Tag Archives: blogging

Monthly Musings

3 March, 2026 Gibson Square 6 Comments

February 2026

🌧️ Mushers’ Lotion

It’s probably the most boring news item this month, I’m talking about rain: greatest precipitation, regular frequency, continuous cloud cover; umbrella sales. So what’s mushers’ lotion, I hear you ask? A musher is an owner-driver, as opposed to a cabbie who rents his cab, and lotion is rain, said to increase business, thus helping to pay off the huge costs of buying a vehicle.

🇺🇸 Visits from our Colonial Cousins

Around the middle of the month, CabbieBlog received a spike in the number of ‘hits’ from across the Pond. According to my counter, on the 12th-13th, 4,060 people took an interest in my musings. They were almost certainly bots harvesting data, but this is unusual for America; usually, China is the culprit, taking it upon itself to do web data extraction.

🚘 Gone in 60 Seconds

My 19-year-old VW Golf has developed a fault that prevents me from locking the rear doors. Until my mechanic can fit me in, I’ve had to rely on security devices, which got me rummaging around my garage to find five old locks, some fitting my Mini that I owned in the early 70s – none fit. My purchase of a Tevlaphee steering wheel lock, which hopefully will keep thieves at bay.

🚓 Tom’s Trivia

If you haven’t had enough of the London cab trade here at CabbieBlog, Tom Hutley’s new YouTube video with Joe Dan Hirst gives 40 minutes of London cab facts.

🏗️ Lego Gallows Corner

A farce has unfolded since 23 June last year, when this important junction was closed and scheduled to reopen in September. Without suitable detours, driving around Romford has been horrendous, with 40-tonne lorries negotiating country lanes. The work was then promised to last 6 months longer than scheduled; nobody is holding their breath. Now a wag has dreamt up this Lego set, replete with a speed camera and the guide to the duration of the build at 10 years.

📅 February’s posts and pages

Most read post – Mr Ormes’s Parrot
Most read page – Green Cab Shelters

📈 Last month’s statistics

8,334 views (+131.6%)
7,482 visitors (+136.8%)
31 likes (-8.8%)
29 comments (-23.7%)
13 posts (-13.3%)

A window on My World

Monthly Musings

3 February, 2026 Gibson Square 2 Comments

January 2026

👍 Buying a black cab as a private car

Last year, CabbieBlog had an unusually popular post. The iconic diesel London cab can be bought for anywhere between £1,000 and £20,000, and curiously, the post featuring the pros and cons of owning such a vehicle has, by some margin, become last year’s most read post. With the push to electric, it would seem many are fighting the trend.

🚦 Per-minute billing on rental bikes

Ask a cab driver their biggest complaint about London, and it’s more likely to be cyclists jumping traffic lights. Recently, I read a post by Matt Taylor who outlined the price difference between hiring a Lime bike where you stop at red lights vs. not stopping at red lights. It seems absurd that we can have a hire bike rental system that actively encourages people to jump red lights because of pay-per-minute pricing. These bikes have built-in GPS, so surely the charge should be calculated based on distance.

🇬🇧 Passport to Romford

The London Borough of Havering is starting to resemble an Ealing Studios comedy. Comparing two pieces of junk mail from Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, shows how, before moving to Reform UK, the Conservative Party has been ditched; his former political party isn’t featured on the latest:
Andrew is convinced that Romford shouldn’t be in Europe, be a part of London, or within the embrace of the political party he’s been a member of since he was 14. He has proposed that “Havering Belongs in Essex – Not Greater London”. Andrew loves to use the coat of arms of the long-defunct Municipal Borough of Romford, so it appears on his flyer. I suspect soon we’ll have Romford passports.

🚓 In the slow lane

London has been ranked as the world’s slowest capital city for travel time, according to new research from TomTom. Ranking only behind Barranquilla in Colombia, where cocaine gang wars and murders are often blamed for hold-ups. TomTom’s data showed that drivers in London now spend on average 35 minutes and 7 seconds for a 6-mile drive, 38 seconds more than last year.

💬 Made an offer I couldn’t accept

I recently received Lalaine’s email from flippa.com, who claim to be the world’s largest M&A Marketplace, who enquired my willingness to sell cabbieblog.com, claiming to have looked into my niche and traffic ranking, and I have buyers in mind. As it was pointed out to me by a fellow blogger, it could be a scam: by acquiring my domain name and accessing my bank details.

📅 January’s posts and pages

Most read post – 10 things Londoners never do
Most read page – About

📈 Last month’s statistics

3,593 views (+94.5%)
3,179 visitors (+118.9%)
34 likes (-19.0%)
38 comments (+8.6%)
15 posts (±00.0%)

A window on My World

Monthly Musings

1 January, 2026 Gibson Square 1 Comment

December 2025

📖 The Trembling Lady Competition

The anxious wait is over! I can now announce the winner. The correct answer, which Tom Hutley achieved by running 14.75 miles to all of London’s Cabbie Green Shelters, was an impressive 2 hours 31 minutes, at a pace of 6:23km. The competition was won by Alan; unfortunately, his entry was not close enough for the bonus book.

🔪 Cataract surgery

Another month and another medical procedure. For the last three months, I’ve had three operations. Hopefully, I’ll not come in contact with another surgeon’s knife for some time…well, apart from another eye cataract removal.

📽️ Artificial Intelligence: It does have a purpose

This AI video is of London in the 1600s, done by videomaker Matt Reconstructs History. Very impressive it is too, since a lot of obvious post-production work to create longer sequences has been done. My only criticism is the Thames is too tranquil under London Bridge, as the saying went: ‘London Bridge was for wise men to pass over, and for fools to pass under’, referring to the hazardous, rapid waters between the starlings, where strong tides created dangerous conditions, making rowing underneath a risky feat only attempted by daring, specialised boatmen while most people crossed safely on top or by disembarking.

🚓 The Knowledge

The Knowledge of London is 160 years old. Started in 1865 following the cabbies’ inability to find The Great Exhibition. After the recent hiatus, applications are up by 68.7 per cent in the past 3 years, admittedly from a very low base, probably as a consequence of a faltering economy. In addition less drivers are taking retirement, almost certainly for the same reason.

💬 A happier New Year

A huge thank you to all who follow CabbieBlog; those who regularly comment or ‘like’; and to the many who just pop in whilst passing by without leaving a metaphorical footprint on the site. This blog is approaching its 17th anniversary; it would be a much less rewarding experience without your engagement. I personally won’t be sorry to say farewell to 2025, but let me wish all of you health and happiness for this New Year.

📅 December’s posts and pages

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

📈 Last month’s statistics

1,847 views (+21.8%)
1,452 visitors (+26.8%)
42 likes (+27.3%)
35 comments (-20.5%)
15 posts (±00.0%)

A window on My World

Monthly Musings

2 December, 2025 Gibson Square 5 Comments

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%)

A window on My World

Monthly Musings

4 November, 2025 Gibson Square 3 Comments

October 2025

📣 Podcast

The wait is over! London author Christopher Winn has finished editing my rambling talk about being a cabbie when we met in Romford’s Golden Lion pub. TimeTable London uploads a new podcast fortnightly featuring guests a lot more interesting and knowledgeable than this humble scribe. Here’s my contribution.

🔪 Taking it easy

I’ve been banging on for months about my procedure to correct an inguinal hernia. October was spent convalescing, so this month’s Musings are rather truncated.

📖 The Trembling Lady

At least these past few weeks have not been wasted. Finally, I’ve finished the next Shelter Sleuths Investigation and am now on the line editing.

👀 1984

As they had it out on display, last month I picked up George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece in Waterstones. They clearly thought it was prescient. Since then, the Government has announced the imposition of ID cards. It seems the bookseller was right.

📺 Riot Women

It comes to most of us, but midlife invisibility is much worse for women, along with family responsibilities, being taken for granted, at the same time as undergoing hormonal changes. Sally Wainwright’s brilliant depiction of a group forming a ‘girl’ rock band, endeavouring to get noticed, is brilliant. Even this uncomprehending man could understand the problems and the humour.