Replacing my iPhone 3GS screen myself

The iphone screen I had ordered finally arrived, so I wasted no time in getting to work replacing it. I made sure and watched a couple of Youtube videos all the way through to make sure I knew what to expect, and one of them was a guy filming himself to see what mistakes he would make. His main one was pulling the screen too hard, thus pulling all the connecting cables away instead of gently removing them; noted. The part that concerned me, and would ultimately lead to a lot more money being spent, was the fact that a hairdryer/heat gun needed to be used to remove the glass! So it wasn’t just a case of unscrewing stuff and replacing; there was some fiddly stuff to do. It wasn’t this part that screwed everything up however, it was removing the LCD screen. In the video the guy is seen taking out the screws then using a tool to slip under the LCD to remove it. Mine didn’t just slip out, and I spent a while jostling with it. In the end I put too much pressure on it and heard a light cracking noise; I turned it over to find I had damaged the LCD. This was what I was dreading the most, just making it worse and worse. I didn’t know at first how damaged it was, so I got on with sorting the glass section out before worrying too much. The glass was not what I was expecting, I though it would just separate with a little bit of heat, instead it deformed the frame and damaged all the rubber sealing. Okay, so it would be a little exposed to increased moisture, at least I will have saved on taking it to Apple; that’s what I was telling myself. When it came to sticking the glass to the midframe, it was as bad as I had imagined; a very uneven seal, and the rubber peeling away. I plugged it all back in anyway, just to see where I was at, and the LCD was in quite a bad way; only the top half was barely visible. When I tried to push it all back together it was a struggle as you can imagine, and once it eventually did go in (after cutting away most of the rubber seal) the screen was just a mess of colours. I quickly got on line to find an LCD screen, and although there were plenty about, and for a reasonable price, I couldn’t wait for several days for it to arrive. I eventually found a place in Bermondsey that stocked them, but unfortunately they were double the price of most on line stockists; I had no choice. When I arrived, I walked into their workshop, and asked for the LCD screen only; I did ask the price for the whole front unit, but £69.99 was a bit much. Now, as I was a little shaky due to my iPhone being completely stuffed, I had a little trouble putting screen together with all those minuscule screws. The two guys in there saw this and insisted they help me. I didn’t want them doing it for nothing, and already felt like an idiot because I had tried to fix it myself to save money. In the end they said they would be happy to do it for free, so they did, and pointed out that I was a second away from breaking the screen again by placing it over a part that should have gone above it! I took a £5 note out of my bag and told him to buy himself a drink, but he flatly refused. I persisted, pointing out that I would have cost myself even more if he hadn’t of stopped me; again he refused. When I told him the least I could do was tweet about the company and tell others, he said this was what he really wanted – word of mouth was the best thing for a company like his. Now, the question is would I do it again, and the answer is yes, because my phone worked, although I will buy a complete mid frame assembly to replace the deformed one. The problem with the LCD was that the frame needed to be separated in several places with a sharp object that could slot between them. The rest of it was a doddle, so I am buying a new mid frame assembly, and putting my iphone back into it’s previous cosmetic state. Funnily enough, when I got onto eBay to buy a complete mid frame assembly, the only company selling this, besides ones in Hong Kong with up to a month delivery, was this same company! In the end the total for parts was about £83, and all the running around. But, I didn’t have to send my phone away, it was cheaper than Apple, and for the future I will buy the cheap mid frame from Hong Kong in advance, so if I do break my screen again, it will be a fraction of the price.

http://www.parts4ipods.com/

They're great people, and much cheaper for parts and repair than Apple stores.

A phishing scam sent to me, paleeeeeese.

Dear,
Greeting to you,

I am Mr Yannick Ahmed from Burkina Faso I want to seek your assistance, I’m a staff
of BANK OF AFRICA,(BOA) In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of
USD$7.8million US dollars in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers
who was assassinated with his entire family since 2003,

Since his death, the bank has been expecting his next of Kin to come over and claim
his money because the bank can't release it unless somebody applies for it as his
next of Kin, please I want you to stand for me as his next of kin so that the bank
will transfer the fund into your account then I will come over to meet you in your
country for us to share the money, do not view this as been illegal but an
opportunity as await your urgent response to enable me give you more details.
Please reply with those information's below so that I can know you very well before
I go ahead with you,

Your Full Name
Your International passport or ID card.
Your age.
Your private telephone number.
Your country.
Your profession.

Remain bless,
Mr Yannick Ahmed

We received a PCN in the mail yesterday for our car allegedly being stopped in a box junction on New Cross road. At the moment in that area there are lots of roadworks and road changes that have been ongoing for many months (even years). Recently Kender Street was closed, as can be seen from this photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059872374/ I took which is at the junction the alleged offence occurred. Because this street is now closed off, it is reasonable to assume that the VERY faint box junction at the intersection of these roads was no longer in use/being monitored. This is even more apparent when you look at it from this angle http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059872728/in/photostream/ and see that several sections of road have been relaid on it and nearby, but the "box" has not been repainted, so it basically looks again that it has been left faint or partly removed because it will eventually be tarmacked over. What I am pointing out here is that the box is very faint - if you look at the first photo with a freshly painted red lines, you can see the difference in visibility between them and the box junction - WHY WASN'T THE BOX JUNCTION REPAINTED FOR BETTER VISIBILITY? We all know why, because it's a money making scheme that no one will fight, that is except me. I fight all my PCNs, and have won 80% of them for reasons such as this.

looked at from this angle http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059261423/in/photostream/ it doesn't look like there's any box junction there at all. Yes it's easier to see from a camera mounted on a 30 ft pole, but when you are low down in a car, in the haze of the afternoon traffic, a faint yellow line is hardly visible to 90% of drivers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059261773/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059873536/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059260839/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059259217/in/photostream/


These other photos show areas of road nearby that have had paint removed, or other box junctions that have also been tarmacked over and not repainted - what exactly is supposed to be being enforced in that area at the moment is anyone's guess. Certainly not something that it should be legal or moral to charge unsuspecting motorists over.

Last night's bilk

I was heading down park lane when a hand went up at a bus stop, so I had to do that thing where you look in the rear view mirror to see if there’s a bus behind you, then, make eye contact with the person to make sure it’s definitely you she is hailing. There was no bus, so I pulled over, only for 3 young guys to come to the window from the back of the queue instead of the woman whose hand went up first. As she wasn’t walking toward me I asked where these people wanted to go. They were about 20 years old, two black and one white, and they type of people that used the phrase ‘ya get me’. If there’s anyone on this here Earth that I immediately take a dislike to is those people who use this term; NO I DON’T BLOODY GET YOU, WHY DON’T YOU EXPLAIN IT TO ME? They asked if it would be more than £30 to Fulham Broadway, even though I had a little feeling that this was to put me at ease; that they had £30 and therefore I wouldn’t have anything to worry about. As I hadn’t had any “trouble” for a long time (except a couple of sickies and some spilt wine) I let them in the cab against my better judgement. They were right young geezers, and even though they were trying to be chatty and overly friendly (something that would usually make me very suspicious) I gave them the benefit of the doubt. The first spike on my concern graph (besides the “street accent”) was when they said they needed a cash machine literally as we pulled away. They said there was a Sainsbury’s in Fulham they could use, but I decided to stop at the first I saw in order to see that they actually had access to money. The first was on Knightsbridge, and as soon as one of them was out I was already being told that these machines didn’t work with their card. I didn’t understand what that meant until the one that got out came to my window and asked what ‘you card has been denied’ meant; well, exactly what it says on the tin I would have thought. He then showed me his card, which looked like a very basic credit card. He told me that it was a cash card, and that it’s the type you put funds on. One side of me was saying to get rid of them there, but the other side was saying ‘they owe for the trip to here so far’. Well I took them on to Fulham where they said it could only be used in supermarket machines. One of them asked me about my sat nav, how much it cost, and what model it was; his response told me what kind of people they were – ‘I can get you lots of sat navs’. Why the hell would I want more than one? Another little sign that this was all wrong was while we were stopped, and one of the boys asked me if we could stop the meter until we were moving again. He then went on to ask if he could have me number to use me privately. I asked him why he would want to use a black cab if he thought they were so expensive (he also commented how unfair it was about the £2.20 minimum at the start). He tried to say it was because it would look better among his friends if he was driven around in a black cab instead of a cheap minicab. Instead of stopping in Fulham Broadway as asked, they took me all the way to the Sainsbury’s in Townmead Road. As soon as I was at the cashpoints and one went over to them, the other two got out and started edging closer to the riverside. The one by the cashpoint said there was a problem, that he couldn’t get any money out, so I locked the cab and went over to have a look; I could hear a small jeer from the other 2 who obviously weren’t expecting this. He told me to watch what happens when he put his numbers in; it told him he had insufficient funds. I then got very serious and said ‘right, this bulls**t, you better find some other way of getting the money or I’m calling the police’. He then motioned to the other two to give him their phone so he could call his mum. He went through 3 phones, all of which went dead conveniently as he was typing the number in. I then got my phone out and asked for the number; now a number they were typing into their own phones was suddenly impossible for them to remember. ‘Right, I’m calling the police’ I told them, and as I dialled the number they a laughed and jogged off around the back of the supermarket. I got the police on the line as I still had them in sight, then while still giving location and descriptions, I got in my cab and headed down the adjacent street to where they had gone. There were several exits through the flats, so I was trying to guess how far they would have got to, but as I got out my cab and turned, I saw them running toward Townmead road. I quickly got back in and headed after them again. By the time I pulled up next to them they hadn’t even noticed I had caught up with them. I had the officer on the phone all the way to the end of Stephendale Road, where I knew a dead end was on its way. Just before we all got there I had put all my equipment and money in my rucksack ready to get out on foot. I wasn’t quick enough however, because when they headed through the gate and into the dark green, I lost which direction they went in. I had the police on the phone the whole time, and picked one of the exits to try my luck – they had definitely gone. There were some nearby flats which they would have definitely gone into by then, so I knew the chase was over. I met a police van on Imperial Road coming out of Fulmead Street in a hurry, and I made contact to confirm I was the driver. We both knew they would have gone inside by now, so I shook the drivers hand and thanked him for coming. I keep looking back over the whole thing and wondering what I can learn from this. Unfortunately because there have been many people I have picked up, who I had thought were going to be trouble (and sometimes were) but still got paid, it’s impossible to know who the ones are that are actually going to do a runner. In 6 years of doing this job, I would say that, off the top of my head, I have only had about 4-5 runners (ones that actually got away), so it’s not something to warrant a complete change of practises unfortunately. Several others have tried, but I caught them, called the police, left the meter running, and got the police to make them pay the amount up to that point.

So remember that one cabbies –

-‘ya get me’ boys
-cashcard that can only be used at their destination
-2 black and one white.
-the white was skinny, short hair, blue shorts, grey and blue rucksack
-one black boy had 2-3inch afro, reasonably built, wearing an Orange JD sports bag diagonally over his back
-other black boy had short plats, was a bit overweight, and was wearing (I think) a grey t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms
-they were all about the same height (about 5ft 3 – 5ft 5) and were not intimidating
-They lived in the vicinity of Peartree Court and the end of Stephendale Road SW6.

Predators review.

I went to see ‘Predators’and was very excited. The film hadn’t had much press, and there wasn’t even a poster for it on the outside of the cinema; hell I only even got wind of it a few months ago, so I was a bit suspicious to say the least. I have just read that it didn’t have a great budget, but saying that it is 2010, 23 years after the first one, and the special effects were better in that! At first when I heard the soundtrack I was happy that it was all the recognisable jungle stuff , but then as the film progressed I started to get annoyed that there had been no addition to it whatsoever; even the song over the credits was ‘Long Tall Sally’. It made me think that the film had literally just been made for die hard fans, that had a gaping hole in their lives where there hadn’t really been a decent Predator sequel ever. Some scenes were literally cloned from the first movie, which again was nice as a homage, but there were far too many. The actors weren’t believable enough in their roles; a couple were supposed to be some really nasty characters, but here they just appeared as quivering wrecks. Also, 2 of the characters being in the film didn’t make any sense whatsover. Firstly the Lawrence Fishburne character who not only could have been left out of the whole film, but for someone who had made it through “10 seasons” without being killed, died very very quickly and far too easily. Then there was the doctor, who it sounded like was brought in, with all these macho types, to be on hand when one of them needed medical attention. This wasn’t the case however, and at the end of the film it is revealed that he was some sort of mad person; what the hell was that all about??!! At no other point in the film was this suggested or hinted at, so for what purpose did they put it in? Then there’s the fact that they are on another planet, and not once does anyone say ‘bull****, there’s no such things as aliens and alien worlds’ they all just accept that they are in a “game reserve on some far off planet”; not even a mention of “it’s gotta be a dream”. Special effects, oh my, I haven’t seen fire like that since some of the early Disney animations; I even heard several people in the audience laughing because it was such a cheap effect. Unlike the first predator, played by the sadly deceased 7’ 2” Kevin Peter Hall, these predators were only around 6’ 5” – 6’ 7” in height, and it showed. The only thing that kept the film slightly together was the use of the oscar winning actor ‘Adrien Brody’, who if it wasn’t for him, this could have gone straight to DVD as far as I was concerned

My review of 'The Killer Inside Me'

The scene where the prostitute gets beaten up wasn’t as bad as I was worried it would be; although it was pretty uncomfortable. The cinema only had about 6-7 people in it, and up until that point there hadn’t been any noise or sounds. As the beating progressed I felt the uncomfortable air now present in the theatre, and there were little noises here and there, such as audible groans and what sounded like shuffling in seats. I can only imagine that not everyone reads or listens to reviews like I do, so I knew this particular scene was the main talking point between all the reviewers. Some of these people probably thought it was just going to be a dark thriller, and didn’t count on the multiple sex scenes and a whole new level of graphic violence. Although I am still unsure about the violence, I felt the amount of sex didn’t add anything to the film; he didn’t do anything different each time he had sex, therefore a lot of it could have been much shorter, or simply just left on the cutting room floor. It was definitely not the usual portrayal of a psychotic, basically where they have cast someone who obviously has the presence that fits the bill such as ‘Kevin Spacey’ or ‘Anthony Perkins’. As soon as Casey Affleck appears I thought ‘they have miscast him here, how is he going to be a believable killer?’. When he was with the two women he appeared to be very loving and kind, so when the violence starts, it completely takes me by surprise. The other thing I liked about the film was that the rest of Casey’s character was both written and acted well. When someone is trying to get away with a crime they always sound a bit edgy or uncomfortable, but because of the psychotic nature of this character, you would assume that their mind is very different, that they would react very well under pressure and tough questioning; which he does. Also, the good thing about having it set so far back, meant that you believed he could get away with it for as long as he did, that if it was today, the forensic evidence against him would have been overwhelming. The other controversial subject (although still in the same area) is the sexual violence that all the women in the character’s life enjoy. I don’t get it myself, but I have been told many times by “people” that this sort of thing does go on, and there are women and men who do get off on it; knock yourself out (not literally of course).

A crazy last job

There was a call for cabs at The Grosvenor House via DAC, luckily just as I had cleared in W2, so I got there to find people streaming out onto the street. I couldn’t get right to the front, as I was flagged down by 2 women and a guy, the only thing was that they didn’t want him getting in with them. He was in that pissed state where your shirt is hanging out, your eyes are half closed, and you won’t take no for an answer. They asked me not to let him in, but what the hell was I going to do to stop him if they didn’t close the door? I found my moment however when both the girls were sat down with one trying to close the door; the guy wouldn’t let go so I drove away and he had to slam it shut. I noticed the girls were carrying two open bottles of wine, so I told them to make sure they didn’t spill any; ‘oh don’t worry we won’t, thanks’ they said confidently. The job was going to Forest Hill, and for the most part it was uneventful; I will say that I’m sure they were snogging each other at one point. They asked me to stop at a garage by Goose Green for cigarettes, and from then on I left the intercom on. There was lots of whispering going on, followed by speaking at a normal volume, so my concern was that they might have either spilt some wine, or, were going to try something with regards to the fare. As we approached Forest Hill station I asked if they needed a cash-point, and they told me they might just make it. So for the moment the wine thing was out of my mind, and now I was thinking, as I heard the jingle of change, that I would be told that they were a couple of pounds short and would they I let them off. What actually happened when I stopped was that they paid in full no problem, but then when I glanced back to have a look if they had made a mess, sure enough there was wine spilt on the ramp. At first they denied it was wine, but I told them I wasn’t stupid, and that it was obviously wine because there was a used tissue covered in red marks that they had used to try and clean it. I made a fuss that they had lied, which at first I was going to leave it at, but then when they were both out of the car and at their front door, I had a thorough check because I could hear them quietly trying to get in quickly; this is when I saw what looked like a shadow on the offside seat. I felt it and it was wet – a very large patch that was also on the upright section. I quickly shot over to the door to the building which was now closed, but there were windows at the top of the door, so I banged hard on them to get the girls attention. At first they looked at me wondering what to do, but as I banged louder they surely realised I would wake the whole block up, they opened up and I gave them what for. “I let you bring in those bottles because you assured me that you wouldn’t spill anything, but you actually spilled 2 loads – on the floor and on the seat”. All the while they were trying to calm me down, and that they hadn’t done anything wrong, but I then dropped the bomb “the car has been soiled and I want £40 to get the car cleaned and go home”. I told them either a check or a card, and when they said they had neither I told them that there was no way that neither of them had no cards. I threatened with the police, which they didn’t think I would call – they obviously didn’t know about the many times in the past I had called on the police and got my money. The mistake I made was going back to my cab to lock it, so I could go in and check their flat number – they shut the main door! For a second I tried to decided what I would say to the police operator when I called them, but instead I thought stuff it, I will just ring someone’s flat number so they get annoyed and come down – I will then blame the girls. A woman appeared at the main door in a dressing gown and asked why I had rang her buzzer; I don’t think I even apologized straight away, I just went straight past her and started banging really loudly on the girls door. I then apologized to the woman and said they had made a mess of my cab, and she said she had heard the commotion before her buzzer went. I assumed she would be really angry at me, but from her reactions when banging on the girl’s door, I concluded this wasn’t the first time they had caused a commotion. When I was outside their door, or what I hoped was their door – I had only seen them unlocking a door from the side, and when I got there there were 2 together – so I listened for any sound and when I heard it I started banging loudly. I knew they were thinking at first not to open it, but my message obviously got across that I would bring wake this whole building down to get my money. The door eventually opened and the anger on my face was clear to see. Anger may not work in other situations, but they knew there would be hell to pay with their neighbours later if this wasn’t dealt with. The more reasonable of the 2 told me she would pay me £30, while the other called me all sorts of names and told her friend “don’t pay him anything”; she was told to shush. When the card appeared I made it obvious that I was going to be quiet by whispering from then on. We (me and the reasonable one) headed out to the cab and I proceeded with putting the card through; all the while there were still insults coming from the other by the main door. By this time the girl with me was asking my name and telling me she was sorry for her friend. I replied “well there is always a sensible and not-so-sensible person in a friendship/relationship, I don’t know why it’s like that, but you are obviously the sensible one”. I was ignoring the regular insults now coming from the other, but she heard this and shut up. Once the receipt was signed and I was happy, the reasonable girl was worried that I was still upset, and she would not let it go. In the end I said to her “look what do you want me to do? Shake your hand, get on my knees…. I’ve got my money…” she interrupted “yes shake my hand” and she shook my hand and squeezed it “there, shake my hand like a man”; I was totally baffled now. I eventually pulled up around the corner and got to work with tissues, wet wipes, bottled water, upholstery cleaner, and a hard brush. I finished off with a good coating of Fabreeze, and opened the magic tree fully so it would overpower any remaining smell; and man was the smell of spilt wine strong.

London Taxi Guide

Taxi Guide (video coming)

What you can expect from the driver:
Unless they have a good reason not to, drivers must:
• Accept any hiring up to 12 miles or any hiring up to one hour duration
• Accept any hiring up to 20 miles if starting at Heathrow Airport
• Accept any hiring up to one hour duration, if the destination is in Greater London
• Those good reasons could be that the customer is unfit to travel – so drunk that they cannot give you an actual address, so drunk that they may be sick in the vehicle, they have already been sick on themselves, the passenger looks untrustworthy (the longer you are a cab driver the better you get at summing people up), the passenger doesn’t have the money on them and they want to go a long way etc…
(video of passengers you don’t pick up)
In this day and age of the internet, we all now have an easy way of complaining if a product or service isn’t up to standard – so why should the London Taxi trade be any different. It infuriates me when passengers tell me stories of how a London Taxi driver had spoken to them, not wanted to pick them up because the job didn’t suit them, or taken a much longer route which cost them more than they normally pay. I believe complaints make companies better and more efficient, so I urge you as our customers to email your complaints to our governing body – THE PUBLIC CARRIAGE OFFICE. All you need to do is take down the driver’s license number, registration number, or anything else you note, and write exactly what happened. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes, but if more people did it it would change the bad habits of many of those drivers that let or industry down.
The Public Carriage Office may change it’s address or phone number in the future, so to be directed straight to the complaints page, just type ‘London Taxi Complaint TFL’ into any search engine.
Complaints - pco.tfl@gtnet.gov.uk
020 7941 7800
The Public Carriage Office,
15 Penton Street, London, N1 9PU
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/taxi.aspx complaints forms
•
There are no extra charges for luggage, additional passengers or carrying of assistance dogs.

There is an extra charge of £2 for journeys that start from Heathrow Airport ranks.

Christmas and New Year
There is an extra charge of £4 for journeys made between 20:00 on 24 December and 06:00 on 27 December or between 20:00 on 31 December and 06:00 on 2 January 2010.

Booking taxis and minicabs
Any minicab journey that isn't booked by phone or in a minicab office is illegal, dangerous and puts you at risk.
Booking your minicab guarantees that your trip will be carried out by a licensed driver in a licensed vehicle. It also means a record is kept of your journey so, in the event of any problem, the driver can be traced.
Even drivers in minicabs lined up outside pubs and clubs are breaking the law if they accept your fare without a prior booking. You must not approach minicab drivers and any minicab driver who approaches you on the street anywhere is acting illegally.

The difference between the green and yellow badges
Cab drivers who hold a green badge can pick up customers anywhere within the London metropolitan area; this is the entire area denoted by this map. The 9 separate coloured sections on the outside denote the yellow badge suburban areas.
Obviously drivers who choose to study a suburb, complete their knowledge in a much shorter time; usually around 2 years. They may choose to do this for several reasons these may include – central London may be too far for them to drive to and study everyday, financial and times constraints, or simply that they just prefer to work in the area they live. If they choose to study the “all London” knowledge, it will obviously take much longer – between 2 and 5 years depending again on your finances, time constraints, job, and of course how good your memory is.
Currently there is no visible distinction between a yellow and green badge holder, so occasionally a few cheeky yellow badge drivers may try to pick up outside of their zone. There are many cab drivers though who are pushing to have coloured licenses on display on the outside of all London taxis to prevent this.
_____________________________________________________________________
I frequently hear people suggest that we know every street in London, well, there are approximately 70,000 streets in Greater London, and I can only guess at the number of points of interest, basically that’s far beyond the capacity of even the world’s greatest memory champion. On average I would say we learn around between 5000 to 10000 roads, and the same number of points of interest within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross.
Many of my customers have told me of their frustration when they have seen taxis driving along with their light off but with no one in the cab; there are several reasons for this, such as
-the driver is on their way home, therefore their hire light has to be off in case they are flagged down and asked to go 12 miles in the opposite direction (something they cannot refuse)
-The driver is a yellow badge holder and has to drive back to their suburb before they can work again
-the driver is going on a break to one of the many café’s or tea huts around London
-The driver is part of a radio circuit and has a pre booked account job they are on the way to
-There is something wrong with the cab and they are making their way home for safety
-And of course there are the times when we simply just forget to reset our meter –I have driven around some nights wondering why no one is hailing me only to find out 20 minutes later that my meter isn’t even on.
Increasing your chances of finding a taxi – especially at the busy periods
-When hailing a taxi, make your self as visible as possible by standing at the edge of the pavement with your arm raised high. Many times I see people put their hand up so briefly that I wasn’t sure if they wanted a cab or not.
-Obviously if you are wearing dark clothes it will be harder for a cab to see you at night, so if you can hold up anything light coloured to help you, this will increase your chances especially from a distance. A suggestion of mine, which isn’t as absurd as it sounds, is for you to carry something reflective, or even a keychain light that you can move around in the air.
-The west end is the busiest part of London, so on a busy night if you are having trouble getting a cab there, walking to the edge may take 5-10 minutes, but, could mean you getting a cab in 10 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes or much more by just standing in the same spot. Basically if you can get to any of the bordering roads Park Lane, Edgeware Road, Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Tottenham Court Road, Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue or any bridge, then you increase you chances.
-There are several other ways to get a London taxi other than just hailing one, you can contact one of the several taxi circuits, websites, and there is even a service on Twitter – I have provided all the links in the description box.
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What is a London Taxi? Well currently there are 7 different models on the streets today.
The newest is from Mercedes, the Vito Taxi, which holds 6 passengers
The Metrocab, which there is a 5 and 6 seater version of
The rare and elusive Asquith
And then the 4 current models from LTI, the fairway, TX1, TX2, and TX4 all that hold 5 passengers.
Although they are more commonly known as ‘London BLACK Cabs’, they come in many different colours

Anything else is just a private hire vehicle, or more commonly known as a ‘minicab’
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Technology and the future.
Probably our biggest concern from the public is that there are never enough taxis around during the busy periods, but, during the years I have been a taxi driver, I believe there are always enough taxis. Basically, how are we, the taxis drivers, to know there is work on a parallel street to where we are driving along looking for work? There may be work in City and we don’t know, so continue to waste our time driving around the West End area. Etc etc. The two current ways we are dealing with this is by using the computer terminals in our taxis (that is those of us who work for computer circuits), and by the growing number of London Taxi drivers on Twitter. What we do is send messages out to all the other drivers to tell them ‘a train has just pulled into Paddington Station and we need more taxis’, or ‘The Albert Hall has just emptied and there are lots of people looking for taxis”. What I actually want to see is smart phone application that all London Taxi drivers have, and all members of the public have – an application that tells every taxi driver in London that someone wants a taxi. The way I envisage it is a map that the taxi driver opens on their phone, and on that map there are flashing red dots which symbolise people wanting a taxi. A person that wants a cab should just be able to press a button on their phone which creates the red flashing dot. There are many websites and ideas for booking London Taxis, but having been both a minicab driver and London Taxi driver for 13 years, I have concluded that people in London, one of the busiest cities in the world, don’t want to think that far ahead. So, in the ‘hopefully near future’, someone can be coming to the end of their meal, be putting their coat on, then suddenly think “I need a cab”.. well, no booking required, just press that button.
Obviously there are some minor issues and concerns that would have to ironed out, but I believe most of them will be common sense or courtesy issues. Obviously, if you’re a cab driver, you wouldn’t run 5 miles to a job when there will almost certainly be someone closer. If you are the person wanting a cab, you wouldn’t press the button until you are on the street, because we will pick up the first person with their hand up. Etc.

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Are London Taxis more expensive than minicabs?
There is no simple answer to this, but for some trips they are, and for others they aren’t; I will try to explain what I mean. The minimum fare for a London Taxi is £2.20, that means as soon as you get in the cab there will be £2.20 on the metre. The minimum fare for many of the large minicab fleets is around the £7-10; the exact amounts are available on their websites, so can easily be verified. The local firms outside of the central London area, (and some that aren’t) will be somewhere in the region £3-5. Many of these local firms can be somewhat unreliable as a service, and I have known many customers to miss planes, trains, and appointments because the minicab was late, didn’t turn up at all, or didn’t know where they were going.
Anyway, the fair in a London Taxi goes up in increments of 20p, and those increments go up at different speeds depending on the tariff. There are currently 3 tariffs we operate on, that is 3 different price systems during different times of the day.
Tariff 1 -6am until 8pm
Tariff 2 -8pm until 10pm
Tariff 3 -10pm until 6am
The more expensive tariff was introduced to persuade more taxi drivers to work later into the night.

Well what does this all mean to the customer? Well, if you want you are just using a London Taxi to get around the central London area, it’s quick, it’s convenient, and the price is similar to other forms of transport. If you are travelling somewhere within the M25 area our prices may sometimes be a little higher than the larger London firms, but generally they will be very similar. Outside of the M25, on those very rare long trips, you can negotiate with the driver on the fare beforehand. Recently I agreed to do a job for £70 to somewhere in Hertfordshire, but left the metre running to see what it would have cost - £88.60 eventually. Don’t assume every driver will do this, it will be completely at their discretion; you may however get a bargain if you catch a driver going home your way.
Touts, illegal minicabs, and pedicabs
“lets get an illegal minicab, we can barter with them”
Anyone who thinks that using an illegal minicab, or tout as they are more commonly known, is better because they can bargain with the driver, is sadly mistaken. I was hailed late in the city recently by a man wanting to go the East End of London, and as I pulled over, I saw a 5 seater vehicle, commonly used by touts, driving away from the man. ‘Thank god, a black cab’ said the man as he got in my taxi, so I asked whether that was an illegal minicab that had just pulled away; it was. What I didn’t understand was why he had said ‘thank God, a black cab’ because he had actually tried bartering with the driver? Anyway, the tout wanted £20, but the man said £15, so he drove away. The fare was £13 exactly in my taxi. I have had hundreds of other similar experiences, even with pedicabs, the 3 wheeled passenger carrying bikes that currently plague the streets of London. They have no metre system, so can charge what they like, and they regularly give quotes of £20 to places such as Paddington Station from the West End, which would be around £10 with a London Taxi. The London taxi trade is currently working to have the pedicabs taken off the streets of London, because not only are they incredibly unsafe, they also block the streets outside shops and theatres around the west end, and they ride up on pavements, and the wrong way down one way streets.

Alice In Wonderland Review

. I was really looking forward to seeing this version, especially as it was in the professional hands of a director that could do it justice. From the previews, I was a little worried that the special effects would be a bit on the bad side; and to an extent, they were. A lot of the effects centred around characters being different sizes to those around them. Even though I didn’t like the ‘Lord Of The Rings Trilogy’, I felt those films did a much better job of this; for instance putting a very small Elijah Wood, next to a regular sized Sir Ian Mckellen. And let’s us not forget, these were about 10 years old. Next up, the fully CGI characters, which were as bad as they were in any film. I still find it amazing that nearly 20 years after Jurassic Park and Terminator 2, there doesn’t appear to be any distinct improvement in computer generated imagery. The film as a whole was a decent enough to sit through, but for one that was directed by Tim Burton, and a story that is said to have been written while the author was high on drugs, it was a relatively straightforward movie. Compared to the complete madness and mayhem of Disney’s version, this could be said to be just an offshoot of the Harry Potter franchise. It actually made me want to go home and put the Disney version on, juts so I could re-scramble my brain. Another aspect that made the Disney version so brilliant, was all the great voices that were used for the characters. In this version it was just boring to hear the same old ones being rolled out yet again, and you can just picture them standing in front of a microphone with a script in their hand. At times it was a little slow, but then as the minutes ticked by, you could hear ‘the drums’; signalling the approach of yet another big battle scene in a film. I was very interested to see how they handled it, this time, and the best thing I can say is that they kept it short. May I also say just say how much the actress that plays Alice, is the spitting image of a much younger Gwenyth Paltrow. Then there’s Johnny Depp, who was a little annoying at times when his accent kept changing from English to Scottish. Obviously a little reminder to everyone that he could still do it since his role in ‘Finding Neverland’. Matt Lucas? What a stupid idea that was; it looked as though someone had just painted his face onto a balloon, then blew it up. His characters Tweedledee & Tweedledum, were nothing like the creepy ones in the Disney version. Speaking of these two, what the heck happened to ‘The Walrus & the Carpenter’ story they told in the Disney version?

The Wolfman review

The film was very middle of the road; it had so many cliches and nothing that any other werewolf film didn't have already. It was almost a clone of American Werewolf in London -

1) To start with Benicio Del Torro's character has come over from America - even though he has an American accent, he was born in England (in the movie).
2) Just before being killed by a werewolf, it is shot and he is saved
3) A scene from inside a LOCAL public house - featuring one of the actual actors from American Werewolf in London 'David Schofield' he is seen playing darts in AWIL, in this he is a local constable.
4) The transformation sequence is the same
5) He goes on a killing spree in London
6) There is that moment when the werewolf and the woman he is in love with, stare at each other just before he is then shot and killed.

Anthony Hopkins character appeared to be transplanted from 'Bram Stoker's Dracula', the only difference was the role he played. Then there was Hugo Weaving's character - I was expecting him at any moment to say 'Miiissssttterrr Annnnderson, surprised to see me? - where's Morpheus?' Emily Blunt's character was badly cast too, it's much better seeing her play feisty roles such as in 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

I went to see the film after listening to Jonathon Ross's review. He didn't say it was brilliant, just that it was well shot with great special effects and scenery; that was enough for me. The special effects were pretty good, although a CGI bear onwed by some gypsies nearly had me walking out. If you compare it to films such as AWIL, Jaws, Predator, Aliens, I would say that what you saw of the creature happened far too quickly. I feel it should have appeared much more gradually; that and some more harsh lighting on the wolf so it didn't look like a bloke in a costume. I have to say it wasn't awful, I just found it incredibly lazy, like they were just trying to fill hole in the release schedules. Wait til this one comes out on ITV one Saturday night in the future when you have nothing to do.

My review of the film 'The Book Of Eli'

Ahh, the Book of Eli, what can I say about this mess of a film? It started off on a very promising note, but from the moment we see the clichéd gothickly dressed, post apocalyptic woman pretending to ask for help, it descended down the same route as films such as ‘Waterworld’ and ‘Mad Max’. What is it with this ‘I don’t care about anyone-don’t want to speak to anyone-act like a moody teenager’ character that the protagonists of these types of films employ throughout the movie? As usual in a world where they can’t even find some shampoo, there seems to be a huge amount of powerful weaponry and ammunition lying about. Speaking of shampoo, which is made such a fuss of when it is found – why does the young woman Solara appear to have access to all the beauty products she can get her hands on; not to mention a salon quality hair style, and her mother too? More about her to come. I also ignored the very blatant KFC product placement of their branded moisture towels; even though it came up twice. It goes from bad to worse when there is a shoot out, and Denzel Washington’s character has a bullet hit the top of his coat, just behind his neck, but not him. Okay, so it appears that maybe this guy is in some way immortal, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that being part of the plot so far. The film then moves to an old house in the middle of the desert, occupied by a completely pointless and underused Frances De La Tour and Michael Gambon. The speed at which they are killed leaves you wondering exactly how they managed to survive this long in the first place. First let me mention the second annoying piece of product placement – the slow and obvious pan from a car battery to a “Motorola” loudspeaker. Now, the nature of their deaths. They are living in this house, that when hit by bullets, splinters as if made with balsa wood. Yet with the front of the house quickly disintegrating under fire, the four people in the house, standing up against the front wall, somehow manage not to get hit, or even look like they are in any danger whatsoever. Now we move onto Eli actually getting shot – yes he actually is wounded by a direct shot to his torso. This now begs the question from the scene where he is shot in the back of the neck – why didn’t he drop dead immediately from that bullet? Basically from there on I was left with many queries swimming around in my head-

-What was this voice that told him to head west to Malcolm McDowell (if it was “God”, then we assume he exists in the film, so why didn’t it prevent the apocalypse in the first place? In stead of having Eli bring the book to a safe place so that the world would eventually go the way it went before)
-Where did he learn to fight so well
-Why had it taken him 3 years to walk from one side of America to the other, when it should only have taken between 100-200 days depending on all the obvious factors
-(many others, but they are mostly just me being nitpicky)

The final scene is a complete joke – the young girl he has been travelling with, dresses up like Lara Croft, and heads out into the wastes on her own – WHY?? Is it that she has to carry on what Eli started? NO, the book is safe, there is nothing left to do. We saw from a previous scene in the film, that she wouldn’t last 2 minutes out there on her own, but now she’s heading out armed with a huge knife we know she has no idea how to handle! While this scene was playing through, the few people that were in the cinema around me, started laughing with me in disbelief.

My review of the film 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'

January 11th (my birthday)

On the way home we discussed whether or not we should go and see ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll’ featuring Andy Serkis. I was in two minds about it, because after seeing ‘Ray’, I told myself I wouldn’t watch any more biographies because they simply are never interesting enough. This film however was in a league of its own, it was superbly acted by everyone, especially Serkis, it wasn’t the usual simplistic approach of ‘well this happened so this is why they are like this’, and of course, the music was great. Now, I know and like a few of Ian Dury’s songs, as they are always played on the radio, but to my wife they meant something, because she had liked them when they first came out. What was quite funny was the other “show” that was going on just to the right of us in the cinema. A man of about 50 years old had obviously dragged his wife along to see this, but she was not happy at all. Throughout much of the film she was sat rigid in her chair, sometimes with her hands over her ears, while he was nodding his head along to every song that started playing. He also did that thing of laughing louder than was natural, because he had spotted an ‘in joke’ or a reference. Is this some sort of signal or wild call that people make hoping that others in the audience will be impressed that they had spotted it as well. Or was it a ‘look at me I’m cool, I was there man, you wouldn’t understand’.