Gadgets - we love 'em!!

The gadgets refers to the iPhone of which I had high expectations and was as excited about as my first cassette player in the early 80's, I got mine last week and am using to write this blog. It's the first blog since July and hopefully they will be a little more frequent with it's arrival...

Well, where to start, we had a good summer break, a week in Norfolk under canvas, well actually man made fibre nowadays, it was great apart from my childrens near panic filled episodes every time a bee or wasp appeared in the tent. We visited Banham zoo, best zoo we've taken the boys to, really great facilities and you get really close to the animals. We also went to Bewilderwood, a kind of adventure park set in the forest with loads of zip wires etc. Last place to note was a visit to Jimmy's Farm as featured in the BBC documentary of a few years ago - again great day out and can recommend the breakfast sausages!

Following that it was a solid 14 day stint at work, that's August in a cab for you, my resolve is to gradually get to the position when I can take most of the month off.... And spend most of it on hole with my family, next year we're planning to got to France to a friends farm house for two weeks... So anyway, after the long stretch we went down to the coast, Swalecliffe to be precise, where we camped again along with a few friends and although it was only three days, was a chance to recharge batteries.

So back to work in Sept, kids back to school, youngest now has a stricter teacher which will do him the world of good. Work has picked up considerably - much to our appreciation, atended a demonstrations against a convicted murderer doing the knowledge which was succesful.

Have had a few interesting passengers over the past few weeks, PR rep to food industry, some good fares via @tweetalondoncab which is a service offered thru Twitter by a group of likeminded tech savvy cab drivers read more about it here which please do pass on to friends and family, an easy way to assure yourself of a safe and reliable journey....

Passenger of most note was just this week, William Hague, shadow foreign secretary and 2nd in line to the throne if the inevitable happens at the forthcoming general election, a very amiable chap happy to talk about various issues and open about the need for the Tories to change the stereotype view that most folk have... He was on his way to the German Ambassadors residence for a shindig to celebrate the Merkel success.

Anyway must go it's late and I need to get up early for a full on day of church parade with the boys as part of their scouting comitments and rehearsals for my return to the am dram scene as part of Copacabana here's the link if you're in SE London

Thanks for reading, more soon and twitter feed is on your right cheers

Tut, tut, twitter, twitter

Terribly slack on my behalf, but only just getting round to another blog in almost 3months..... no excuses, just a lack of time behind a PC. Needless to say my twitter performance goes from strength to strength, feed to your right!

On that subject some fellow cab drivers have set up tweetalondoncab and has been much publicised including on Channel 4 news.....

Other than that, I've been keeping my head afloat, trying to get a head of steam up to cover some time off during the summer holidays that are looming large. Recent pick ups of note have been Jamie Theakston (not v chatty), and the very interesting and chatty Simon Schama.

Have had a small (!) altercation with a PHV in Covent Garden, hey that's what insurance is for.... Well I'm off to have my tea now, I'd like to say I'll post more blogs soon, but the reality is my twitter feed will be more productive (via mobile) until October when the dawn of the Iphone will hit.....

Cheers

Wow, has it been that long....

.... since the last post! sorry, but as you can see from the right hand side of the screen, Twitter has rather taken my attention of late!

Just a brief posting for now, but I've added my twitter updates here, which are nice and easy to update via ye olde text messages. Recent customer have been Gillian Anderson (X Files), Felicity Kendal (again!), her "Good Life" co-star Penelope Keith, and very nearly William Hague this week (but Tamil protesters in Parliament Square put an end to that!).

Putting the hours in to get the funds for new tent for us, we're off to Derbyshire again at the end of May with a load of friends - can't wait!

Must beggar off now, I only came up to disconnect the Ipod!

Almost 37...... chilled chicken?!

The title is a reference to my birthday on St Davids Day - iechyd da! - just a few years til I enter my 5th decade.......

Been a busy week, bought new car (to us that is) on Saturday, so will need to get some extra hours on the road over coming weeks to cover the balance!



Nocelebs to mention thus far, have had some interesting twitter exchanges with Richard Bacon and Simon Mayo.... and did get a question via text thru to Al Murray on Mayo's show yesterday.

Had a nice but brief coffee stop with an old colleague in Canary Wharf, next time we must do it longer, oh and realised that Canary Wharf is a tow away zone - ie that even as a licensed cab driver parking on a rank, you can't leave it unattended, got back just in time.

Picked up the most bizarre cargo this week, I got a job on the radio to collect from M&S in Fenchurch St, a bag with 3 cooked chicken breasts, and had to take them to an office near to Victoria, £17 to move them seems a little excessive given the current economic climate!

A few weeks ago I did an interview along with 2 of the guys from Black Cab Sessions and it finally got transmitted on Wed, the link to the piece is here , lots of fun and hope it widens the audience for these sessions, which are amazing and very unique.

That's all, nearly time to collect the old beast and go out on the streets of the smoke



Enjoy your Friday nights and weekends

Twittered up

.... not posted for a couple of weeks, how remiss of me! been absorbed in the world of Twitter I'm on there click here for my part of it - if you're not up to speed, it's kind of like a constant stream of "What I'm Up to" in the Facebook fashion.... but it's extremely addictive. Those I'm following are Stephen Fry (along with a gazillion others) Richard Bacon/Jonathan Ross/Chris Moyles/Philip Schofield etc etc good fun. I'm glad I don't work in an office anymore, I got next to nothing done with idle browsing, this must be a killer for productivity the world over!

Anyhow, not been too bad of late, I joined in with the Taxi demo in London the other week, have posted video below which will help you if you're interested in the whys and wherefore.





Turnout was great, although sadly the authorities have scored a bit of an own goal in my opinion, by announcing that they will increase our fare by 3.4% from April - whilst we are all in the middle of an economic crisis, so keeping fares as is would have given us much more kudos..... hey ho.

Picked up Felicity Kendal today on account from her home in Chelsea, she and her grandchildren were lovely, exactly as you would imagine.

Well I best get off to bed, wife and kids all sleeping, and they'll want my attention in the morning - half term til Friday.....

Good night and gawd bless

The list goes on and on.....

'ello, 'ello I'm back with more tales of the unexpected. It's been a good remainder of January, I've probably jinxed it now by saying that, reasonably consistent and not too many late ones required.

After my last famous collection of customers, I was surprised who I've picked up or seen on the mean streets in the last couple of weeks.....

Lisa Snowdon, she of modelling/dating George Clooney/Strictly fame. Picked her up from South Ken and took her home to Camden. Really nice, changed my opinion of her......

Gwen Taylor, she was in Duty Free a popular sitcom in mid-late 80's on ITV, also in A Bit of A Do with David Jason, and currently in Heartbeat. Took her from Kings Cross to West Hampstead. She was v nice, and as a lot of actors do, appreciated that I recognised her...

You might recognise him, but he is Rocco Forte owner at one time of Trusthouse Forte a hotel chain and now runs a chain of luxury hotels including Browns in Mayfair. Nice guy and me recognising him got me a nice big tip!

Now, I don't want you to think I've gone potty, this picture is put up for illustration of the story, I didn't really pick up Paddington Bear - No, that's ridiculous, where would he keep his change for a start.... No, I picked up his creator, Michael Bond, it was an account job from his house in Maida Vale, which ironically enough, is very close to Paddington station! pleasent gent, and his good lady wife...... click here to read more about how he got started..... in 1958!

The following, are some well known folk I've seen in the capital this week.....

Salman Rushdie - outside Paddington Stn (not looking for an author)

David Puttnam, film producer (Killing Fields/Chariots of Fire/Bugsy Malone), in Waterloo, with his shopping.....

Dennis Norden (Writer/Presenter) trying to hail a cab on Charlotte Street W1.

Well that's about all for now, enjoy your weekends!

David Puttnam - film producer (Bugsy Malone/The Killing Fields/Chariots of Fire), in Waterloo with his shopping

Now then, now then......

Happy hew year, been back in the saddle for 4 days now, and fortunately this week seems to be a more brisk one!

Last week was painful, not many bodies on the streets, stretching out the festive holiday as far as possible..... the two notable moments being a lucky break on Wednesday that took me on a trip from the City to Hemel Hempstead, all 27miles on the clock..... very gratefully received....

The other being a famous person, those of you who were kids in the UK around late 70's early 80's will note the title of the blog, yes at Marylebone Station I picked up the one, the only..... Sir! Jimmy Saville......... For those of you not in the know, he hosted a prime time Sat eve TV show called "Jim'll Fix It" where kids could write in and ask to sing with their desired band/pop idol of the time or, in the case of some cub scouts, ride a rollercoaster eating their lunch - clip here....

He was pleasant enough, took him to Kings Cross via his flat near Regents Park to collect his mail..........

Hosted a birthday party for our 6 yr old, 14 kids 8 and under!! luckily we had it down to a strict 90mins of fun and frolics.......

Lastly a groan, why o bloody why are the UK media insistent on making an issue out a comment Prince Harry made during a "not for broadcast" comment to his army mates in 2006..... surely

a) it was said in jest
b) no one has complained
c) who cares
d) really, who cares!!

Peace off-ering's to all!