WOW long time since I posted here... lost in the world of warcraft and face book. we will have to see if the saga that is this blog will continue

Stealing Freddy Beach's Customers

Ellen

I had a great night until the cab broke down at around 2am. I think it is a starter problem. But I imagine the boys at the shop with have my van up and runing before lunch, I hope.

I can't really complain I did make really good money tonight, and I met some really interesting people. I picked up 3 girls at Mexies Margareta Monday, they were very interested in my weeksworth of stories and Ellen told me about another blogging taxi driver she met in fredericton. Right away I knew she was talking of Freddy beach. She said that he had taken a picture of her around halloween, because she had dressed up as a Nurse. I remembered reading about her and seeing her picture on freddy's blog.

Well they want me as their cabbie while they are home from school and I hope they call me over the weekend. They were great tippers and I am sure they have some stories of there own.

Brit

Bunnies are cool, But Deer suck

Well I snapped this shot out side the university a week ago, the little guy was chowin down on the new greens the warm weather has provided. He posed for a few shots and thumped off into the bushes.

The Deer on the other hand are Bastards!

Here I was drivin this guy home from one of the local call centers, when low and behold a Deer pops his ass out of thin air, I had time to stop and I watched as he meandered off the road probably wondering what in the hell I was up to.

This deer was about 10 feet from the front grill and I watched him trundle into the darkness, when just then, His Brother Mr. Retardo Deer bashes his body into my passenger side door ripping my mirror off!

I was pissed, but keeping my cool I asked with the rage still in my voice " Did you see that man?" to my passenger "see what?" he said " didn't you hear that loud crash right next to you?" I asked. He responds "yeah I was wondering what that was, What was it?"

Freaking out I snap at him and say, " Didn't you see that big deer that hit the door????"

"What Deer? I didn't see a Deer"

Just then I pull in to his drive way, he pays me and I drop him off and I am left thinking are you on Glue how in the hell could you miss that!

Just goes to show some people live in there own little world



My New van with no passenger side mirror :(

NEW NEW NEW

Well the new car is finalized, I'll be renting it for now. SO it is going to be great to drive it on my own with out a day driver and get a few extra hours in. The cash has already been better. I had to get the ol' taxi licence renewed as it was my birthday on the 3rd another $50 down the tube lost and unknown. Plugged in a new deck as you can see in the picture, my electronics Guy gave me a great deal, it will end up costing me a few cheap cab rides for him but it is well worth it. Already had a few drunken fools screaming out to the tune of the new deck and a few extra tips have helped too!

Outside the Taxi

One of the reasons I have been failing to post here, is because I have a new granddaughter and she had us in and out of the hospital the past week or so. She was born on the 26th of march and had to go back into the hospital for 4 or 5 days to get some gunk out of her system but she is now doing fine and gaining weight like she should be. Her name is Victoria Haley Marie and here are some pictures.

NEW CAR

Well I have been busy, well I really have been very lazy in posting on this blog. But I do have some new happenings so I guess I had better tell you about whats going on.

Been drivin the movie car for the past 3 months since my day driver totaled the Lumina I was driving. An old Fredericton cop car, the Lumina saw better days. SO since then I have had another old cop car that was in the movie "Stuck" that was filmed in Saint John this past fall. Still waiting for it to come out so watch for it.

Recently This Car "23" is getting to the end of the line, a 99 Crown Victoria with over 300000km it is in the shop as I write this waiting to be fixed or junked, a judgment that I do not care to see the out come. But yesterday my boss set me up with a 99 dodge caravan that is in really in great shape and is going to make a great taxi that I'll have all to my self very soon. I have to share it with the day driver of 23 for the time being and then I'll have it all to myself next week or so. For those of you who have shared a car with another driver with know my pain....

I'll post pictures of my new Cab "89" in the next few days.


in the mean time check out this telephone poll why has it not broken yet??????????

Walking The Dog

Had a good few days driving cab, Made some good money for some strange reason. On another front, I am pushing my self to loose some pounds so I am starting to walk after my shifts driving cab. I walked 4km this morning with the dog, she was happy to be out and about as you can see.

I snapped a shot of this sign as I walked past the Coast guard Base, I wondered why the deputy minister and not the minister of defense has this sign up? Like was he to busy to sign the order to have signs posted around the coast guard base???? Or did he just decide that the deputy needed to look like he was doing some work?? Just thought it was funny....

Watch out for gun totin rabbits!

I am not much for street art but this caught my eye. A rabbit with a machine gun. Crazy combination, my sister will love me posting this picture and I am sure she'll add it to her collection as it is "Out there Art" I have a few other strange findings I'll post soon, Ya never know what you'll see driving cab.

8 white russians Later

Well Normally Tuesday nights are a flop, however tonight was not the typical Tuesday. I normally take Tuesday nights off to spend time with my wife but I was forced to move those plans to Monday this week as the car was down for repairs. So I took the opportunity to Take in a movie with my Wife and Saw Ghost Rider. Great Movie by the way.

I seriously Had a great night and finally made some much needed cash!

SO nearing the end of the night I get this call to go to the side door of city hall. At 4am in the morning this usually means that you are bound to be picking up some one who the Cops are finished dealing with. Sure enough this was the case. This guy comes out gets in the cab and is very upset. He tells me to take him out to the pentengail road out in Quispamsis a $28.00 fare. I tell him I'll need the money up front and he is already digging into his pockets and hauls out the cash much to my surprise.

He then asks me "Do you know anything about DWI charges?" I tell him no and asked why he asked. He proceeds to tell me how the cops got him coming out of the strip club parking lot and arrested him for drinking and driving and took him back to city hall to administer a Breathalyzer test, he says he blew 0.10 and reminds me the legal limit it just 2 points lower at 0.08, I listen as he tells me this "I dunno how I was over the limit I only drank 8 white russians"

I dropped him off, hoping this bone head learned his lesson.

I hate these people, I can almost understand the drunken fools who drink too much and have no way home and drive home anyway, but this guy had a wad of cash and could afford the $28 bucks for the drive home but still chose to drive cuz he didn't think that 8 white Russians was too many. I hope they throw the book at this fool!

Gotta stay in the Cab if you wanna make money!

I now have this stupid cold which really sucks and it makes me tired at the wrong times of the day. For the last week I have been up before I normally am hacking and spewing up god knows what and when I drive cab I get sleepy after 2am. it really sucks crap!

It is so slow as of late it needs to pick up so I can pay some bills. Missing the weekends this month have had an effect on the amount of cash in my wallet. I guess I'll have to catch up when my pay from the other Job comes in at the end of the month.

Drivin cab over the past few years has make me sooooo inpatient when it come to money. I hate waiting for pay checks now it sucks.

Driving for Eastlink has gave me a good break from the slobs who pay my bills on the weekends. I guess it's not all bad but when you drive cab you get so used to havin cash in hand!

I'll be jetting to Halifax in that big storm coming on Saturday I hope it goes well. We have 30 passengers I think. SO we will use all 3 of our vans and we'll travel together so we should be ready to face O'l Jack Frost and his last stand.

Stopped at the Toll highway in Nova Scotia with my wingman on a recent trip to Halifax.

No I am Not dead

WOW it's been a while since I posted.

Lets think up a good excuse ahhhh I now have a warcraft addiction.....

Not good enough?

I have been sick...... there end of excuses. Not good enough? Kiss My Irish ASS!!!

Drivin cab had been slow as my other job has picked up. But I am sure over the next little while I'll come up with some good stories soon.....

pictures to come as well


ST. Patrick's Day is commin...............

Got Blood?

This time three years ago I was plowing through a horrendous snow storm. and I was reminded of that fact just yesterday as I went to take some blood to the hospital from Canadian blood services. Our company has a contract to transport blood up the hill to the hospital, we only get $4 for the short trip but we are doing our part to help.

Three years ago I took kidneys for transplant to the Hospital in Halifax normally a 4 hour drive, the trip took me 7 hours I took a friend with me and we made the run and returned to saint John safe and sound. The story hit the papers and made the news every were in Canada. I am reminded of it every year around Christmas. Rightly so the story made it into a book as well and you can see it online at Amazing Stories. I love that I got the chance to do my part and I still get to from time to time in the cab.

Busy?

The question most asked by fares, in fact almost all fares ask, "busy tonight?". Friday and Saturday were both busy, lots of Christmas parties and massive amounts of people. Saturday was nonstop from 3pm to 4am the only breaks I got were to re fuel the car which I did about 3 times and I traveled over 700km and I was all over the city from one end to the other.

A lot of the work was charge work where various companies pay for their employees to go to and from their Christmas parties. this made for some hefty fares, $40 calls $50 calls and the regular fares we get each weekend.

I was so busy my right leg fell asleep like 400 times and I had to get out once and a while when I was waiting for a fare to come out of their house and stretch my legs.

Made some Christmas money and the final week will begin soon I'll have to get out and finish my shopping between fares this week.

The Hat made some tips and I now realize that once you put it on in the cab, you then become the sexiest man alive and every one wants to ware it and try it on. Also guys on the way to the bar realized this too and offered me a lot of money for the kewl Santa hat.

I visited Christmas lane this weekend and dropped a passenger off there and that was the first time I had ever been on that particular street.

Also in my travels to the home depot to get a Christmas tree stand and a few stocking stuffers I took time to snap a few shots of my grand daughter who already loves driving as you can see. If you have never seen one before the car she is in is a shopping cart.

Ya Never Know

Why stay so late? Asks the wannabees They all leave as the day drivers arrive at 3 or 4 am. they aren't real cab drivers only rookies who don't know how to make money and it is great that they don't because it helps me make a living.

I come in at 4pm and stay until 6am. Yes I know that it is long but as one old cabbie once told me "you gotta stay in the car to make money" SO I do and the money follows.

Also a wise old man also told me this "Liam, Ya Never Know!" Meaning you will never know what will or could happen and there will always be surprises. If he reads this and he might, I wanna say it is the best advice he ever gave me, and I often find my self sitting in the cab saying to my self,

"Liam, Ya Never Know!"

Early Thursday Morning after the rookies went home I got a call to go to Tower St, over on the west side of the city. My dispatch said "89 head over to tower street and meet the police they have a passenger for you and have a nice trip"

Now most of the time when the dispatcher says "have a nice trip" it means your headed out of town. In this case I was headed to St. Stephen. A $120.00 fare. I arrived and was greeted by Saint John's finest. They kindly helped me load this lady's bags into my trunk and the lady cop put her hand on my shoulder and whispered " she's ok, just had a fight with her daughter and we had to come break it up...... Oh yeah......and she's a little nuts"

A little nuts??? Holy shit..... this lady was more jumpy than a sparrow on Jolt cola. She was very upset with her daughter and kept talking to herself about the whole situation. It was a stressful 75minutes to the boarder town. She constantly wanted to smoke in the car and she wasn't taking no for an answer. Fighting with her about My rules would have resulted in me putting duct tape across her mouth and shoving her in the trunk. So Asthma inhaler in one hand and a cigarette in the other she was lighting up like clock work every 15minutes. I really fail to understand smokers.

SO every 15 minutes she stuck her head out the window right up until I dropped her off next to the boarder.

Being the stupid genius that I am I neglected to grasp that I had already driven most of the night and I was low on fuel when I reached St. Stephen at 4am. After dropping off my Smokey cargo I went on the hunt for Gas. Well wouldn't you know there are no gas stations that stay open over night in St. Stephen.

They all open at 7am, a shitty notion at 4am but not with out a solution. A short trip across the boarder was in order. So here I was at 4am trying to explain why I wanted to enter the good Ol US of A just to re-fuel my jet and fly back to SJ. Our armed friends south of the boarder spent the next 30minutes turning my taxi upside down and hauling the carpet up in the trunk to find the 3000 pounds of invisible hash I had stashed back there. After finding out that I was not driving a stolen car and understanding I wasn't a criminal fleeing Canada they made me fill out some paperwork and let me pass, not with out giving me the absolute best directions to the closest gas station.

Concluding my business in America, I made for Canada and was back on home soil in a 10 minute round trip minus my 30minutes with US Customs. Returning to my home country was quite funny. Canada customs greeted me with a big smile at quarter to 5 in the morning and asked "anything to declare" and I said "Just cheap gas", she smiled and said have a nice day and sent me back out into the darkness and home to Saint John.

Here's a paradox Gas in the US was 10 bucks cheaper to fill the cab and it was the same gas that sells here in Saint John and is refined here. I have resolved that the boarder is a magic line that turns gas cheaper some how. Then I remember that Iraq's best friend "W" is the magician and the magical line we call the boarder is only an illusion.

"American Go Juice"

"Tastes like the Canadian counterpart with slightly more of a Gold taste"

AIR LIMO

Earlier before I headed off to work I watched my favorite channel "discovery" and the show daily planet. They had a story about this airplane turned limo. Some Mexican company buys weird stuff and turns it into cars and limos and other forms of transport. I guess it cost a $1000 bucks to rent the thing and it has all the wonderful amenities that you could imagine being in a limo of this size. They took a Benz bus for the engine and put the plane on top with I imagine a few minor adjustments. Found the picture so I thought I'd share....

Keep It Clean!

A CLEAN CAR 89

I don't take cabs much my self anymore for the simple reason I am always working and don't have the need. But when I do I only call my friends and co-workers who I know keep their cars clean.

I can't stand the guys who live in the car and can't keep it clean. I however have the clean bug. I must keep my car as clean as I can all the time. I wash it and rub the amour all into it's interior as much as I can. I share my car with a day driver and I will say this she is not as clean as I am. She is not nearly as bad as some of my other driving partners. I have driven with guys who were so dirty I had to clean the car as soon as I got it just to feel comfortable driving it.

A clean car gets you more money and tips from passengers. I fail to understand why the people of this little city put up with the cruddy drivers who are stinky and dirty. Most of the problem is the smoking issue here in this city. There are by-laws in place to prevent smoking in all public places of work in the province. These laws are not enforced and fail to purge smoking from the cab industry. People here still want to smoke in cabs and I loose a lot of fares because people want another cab that will allow them to smoke.

I have heard it all from customers begging me to let them smoke. "I'll roll the window down all the way and stick my head out" " ahhhh come on"

I hate these people they are fucking brain dead!

They don't care about anyone but them selves and don't realize that they dirty my cab and my lungs. I don't allow them to smoke and yes I loose business but at least I have a clean car and my health goes un affected.

" ahhh please can I take a shit I really have to go I'll roll down the window all the way, I'll even stick my ass out there in the cold"

The root of the problem is the drivers who smoke themselves and allow people to smoke. They ruin it for the rest of us and force people to get into big fights with non smoking Cab drivers.

I try not to have attitude with my smoking customers who have the nerve to ask. but some times I sound really pissed when they do and this doesn't help my case either.

SO whatever, it won't be solved until smoking and smokers are done infesting our planet.

So to you smokers and cabbies who allow smoking in their cab FUCK YOU!!!!!!

Don't worry it's ok I stuck my head out the window when I typed that!

Weekend finished

Had an uneventful weekend nothing too exciting. Most of the evenings fares were from Christmas parties, however people don't seem as wild as they used to be when it comes to the office party. I even had passengers talk about the regular party animals even going to lengths to tone down their antics. I think that people are listening more and more to the advertisements surrounding their drunken mishaps with co-workers. I have seen several news stories and TV shows that deal with the office party. The embarrassing drunk making an entrance to said party is no longer acceptable for some reason. This is by far not the rule because I know there are many out there who would beg to differ with stories and examples from this years batch of Xmas party goers. But Driving cab is no science and the possibility of not getting as many drunken fares is maybe just Luck, who knows. I will say this The season is far from over and the closer we get to the holidays the stupider and crazier people will get.

Port City Puncher

So the other night one of our boys gets a call to the local bus depot. Here he finds a girl shivering in the cold and looking only half awake and surrounded by luggage. As he loads her luggage into his car she begins to tell him her story.

You see she had a long day that had her spend a while coming home to Saint John on the Bus. The very tired girl arrived at 8:10pm, she awoke on the bus at 9:30pm on a dark bus cold and shivering.

She had a hard time figuring out what happened to her at first and soon she found her self struggling to find a way off the bus as it was locked. Eventually she found a way to open the doors and she rushed over to the bus station office, which was just locking its doors for the night. She explained her self to the guys locking up and they took her for some local crack head running around in the cold with out a Jacket. She persisted and explained that her luggage was in their office and they had better get in there to give it to her. Finally she points to the bus she had just left and shows them the door is open and unlocked. Then they believe her and proceed to get her things.

I have fallen asleep on a busy city transit bus and have ended up on the other side of town but this takes the cake. Apparently the bus driver was in a rush and failed to check his bus before parking it for the night. I later had this girl as a fare and she told me the whole story.

Another unrelated story,

Our city has a transit bus that runs after hours on the weekend helping the drunks from the bars get home. It goes from the east side to the university and makes stops uptown. It is a nuisance to cab drivers as it steals our business. The city exclaims that it is a method of prevention, to stop drunk drivers from taking the car home from the bar.

This is retarded since this bus provides transport to mostly UNB students and the majority of them do not own cars. So simply said it is stealing the bigger in town fares from taxis.

Well I had to laugh this week since last weekend a fight broke out on the bus and a few bloody noses had the bus driver calling police to help empty the bus. Which was happened quite fast since the bus occupants all fled the bus when the boys in blue arrived.

Freddybeach has told us about his “Vomit Comet” so I figured this would be a good opportunity to tell you about our bus and aptly name it the “Port city Puncher” Since it is a boxing ring on the weekends and it punches holes in our profits.

Winter Wonderland

Winter has begun in my part of the world and snow has infiltrated and stayed on the ground for a few days thus far. This has made it a bit busy for us and the money has been better. Tree lots have started their annual sale of Xmas trees and things are getting more festive looking around the city as Christmas approaches. Here are some shots to reflect what I have seen the past few days.

Lights at the Hospital

Early Morning Drive On the Highway

See if you can find Jack frost in the cloud

in the center of the picture.

Take me Down Town to Monkey Town!

Where have I been???? Busy with the other Job. That is Eastlink Door to door shuttle express! Yeah I move people around eastern Canada mostly in New Brunswick. Yesterday I was busy being Shuttle "C" for the Skate Canada Eastern Challenge. I bring people from one of the local hotels to the rink and then back again. I now know I do not want to ever be a bus driver doing the same short route all the time it would really begin to suck!

SO I have been in Moncton most of the weekend and I did have to take some time out to do another run to Woodstock while my boss took care of skate Canada. I missed out on a great night of Cab driving, the weather was horrible everywhere in New Brunswick, As Freddy Beach can attest to and he has the scars to prove it. "Poor guy" Read his last post and you'll understand.

SO I am here until late tonight and then it's off to Freddy to get a passenger and take them to Halifax on Sunday. Hope the weather holds off I am a master of winter driving but that doesn't mean I want to stick my head in the lions mouth or bash my head of a rear door hatch!

Yeah and I added EastLink's web site to the list so you can find out more about my other Job!