Beware!

If you read Sods law you will know that I was a little bit poorly, as it turned out Mrs Taxi Driver was wrong (I nearly died). Sorry to disappoint you all, but I'm still here and normal service has resumed.

This weekend; 'broke UK' officially started celebrating Xmas, I picked up the first of the seasonal party animals. Although allegedly having no money, they still managed to find enough to get drunk, spew everywhere, throw insults and try to shag their best mate's partner.

Anyway, try and remember that when you get your cab this Xmas, the driver will be sober (hopefully). He will remember what you say, what you do and what you want to do, maybe just maybe it will end up on the WWW

Do they take us for fuels!

Obviously the price of fuel is a major concern to me, with prices rising by approx a third over the last nine months it is hitting taxi driver hard (where it hurts most, the pocket).

At this point I could start raving about the amount of money which is taken for tax in each litre I buy, but the government didn't rub it in, they froze the planned tax increases. The major fuel suppliers seem to be squeaky clean, after all it has been well documented that the price of crude oil has rocketed. So who can I take my frustration out on?

Well the major forecourt company's have come to my rescue. Much to my joy, the national press have been highlighting the fall in crude oil prices. Having seen how quickly the price increases were added, surely this week would see at least a three pence a litre decrease on the forecourts. Ok my naivety is here for all to see.

Anyway the most cynical marketing ploy is awarded to the garage on the A28 at Birchington. The price here for diesel over the last couple of weeks has been £1 24.9 a litre (and to be fair this is the national average). So with all the hype over falling pump prices, imagine my surprise when on Thursday I see they have increased the price to £1 26.9. Slightly miffed, I drove past and filled up at Whitstable at £1 22.9 (this price has been the same for at least two weeks). Then on Friday the price decrease arrived at Birchington, Yes the much reported three pence decrease to £1 23.9.

Do the fuel giants really believe Joe Bloggs public are that fuelish, that they will not notice their blatant profiteering. With Tesco's trying to recuperate it's losses over the dodgy petrol scandal, there appears very little drive for price competition at the pumps in the south. So I guess my pocketss will be hurting for a while yet.

Only 100 days to go.

A very quiet week on the taxi's. It makes me wonder with Christmas (sorry for mentioning it) being thrust down our throats by the supermarkets already, how much the 'credit crunch', 'recession' or temporary economic blip (depending on your view) will affect us all, leading up to the season of goodwill to all men (including councillors).

Poor economic conditions or not the kids are writing their letters to Santa. The youngest at Taxi drivers abode, says ' you have to send it early, so Santa can save up'. Oh to be that naive again! Mrs Taxi driver is starting to get stressed that this years top toys will already be sold out, surely she has worked out by now that it is now a seasonal tradition that you have to wait until Xmas eve, to see if you can get little Jonny the latest all singing red (must be red) Dalek, that of course 'all his friends will have'.

My guess is many people will struggle this winter with bills, mortgages and the like, but come Christmas the majority of us will have coped ( we are very resilient, us humans) and we will be hoping the New Year brings a change in fortune.

In the scheme of it, is Chinagate important?

If I had a pound for every time a customer asked me "are you busy tonight". If you've ever done it, don't be embarrassed, its the ice breaker for your conversation with the driver. I am truly in a privileged position as a taxi driver, talking is a big a part of the job as driving. Most of the time the conversation subject is chosen by the customer, thus giving a true insight to which current affairs are more important to them at any given time. Given the huge range of people who use taxi's (age,gender,class and race), surely the taxi customer would be a useful barometer for current affairs.

If you collected a random sample of posts by Thanet blogger's over the last few months, you could be forgiven for believing that Chinagate is a somewhat important issue for local people. However the proposed business park in Manston appears not to be important (to taxi customers), apart from the growing amount of restaurants appearing and the Olympics, the Chinese are not flavour of the month.

So you may wonder (or not), what is flavour of the month? Well at the moment national issues are prevalent, price increases and the credit crunch fill most conversations during the drive across Thanet. With gas and electric price's increasing by approximately 30% over the last 9 months, you can see the genuine concern on some oap's faces, as they talk about wearing an extra cardigan this winter, because they cannot afford to heat their homes properly. The families who have already seen their shopping budgets slashed by mortgage increases, also see the contents of their baskets shrink due to grocery price increases. These are the talked about issues currently and appear to be more of a major concern than Chinagate.

It could be argued that Thanet bloggers should concentrate on local issues like Chinagate , as the national media gives extensive coverage to issues like the credit crunch. Whilst understanding that most blogs are a personal account of the bloggers life and thoughts, some blogs in Thanet appear to be in a popularity contest using promoted issues, which in reality is a thinly veiled disguise at council/councillor bashing. However these bloggers risk alienating their readers by promoting issues like Chinagate, ahead of issues that the reader considers to be more important.

Sad:- News tonight (Saturday) about a serious stabbing near Manston riding school. The victim a male in his mid 40's was assisted by a fellow cab driver, until the emergency services arrived.

Funny:- Sunday Peering over a Garden fence in Park rd, Broadstairs (because nobody answered the bell), to be confronted with the sight of a large hairy naked male cooking on the BBQ (I hope the food didn't spit hot fat).