I decide it's time to get out of there and proceed to drive away. One of them opens the back door as I speed away and it hits off a parked car's bumper and slams shut causing me to jump in my seat. As I drive away I look in the rear view and they're all making hand signals and calling out to me. I keep going and pull up a safe distance away to inspect the damage. Another scuff mark and a dent on the nearside back door which, again, disappeared after another change of adverts.

The cab itself has been back to the main dealers to have  a few repairs done under the warranty. The door locks on these cabs are sub standard since the Chinese took over the manufacture of the parts. My own drivers door lock gave up on me and I was forced to use the outside handle to get out for about a week until I gave the cab back to the garage to go on holiday to Valencia recently. When I got it back they'd fixed my door but neglected the other locks which all require attention. I've also sprung another leak and am getting through 3 litres of water every other day so the list of jobs is growing ever-longer.

I recently picked up Paul Freeman the actor. He's a personal favourite of mine and I had just been watching him 12 hours previously in Strike Back: Vengeance. I took him up to Golders Green Station where he told me he was to take the train to a further destination. I told him I loved his work and he went away with a smile. Was that cringey of me?

Night work definitely suits me better. It's so much easier to get around and the jobs pay better. I took my money in under 8 hours tonight, unheard of by day. Best jobs of the night were a £30 and a £50 job. The £30 started at the Sheraton Park Tower. 2 Arab girls going first to Kitts Nightclub in Sloane Square where I had to wait double-parked whilst one of them went in to do something, then onto Amika, another club which turned out to be closed then on to the current in-place for the ace faces of London, namely, Novikov, an Asian Fusion restaurant in the heart of Mayfair.

The £50 job started at Piccadilly and went to Richmond via Tanya's Fish & Chip Shop in Barnes. The punters were so full of praise for the chippy that I went straight back there after I'd dropped them off to try it for myself. I was gutted they never did Rock Salmon (it's the only chip shop fish I like)  and had to be content with Chicken & Mushroom Pie and chips which were absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend the place, it's on Barnes High Street.

Which reminds me, I picked up a nice young couple from the Cumberland Hotel last week. They were dressed up real nice and thought they were going to a classy restaurant. They handed me a bit of paper with the restaurant name on it. It was the Fryer's Delight on Theobalds Road. Now I happen to know it's a good chippy and I'm not knocking it in any way but these people were severely overdressed to sit in a working mans chippy and I told them so when we were about 30 seconds away from the place. As I pulled up outside the guy exclaimed "Oh my God, it's a shithole!!" I told him by all accounts the food was OK and that many a cabby had graced the premises with their presence but perhaps they'd like me to take them elsewhere. They heartily agreed and I took them (after she had consulted an app she had on her iphone) to the OXO Tower Restaurant on the South Bank. As we arrived at the place they were greeted by the sight of many similarly attired diners and they felt more at ease saying "this is more like it!!". I received the fare plus a nice tip for my efforts.

Whilst I was at work this evening my team Leeds United beat Southampton (from the Premiership) 3-0 in the Capital One Cup (The League Cup to you and me) to move into the quarter finals and only two games away from a trip to Wembley!! Well I can dream can't I?

Take Care Out There

L.C.

Let The Chaos Commence!!

So, after years of waiting, the London 2012 Olympics finally get under way with the opening ceremony taking place tomorrow.
So much has been done to get things ready. From a totally brand new stadium at Stratford in East London, to a brand new pool (aquatics centre), a velodrome, a hockey centre and an athletes village.
Many other pre-existing venues around the country have also been made ready. It's been a massive operation which has taken place and many millions, in fact billions, of pounds have been spent.
During the last few weeks the streets around central London have been made ready to recieve the large volumes of traffic that will be shuttling contestants and officials to and from all the venues.

Official Olympic Car

To make it easier for all these official cars to get about they have introduced Games Lanes. So, they have used major roads and set aside the right lane for Olympic approved traffic. Everyone else has to squeeze into the remaining lanes. All right turns on Olympic Routes have been banned. Cameras have been placed at strategic points to catch offenders doing illegal turns. Taxis have not been included in the type of vehicles allowed to use these lanes (it's an instant £130 fine if caught using them). So if Usain Bolt gets in my cab at Heathrow and tells me he's late for his hundred meter dash and to step on it I'll have to inform him he's gonna be late coz London Taxis ain't important enough to be allowed to use the Olympic Lanes. Some trade organisations are in the process of demonstrating about it and maybe just maybe this stupid situation we find ourselves in will be resolved. Anyway, enough whinging, I'm hoping the games are going to give us plenty of work in what would otherwise be a quiet time. Bring 'em on!!

As I said the Olympic preparations have been going on for the last few weeks. Many roads have now been closed off for the duration of the games so you can imagine the stress of getting to a turn only to find you can't do it. Most people are aware that there's going to be problems but there's also a hell of a lot who don't and think they can jump in a cab and get where they want without any difficulty whatsoever.
I picked up 3 people today in The City and they asked for the junction of Kingsway and Aldwych. You can imagine my horror when I arrived at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway only to find it was a banned turn. The detour added £5 to the total fare and they weren't best pleased.
I trapped another job in Buckingham Palace Road today all the way to Chiswick. I quoted her £20. As I started making my way I encountered The Torch Relay at Kings Road where literally thousands of people were lining the streets for a glimpse of possibly a celebrity doing his 400meter stint. I had to wait for it all to subside before I could get through and get on my way by which time there was £10 more on the meter than I'd quoted. She paid up without a word but I sensed disapproval.
For the next few hours I kept encountering the Torch Relay as it made it's way around town. I caught it again at Holland Park and again at Oxford Circus where a couple jumped in and asked for Paddington Station. We stewed in traffic for ages. They asked me if there was an alternative route, I just laughed. The flame is now in bed in it's Davey Lamp ready for the final push to the Olympic Park via The Embankment tomorrow. Who knows I may meet it again!

I never paid my cab last week as I had too much on so I am now chasing £410 to be paid by tomorrow.
I also have a few other things going out so I am well and truly under the cosh.
I hit a pothole recently in Cricklewood and the wheel instantly went down. I was just getting on to the M1 at the time so I had to pull over and fix it (thats Jane supervising!!)

Puncture on the M1

I never realised how unfit I was and was totally out of breath by the time I had us up and running again. My daughter Katie was taking the pictures and was no help at all. I took the cab to Jettyres the following Monday to have the spare replaced. I go to the branch at Hercules Road as they're superfast there and just replace the punctured wheel with one they have prepared earlier.

As I type this Team GB is playing Senegal at football in an Olympic match. I thought the opening ceremony would be the first action of the games but apparently not. There were games yesterday and earlier today as well. Anyway it's finished at 1-1 so a point to start our Olympic campaign is better than a kick up the arse!!

Check back soon.

Take care.

L.C.