September 2025

🎤 Talking to the Oldies

I’m now booked in to give my cabbie talk in the middle of September. Hopefully it will result in a few donations to Tom Hutley’s fund raising money for the Cabbie Green Huts.

🩺 In praise of the NHS

Everyone said it would catch up with me. My life now seems to revolve around doctor’s phone calls, blood tests, health check ups and consultations. And there was me thinking when I stopped pushing a cab around London I could relax.

✍️ Gloriously bonkers

I’m enjoying Chaz Hutton’s comic graphic take on life. He’s created a light switch, clicking his tongue for audio and drawn, well, a working switch; paradoxical islands; vikings; or explaining a skerry:

I’ll leave you to seek out Chaz’s description of just what’s a skerry.

🏡 Losing Trust

As lover of the British countryside and a history geek, for the last 50 odd years I’ve been a member of the charity The National Trust, happy to make an annual contribution to maintaining our glorious land, coast and historic buildings. But now The Trust, which looks after about 500 historic properties and thousands of square miles of our most cherished landscapes, is making 550 of its 9,500 employees redundant, apparently to control soaring costs after losing 89,000 members last year. The problem is that the charity needs to go back to basics and concentrate on conserving its buildings and landscapes thus giving its visitors a great day out. Too often in recent years its bosses have seemed perversely determined to infuriate their traditional supporters — the people whose membership fees keep The Trust going — by endorsing trendy social justice and eco-warrior causes. The first signs we noticed of a profound change in The Trust, was whilst holidaying in Jersey, a couple told us they ‘were asked’ to leave after 10 years volunteering after refusing to wear badges promoting a liberal political view of which they disagreed. Since then The Trust has accelerated this egregious wokery, lecturing us on the evils of the colonialism which, after all, enabled The Trust’s properties to be built in the first place, whilst trying to make the charity more ‘inclusive’, when anyone with an interest can join anyway. They have changed the voting procedures enabling members to back The Trust’s governing council by simply agreeing with one keystroke to its recommendation on issues and recommended candidates, who no doubt belong to London clubs which are clearly not inclusive. Former Supreme Court judge, Lord Sumption described the quick vote system as ‘North Korean’ in nature. They’re turning half of its restaurants vegan, I’m expecting the remainder to become halal any time soon. And instead of sourcing locally produced ingredients cooked in their kitchens, they now will offer factory generic culinary delights full of e-numbers. When visiting we don’t expect to be branded white privileged middle class, nor to be lectured on our colonial history. A home baked scone, choice of tea and an afternoon spent in one of the glorious corners of our Island Nation is sufficient. I’m sorry to say my family ticket at £168.60 is unlikely to be renewed.

Last month’s posts and pages:
Most read – Green cab shelters
Least read – 100 years down the drain

Statistics:
1,220 views
694 visitors
37 likes
50 comments

1st August 2025

🎤 Talking to the Oldies

I’m not sure whether it was a coincidence, but after musing last month that I was still waiting for a date, after I had been contacted by a retirement home about gjving a talk, they got in touch. Health permitting (see below) it should take place this month.

🔪 In praise of the NHS

I’m getting old, and as a consequence managed to give myself a inguinal hernia whilst gardening (it’s a man thing). It took only 2 days to see my doctor and last Friday I saw the consultant at a private hospital, after being given a multiple choice in both private and NHS clinics. My operation is imminent, so if CabbieBlog posts take a hiatus you now know the reason.

🚽 The price of progress

I’m old enough to remember my Dad buying a cold-water tap washer from a hardware shop (remember those?) costing 1d. My modern toilet now doesn’t shut off the flow. The cost? £17.99 plus postage, and getting a plumber with the tools to fit it.

🏡 Improving the environment?

As a consequence of our little dog’s health, I’ve spent too much time in Upminster. Just up the road from the vet’s, the former pitch and putt course was sold off by Havering Council in 2021 and is now Kings Green: ‘a collection of exquisite detached homes set within a private community’, where you can: ‘step into a realm of opulence’. Sterling work by the locals prevented the developers chopping down a stand of oak trees, but some inevitably were lost. Now this public green space that once contributed to reducing global warming is neither public nor green.

📺 Human

This new BBC series examines how Homo sapiens emerged as a species. In the early years of our evolution there were at least six other human species on Earth, and one of them, Homo erectus, lived for a very long time – almost 2 million years. That’s about 6 times longer than many archaeologists believe our species, Homo sapiens, is thought to have existed. Makes you think about how long we’ll last, for we seem to be making an excellent attempt at extinguishing our own species.

1st July 2025

🎤 Talking to the Oldies

Last month I mentioned being invited to give a talk at a local retirement home, some questioned if the invitation was genuine (yes I’m taking about you Pete!), well I’m still awaiting for the call. If it comes you’ll be the first to read about it here.

⛔ Gallows Corner update

As expected this important junction, the confluence of five roads, including Main Road, A12 and the A127, has closed. The detours take you on a scenic route around the Essex countryside. I hope the tens of thousands who normally pass through enjoy the panoramic views.

🦊 Emboldened foxes

Walking my dog along our local river a young fox followed us. Soon urban foxes will be asking us for treats, leaving the rats to multiply.

📖 Tom the Taxi Driver

Tom has started outlining his next book, an autobiographical look at being a new entrant to the taxi trade and how he’s learnt the ropes, plus all the juicy stories along the way! I look forward to reading it.

1st June 2025

🎤 A cabbie’s talk

Out of the blue a local residential home invited me to give a talk about being a cabbie. I’m still waiting to fix a date. I’ll report later how it went.

✈️ Holiday invitation

On my contact page I’ve received this:
‘I hope you are well and enjoying the sunshine!
I wanted to reach out as we would like to invite you to a press trip to the gorgeous region of Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
You will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture and learn about the heritage of the region while exploring places like Yvoire, the historic, medieval town in bloom, Evian’s Belle Epoque architecture, Menthon castle’s history and architecture. You will also enjoy visiting the relaxing Saint-Gervais Thermal centre and the famous Évian springs.’
What’s that to do with being London cabbie? Write your answers on the comments below.

📖 The Diary of a Bookseller

To save having to pay postage to Amazon I topped up an order with a recommend book. How I wish my memoir was this good – humorous, warm and informative. Quite brilliant.

📺 Canal Boat Diaries

I came across this antidote to living in London some time ago. Series 6 of Canal Boat Diaries features Robbie Cumming’s narrowboat, the Naughty Lass (Nautilus, get it!), as he navigates the canals and countryside of southern England. Bliss!

󠀿🎥 London’s youngest cabbie

Most start The Knowledge at middle age, Mo The Cabbie started at 18, and actually passed his Knowledge before he was 21. You can begin studying from age 18, but you can only receive your badge and start driving legally from 21. He’s recently started a TikTok channel which has gone viral, and is inspiring a new generation of potential London cabbies.

1st May 2025

⛪ Keeping up appearances

Whilst clearing out the attic I came across this receipt for my wedding suit.

✏️ Getting it down

I’m trying out the Cornell method of organising notes. Devised by Walter Pauk at Cornell University, the method is a ‘two-column’ notes style. The paper is divided into two columns: the note-taking column on the right is twice the size of the questions/keyword column, which is on the left. Four lines are left at the bottom of the page for the summary and one at the top for the page number and heading.

💬 Cabbie lingo

My post, Driving my droschky over The River, for reasons known only to Substack’s algorithms, has had over a thousand views and since posting, generated a couple of dozen new subscribers to my site – Unblogged London, and more likes than you could shake a stick at. Why some missives take off while others languish in cyberspace awaiting discovery I’ve yet to discover.

📖 What I’m Reading

Shakespeare. The Man who Pays the Rent – Judi Dench’s memoir. This delightful book has anecdotes galore, more remarkable is Judi’s ability to recount so much of her acting life.

❓ How popular?

I’ve recently received an email from FeedSpot informing me: ‘I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Cabbie Blog has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 100 London Blogs on the web.’ All very nice including the badge now displayed on my sidebar. So I checked out the site above me at number 24 in FeedSpot’s popularity rating. The site, London Is Cool, is now defunct. So how is it more popular than many other London blogs? Stop press: Number 24 has been replaced by the excellent A London Inheritance.

🦊 Eating habits

Why do Havering’s foxes insist on consuming inedible piping? My neighbour’s fountain in their water feature was regularly sabotaged with foxes eating through the electricity feed. Now recently I’ve discovered a nibble in my hosepipe. There was a time when discarded McDonald’s take-aways were sufficient.