Category Archives: A window on My World

A window on My World

January’s monthly musings

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🚓 What Cab News

The beginning of the year is known as The Kipper Season for reasons that have been lost in the mists of time. Traditionally it is one of the quietest times in London for the cab trade, a frustrating time trying to earn a living, and this year by all accounts is one of the worst.

🎧 What I’m Listening

Unlike many, I’ve been avidly reading about the Post Office scandal for over 10 years. Now available on BBC Sounds is R4’s The Great Post Office Trial. The podcast reveals just how deeply ingrained this scandal was. It’s about time those corrupt ‘The Great and The Good’ were brought to justice.

📖 What I’m Reading

Hidden in Full View by Samantha Ford, some time ago Samantha contacted me for her research in writing this book. She’s now sent me a copy, and as she’s been called the new Wilbur Smith I’m delighted with the opportunity to read the novel, and what a cracking story it is!

📺 What I’m watching

Channel 5 1928: The Year The Thames Flooded, on a January night heavy snowfall started melting as a storm surge pushed up the North Sea. 14 died and the Tate Gallery flooded. A lesson for today.

❓ What else

For years sitting on my hard drive has been a barely started, let alone finished, novel. After exchanging emails with Samantha Ford (see above) my writer’s block has cracked and I’m scribbling away daily. The flow will probably subside, but in case it doesn’t watch this space.

📆 What date?

The six-pip Time Signal was introduced on 5 February 1924 following the successful broadcast of the chimes of Big Ben to usher in the New Year.

 

A window on My World

It’s not fair

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When writing a post for a blog, you might have to research the subject, format the text and upload this to your hosting provider. You’ll probably want to illustrate this with a picture you’ve taken or spend time sourcing an appropriate image.

All this completed you sit back to see how many people actually want to read your missive.

The halcyon days of blogging appear to be over, and apart from a few notable exceptions most bloggers are finding their hit rates on a downward trend. In fact, compiling my statistics for next month’s yearly update I’ve found CabbieBlog hasn’t bucked this downward trend.

Imagine my surprise when my son told me of a picture (see featured low resolution image) he had taken of ASDA in Romford attracting a lot of attention.

This prosaic snap, he’d been informed, had attracted 1.9 million hits on Google.

There really is no justice in cyberspace.

A window on My World

December’s monthly musings

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🚓 What Cab News

From next January Uber is encouraging London cabbies to join their platform, despite this shameless company spending a decade trying, and failing, to destroy London’s black cab trade. This is the same company that has shown little regard for the well-being of its passengers. This is the company that makes a mockery of the UK tax system. This is a company that has no regard for women’s safety. This is a company that had exploited its drivers until it lost its case in court. This is also the company that has subsidised fares to the tune of billions in an attempt to bankrupt the centuries-old black cab trade. They need us to help grow their market share, and give them some kind of legitimacy. Oh! Did I mention our first court hearing suing them is in January?

🎧 What I’m Listening

London Particular (BBC Sounds) London is not one but many cities, a city of curious anomalies and dark secrets, of hidden portals to other dimensions, a city so vast and varied that the weird and the uncanny blend seamlessly with the ordinary, where the person sitting next to you on the bus, or walking beside you on the pavement, may, in fact, be a visitor from another time.

📖 What I’m Reading

Ten-Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler. I’m now on Book 4 of 20 of his Bryant and May mysteries by this quintessential author of London noir. Diagnosed with a tenacious form of cancer at the very start of lockdown, last year marked a sad premature end to the sparkiest of creative minds.

📺 What I’m watching

I’ve been watching BBC’s Planet Earth III, this beautifully filmed and meticulously researched series that has run for 20 years. What should been an uplifting programme, I’ve found depressing, 30 per cent of species have become extinct since David Attenborough started Series I. I hope my grandson’s generation does a better job than we have.

❓ What else

The Chicken and Frog Bookshop in Brentwood has shifted a few copies of my book. This great local retailer specialises in selling children’s books and teaching youngsters, which might say something about my magnum opus.

📆 What date?

100 years ago on 1st January 1924, the Met Office issued its first Shipping Forecast broadcast, at this time it was called Weather Shipping.

A window on My World

November’s monthly musings

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🚓 What Cab News

Tom Hutley has been working on a No Traffic Lights Challenge across London. Not counting pedestrian crossings, is it possible to get around all 22 boroughs featured on The Knowledge without using traffic lights? After many trials and changes in mapping the route he’s produced this YouTube video: Can you DRIVE across London without lights?

🎧 What I’m Listening

WizCast is a podcast by Dean Warrington, founder of WizAnn Knowledge School. Rujel and Sal completed with 12 appearances and both did it in around 2 years. From Rujel’s first appearance to his suburb appearance was 364 days. If you want to be a London cabbie, WizAnn School is a good place to start.

📖 What I’m Reading

I thought I’d check out the competition for my book, by buying second-hand, Mark Syme’s book, Knowledge Boy: How to Make a London Taxi Driver. I am trying to track down Mark to contribute to a London Grill.

📺 What I’m watching

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, I’ve been banging on here about the 400th anniversary of the publication in London of Shakespeare’s First Folio. The BBC has made this spellbinding drama-documentary demonstrating the Bard’s ability to relevant for us all today. It should be compulsory viewing for all year 9 school children.

❓ What else

Some typically ‘like’ nearly everything I have posted, presumably simply because they want to support my work and want me to feel good about uploading these regular missives. But when I choose the ‘like’ option, sometimes I’m really just saying, “I acknowledge and affirm your existence.” Why don’t they have a button just for that?

📆 What date?

Big Ben’s First Bong. On the 31st of December 1923, the chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on the radio for the first time by the BBC, I’ll be writing about that on my Substack platform.

A window on My World

October’s monthly musings

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🚓 What Cab News

Many businesses and women have expressed their concerns about the scarcity of black cabs in the City at night. While black cabs are allowed to cross Bank Junction during nighttime, the various restrictions in the City during the day and other limitations have led drivers to increasingly avoid the Square Mile altogether. The ‘Cabs Across Bank’ campaign calls for action to ensure the safety and accessibility of transport options for all individuals, particularly women, in the City.

🎧 What I’m Listening

It’s a radio comedy that should strike a note with every blogger, I’m now listening to the 15th series of Ed Reardon’s Week who’s trying to survive in a world where the media seems to be run by idiots and charlatans.

📖 What I’m Reading

Last month publisher Frances Lincoln allowed me to review Jack Chesher’s London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers. Now I’ve been lucky enough to have been given another publication from the same company. This time it’s an enormous tome – London’s Underground: The Story of the Tube by Oliver Green. This updated publication will take me some time as the coffee table book is very large.

📺 What I’m watching

Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio’s writing debut, Cardiac Arrest caused controversy due to its realistic depiction of hospital life. The series was twice nominated in the Best Original Drama category by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and topped a poll of UK medical professionals as the most realistic medical drama of all time.

❓ What else

Beneath the bonnet, CabbieBlog has been reformatted. Copyright infringement trolls are searching out miscreants, to ensure this blog stays online, posts that may inadvertently have used a copyrighted image are now password-protected. If you wish to peruse an old post contact me for access, I’ll interrogate the images and give you a personal password.

📆 What date?

400 years ago in London during the latter months of 1623, Isaac Laggard printed The First Folio, the first collected edition of William Shakespeare’s plays seven years after his death. Shakespeare wrote around 37 plays, 36 of which are contained in the First Folio. Most of these plays were performed in the Globe, an open-air playhouse in London built on the south bank of the Thames in 1599.