October 2025

🐕‍🦺 Rupert

On Bonfire Night, my constant companion lost his fight against a failing heart. Only dog lovers can truly understand how much the demise of your ‘best friend’ really feels: returning to an empty house, the absence of attending to the needs of a little life, and having a creature whose only desire is to please. If Heaven existed, my little dog would be at the front of the queue.

💊 The Magic Bullet

We have eradicated smallpox and can stop a novel virus in its tracks. So why can’t the huge pharmaceutical companies stop pain? The day after our dog died, my wife learned that an old friend had taken her life to block out pain.

🩺 Fortuitous discovery

The pre-operative assessment for my inguinal hernia discovered an undetected full heart block, which could have resulted in the termination of CabbieBlog. Hopefully, my new pacemaker has given this website a few more years of uploading London trivia.

🚓 Cabology

The more observant among you might have noticed CabbieBlog’s sidebar has been updated. From next year, facts and cabbie slang will appear under the ‘Today’s Cabology’ section. Also, there is now a preview of the latest Shelter Sleuths investigation.

📺 Gogglebox

I’ve reached the age when I watch considerably more TV than I once did – or should – a luxury my mother enjoyed for free (a concession withdrawn 22 months before I was eligible). Much of the BBC’s entertainment content now seems directed at Millennials, who probably have politely declined signing up for a licence. Channel 5 appears now to be the only channel that actually makes programmes for us Baby Boomers. I’m watching a news service from our National Broadcaster, which I don’t have confidence in being accurate or impartial, as Clive Myrie smugly informs me, ‘the fight for truth is on’. Then there’s the way Auntie insists I have a vested interest by calling it ‘Our BBC’, well, despite the licence fee, it doesn’t feel much like mine.

📅 November’s posts and pages

Most read post – Buying a black cab as a private car
Most read page – The Knowledge

📈 Last month’s statistics

1,516 views (-56.6%)
1,144 visitors (-6.8%)
33 likes (-21.4%)
44 comments (-15.4%)
21 posts (+40.8%)