Ramblings of a Butterboy

It;s been a while but I'm back.

2010-02-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

For one reason or another I've just not been on to add to my blog. My step dad passed away in July 09 and I just lost interest in this to be honest. But I've got the thirst for it again so I'm back.

A lot has happened since my last post. I'm now a full time London Taxi Driver no longer working in a office and quite frankly I bloody love it. The freedom of the job is truly the best bit about it closely followed from taking part in the "take back the work" operations a few of us cabbies have been doing the last few weeks that has been organised by the LTDF forum.

Tweetalondoncab, Twitter based Taxi booking scheme, has kicked off big time and is going along nicely with some interesting developments to come from that some time soon so keep your eyes open for that.

Laters sorry for the short one but i'll update with more detail soon.

Thanks

Back in the saddle.

2009-06-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a weird couple of weeks. I am severely winding down at my job got no enthusiasm for it at all. Thankfully they have found a replacement for me who starts on the 13th July. Starting to become a reality now not long to go.

Anyway have rented a cab for the week , got a week off, of Wimbledon amongst other things. Unfortunately I ordered a Fairway taxi, which is a good cab, before realising the weather was going to be hot. Fairway taxis are winter taxis end of. They have no air con and within a couple of hours you are sweating like hell, well I am anyway.

Decided to try my luck down at Wimbledon tennis as it is local to where I live. I sort of got myself organised by asking on the LTDF forum what's the protocol down there just to make sure I don't go upsetting some cabbie. Not that some of them need an excuse to moan but you know what I mean. Anyway got my tips and tricks and headed over there about 7.30pm. As I approached it was evident it was busy. Ranked up for 10 minutes realised it was going nowhere fast, and not being the most patient of men, I thought sod it I'll head into London. On the way to Southfields and beyond got hailed by a fella in a suit, thought it would be promising, and lo and behold he wants to go to Lords Cricket Ground VIA North Audley St. Now I know why Mr Thomas and Mr Dixon at the carriage asked the runs on appearances the did BECAUSE you get asked them in real life.

After dropping the fella ,in Ordnance Hill in the end, I was immediately hailed by 2 fellas, and their children, who'd just been to the cricket and they wanted to go to Crouch End. A quick funny (ish) story a good pal of mine has been a cabbie for about 2 years now and when I saw him a few weeks ago we got talking about cabbying etc and most striking thing he said, which is very poignant now, "after all that blood knowledge stuff I have never been to or anywhere near Crouch End in the 2 years I've been out". Can't wait to see him next week to tell him I've been there 3 bloody times now in just over a month.

I never got anywhere near the west end after that. Highlight job of the night Kings Cross Station to Kew and Raynes Park.

Back out tonight Saturday 27th June but it is a warm old night need to find pants with air conditioning :-)

Oh yeah whilst I remember one of the cabbies I talk with on Twitter is in process of sorting out a booking a taxi service on Twitter - - - www.twitter.com/tweetalondoncab - go and have a look.

Got my wingman with me now

2009-06-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

It's a funny way of putting it I know but my COP, call over partner from the knowledge, has finally passed his knowledge and got his badge to become a Licenced London Taxi Driver. So in a joking sort of way I said it to my wife he other night I got my wing man back , a la Top Gun, and she just looked at me like I was some sort of nut job.

BUT me and Graham have done the knowledge basically from the beginning and seen each other for like 4 to 5 days a week for 3 and a half years so I think I am perfectly justified in calling him my wing man, OK it is a bit mad but so what.

Friday 12th June we got ourselves a cab each, about 5.30pm, and off we went. I said to him "you go in front and hopefully you'll get a local job to give away for free and then you are off and running". Lo and behold we just get past Morden and there was a bus broken down on Morden Road and I spotted a likely passenger standing at the back. Sure enough up his arm went and I thought go on my son get in there. As he did my COP was indicating to go round the bus and subsequently never saw this fella put his hand up so I pulled in to pick him up. He only wanted to go to Wimbledon station so nice little job to start the night.

Immediately my phone rang and it was Graham asking me to apologise to my passenger and explain that he was looking in his mirror to pull out when he flagged him and he never saw him.

Anyway I'm rambling. Oh that's the point isn't it. T'was a eventful night anyway broke down about 9.30 near Sloane Square due to a faulty fuel cut off switch and RAC told me it would be at least an hour so I got into the back of the cab and got my head down. Thankfully he repaired the fault and had me back on the road in no time so I could get out there. Before that I had at least 5 of my fellow cabbies stop and ask if they could help out and I think that just goes to show the great camaraderie amongst us that they would do that for someone they don't know. Not many other walks of life you could imagine that happening.

Have decided to make the roadworks of London my mission at the moment. The ones you see all over Central London with no bugger working on them. Have posted a couple of such ones on the LTDF website, http://londontaxi.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=taxistreets&thread=1536&page=1#20836 , and will continue to do so in my one man crusade against this other blight to taxi drivers in London.

COUNTDOWN TO MY NEW JOB 44 DAYS

Don't forget you can follow me on twitter as well www.twitter.com/martcafc

Well I have done it

2009-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before I am still working as a Facilities Manager for a law firm in Holborn and was dipping my toe in the water of the Taxi trade.

Well having dipped my toe the water was warm and I liked it enough to hand in my notice to leave and become a full time Licensed London Taxi Driver. Got to say it was one of my most nerve wracking moments going but I did and now there's no turning back , even though my boss asked me to change my mind today.

My last day in the office will be the 31st July and then it will be onwards and upwards and freedom freedom freedom. Can't wait.

Never thought I'd see the day, especially not, when in August 2005 I sat outside Manor House tube station and looked at my work sheet and thought where is Green Lanes , how the hell am I going to remember these runs.

Well 12th June is my next foray out into the metropolis of London in a Taxi but this time I will be out there with my wing man Graham. Graham is my COP, call over partner, who I started the knowledge with in 2005. We'd never met before but had one thing in common and that was wanting to become a London cabbie. Graham is due up for his badge on Thursday and I am as excited for him as I was when I got mine so good luck to him.

Remember if it's a tout stay out.

It's getting serious now

2009-06-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got confirmation today that handing my notice in at my day job, 6 weeks early, is going to be ok and will have no silly business. Having a friend in HR works wonders sometimes. Intend the 31st July to be my last day.

So Monday 8th June is going to be the momentous day and one I thought I wouldn't get here after 3 and 1/2 yeas on the knowledge. I've already written my letter out and will just need to date it and go for it Monday. Having been at the company for 15 years it's going to be a weird few weeks.

Not been out in a cab since last Friday, obviously due to the above, but it was another very good night of work and very busy. Being pay day obviously helps in a big way but had a nice plethora of work and knew it was going to be a good day as within 5 minutes of starting work I picked up a job from Wood St in the City to City Airport. On the way my brother rang me and wanted to organise a night out I was having with him and my other brother and dad in celebration of passing the knowledge. As he works in Canary Wharf I said to him I'd pop by on the way back from Canary Wharf and we'd sort it then. As I got on the Wharf I was immediately hailed and asked to go to Picadilly Circus. Obviously turning jobs down to go and see my brother is not the done thing especially not a good one like that. More on the night out later but I called him, my brother, on the way to Piccadilly and sorted the details out.

Tried my luck at the usual haunts picked up a nice few jobs then fell foul of one of our shafting me. Ranked up at Zuma approx 9.30pm sat there for 10 minutes when a couple of cabs stopped by dropping punters off. The one in front then had 2 guys pop their head in the window, obviously asking for a cab, and expecting him to send them back to me was infuriated to see him get them in the back and was away before I could get down there. Hope they bilked you pal.

More later. Will post my events of Monday and the momentous handing in of my notice letter.

Don't forget to go to http://www.londontaxiforum.co.uk where cabbies get it off their chest.

Good luck and thanks for reading

Back in the fold

2009-05-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

Well I've been back out there on the streets of good old London.
Despite the recession people still want to use the iconic London Taxi revered the world over as the best, and me, I am now one of them. Managed to find a Taxi proprietor about 5 minutes from where I live in Sutton and it's another Fairway which I picked up on Friday. Taxis come in 5 types now Fairway, Metrocab, TXI , TXII and the TX 4

So went out on Friday for a few hours and did a good stint on Saturday plus a few hours Sunday. As per usual I was intent on making sure I got as many jobs off the touts as possible and nicked a good few off them Saturday night. 1 such job was I picked up 4 Americans from Nobu restaurant, under the noses of the usual tout suspects, and to my glee they said Kenton in Harrow please.
Straight away I thought s*** where is it lol. But that's why I did those suburb runs a few weeks ago and it all cam flooding back so off I went.
They were the usual brash Americans ,and pissed ones to boot, but they were amazed that I got them there so quickly and without using a sat nav , their words not mine, and I must admit so was I hahahaha. A nice tidy sum on the meter in my sky and not in one of the touts pockets.

I don't think a lot of people are aware of the battle we ,us Licensed Taxi Drivers, are having in Central London at a few venues. Taxi drivers are by law the only ones allowed to "ply for hire" in London and any other cab has to be prebooked. Despite this you will still find all these vermin , and some of them are vermin, trying to nick our work from under our noses. As a new boy to the trade I knew it was happening but not to this extent. Only reading on LTDF forum www.londontaxiforum.co.uk the many posts on this subject did I feel I had to get out there and help. There are some amazing people on that forum and they certainly have started pulling everyone together including radio circuit drivers.
The venues mainly being targeted by LTDF members are
Nobu
Jalouse
Zuma
Oxo Tower
Abacus Bar
Smiths of Smithfield
Swallow St (Regent St)
Tiger Tiger
Amika

Having a well earned day off today but will be back out there tomorrow night.

Remember if it's a tout stay out. TAXI's the only way to go.

1st days jobs

2009-05-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

As promised here's my list of my 1st days jobs as a London Licensed Taxi Driver. Here goes it's quite a list.

Kings Rd to marylebone High st - more about this in my first post
pall mall to daily telegraph - 111 buck palace rd sir - wow good knowledge mate -
kings rd to gatwick express via Burton Court
kens high st - aldwych theatre
fleet st to allen and overy spotal sq
grays inn rd to frognal close -school run nightmare traffic took forever but all on the meter
kings rd old marylebone rd
st george st to ebury st
victoria station to euston station
euston station to marriott regents park - good knowledge line this one
acacia rd to philimore gardens
high st ken to redcliffe gdns
redcliffe sq to beaufort st
kings rd to warwick way
new bond st to kildare gardens
westbourne grove to paddington - should have walked
praed st to kendall st - again should have walked but hey all on the meter
knightsbrdige to pj's bar and grill - fulham rd
fluham rd to atherstone mews
knightsbrdige to shepherds bush
shepherds bush to harlesden
berkeley sq to emperors gate via Young st
fulham rd to embargo club

Then i got bored of writing them all down but it was a busy old night as you can see and was quite pleased with myself only didn't know where Atherstone Mews was but with a bit of help from my passenger it was no problem....

More later

1st Week in the Job

2009-05-18T01:52:00.000-07:00

Well decided to do a week in a Taxi to dip my toe in the water to see what it's like. Obviously I'm still working and as it is a recession needed to see if financially it is worth my while jacking My day job in.

Started last Friday about 1.30pm made my way towards the Kings Road from sunny Carshalton and I was told if you can;t get a fare from Kings Road you're doing something wrong. Anyway I nervously turned right from Bagleys Lane made my way up New Kings Road and sure enough out came a hand. Initially I thought she was waving to someone , hahaha, then pulled myself together and pulled over in my rented Fairway and opened the window. "Marylebone High St North of Blandford St please" and in she gets. Straight away I thought go through the park ,"Hyde Park", and over we go. For some ridiculous reason I changed my mind and decided to Park Lane it etc.
As we hit Park Lane she starts moaning at me I've gone the wrong way and should have gone through the park. I concur and apologise but still get her there on time, forgot to say she said she needed to be there by 2pm.
As I pull over onto Marylebone High St I tell her the fare is free, gratis and on the house because as a tradition in the London Licensed Taxi Trade the 1st fare for a new boy is always free. She looks at the £17 on the meter and immediately starts apologising for moaning about me going the wrong way she tipped me a fiver and off she went.

I drive off and think s*** where am I going to go now. I head off to Mayfair thinking what will I get next.

The rest of the day is a blur to be honest although I have written down a full list of the jobs I will dig that out and blog it here. It turned out a decent enough day considering I was fairly clueless where to go and I really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I am back at work wistfully thinking of being back out in the cab.

More to follow.

Laters.