Letters to the driver.
| June 2002 i just wanted to tell you that you have the best site that i have seen.I am a taxi driver.i live in Cambridge Massachusetts but i drive in the city of Somerville the next city to Cambridge .I drive the night shift 4pm to 4am.I drove in Cambrige 1970-1977.I then worked for Polaroid for 16years until i hurt my back.i started to drive again in 1993 in Cambridge.i change to work in Somerville 1998 because of all the foriegn cab drivers were killing the business by taking the longest way around in stead of taking the short way.the taxi i drive is a 1997 ford crown vitoria it is an ex police car.it is one of the best cars to use as a taxi because of the police package it has.everything in it is heavy duty.,i getting a little tired now so i will sign off for now.may god bless you and family. sincerly Patrick. |
| May 2002 Howzit as they say in S.Africa. I left Bristol in 1957, but still return from time to time. Regularly dissapointed in my inability to negotiate the clogged roads,God knows how you keep your sanity as a taxidriver. Went to school at Cleve House and Queen Elizabeths Hospital, {1951-1957) should you come across anyone of this era drop me an E Mail. Memories? Dates at Neptune,Colston Hall jazz concerts, Avon Cities Jazz Band club off Park St. Lived at Gilda Close near Whitchurch, and Hazelbury Rd Knowle,now in S Afica (Johannesburg) for many years, love it and so will you when you retire and want some sun & game drives. Great website ,keep in touch from time to time. Kind regards to you & your family. |
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3 March 2002 ... Somehow through a link in our local vegascabbie.com I came upon your
very funny and informative website. It is notable that we in this business
seem to have problems with government or regulatory agencies no matter
where. In our town(Las Vegas,Nevada USA) there are well over 1500 taxicabs
operating 24/7 with over 5000 drivers and which each has a different opinion
about our business. If you were to visit our open forum at vegascabbie.com
you would see that our intellectual level is around 5th grade. I sincerely
doubt that many of them would know what a hackney is. Our most heated
subject is whether or not we should get paid for dropping passengers at
the strip tease clubs and whether is it legal or not. I found that your
maps put Bristol "on the map" for those of us not fortunate
enough to know your fair city, heck, you folks there are almost Welch!(are
you?) Good luck with your City Council, ours are nuts too! |
| Feb 22- 2002 Dear Mr. Maddock, Came across your page quite by accident, and I've spent most of the night reading over nearly all of your links ! It's not often I'll spend that amount of time on a single website - but I must say, Mike, you have a very interesting, humorous, and genuine site. The more I delved into it, the more I experienced a sense of ... well, like I popped into your cab, and during a holiday trip, you provided a wonderful commentary to a destination. It was fun ! The history of the business was well expressed, and the pride of being a "professional" was felt. You found the exact words, and expressions that truly show the pride you have, or had in that business. I live overseas, in a far and distant country, yet you have best reflected a genuine spirit of nationalism rarely seen nor appreciated. I wish you well in the future. Good luck ! p.s. "liked that bit about the Canadian Beer story" ... Truly, well done. Cynthia Cous Ottawa Canada |
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21 Feb 2002 I dont think this man likes me. dear driver, whilst I can understand your frustration at the measures
introduced by the council to improve life for the people who live in Bristol,
not just drivers, I completely disagree with almost everything you say.
Cities are about people, not cars, and if they are dominated by cars,
then nobody wants to live there. All cities suffer from similar problems,
traffic congestion caused by too much traffic, and this impacts on the
livelihoods of taxi drivers. You seem to be attacking the council because
they want to reduce traffic and therefore make it easier for you to move
around. Every report and all research over the last 40 years has shown
that if you improve traffic flow, you increase traffic: if you want more
traffic, just continue criticising the council. By the way, if you really
want to make an impression (as you say in one of your pages "you
don't get a second chance to make a first impression" then learning
to spell would certainly help. Regards Richard Burton |
| Hello from north texas I sent you a note last nite but
dont think The compture sent it Just wonted to say how much I liked your
web page you have done one super job on it take care God bless Marvin |
| Mike, your web site is great. Yes we found the site very interesting. See ya Fran |
| MIKE ..I HAVE TO TELL U HOW MUCH I ENJOYED THIS SITE!!ITS
AMAZING HOW U HAVE PUT THIS TOGETHER...REALLY ENJOYED ...THANK YOU |
| A very interesting web site. I couldnt agree with you more. I used to
drive daily around Bristol ( sshh i was a coach driver!!) but I am glad
I dont do it any more. Hope you can update where necessary? regards Steve
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| Question: "How come pizza gets to your house quicker than the police?"
Answer: "Because pizza deliverers get paid more and there are more
of them." I enjoy your site immensely especially your obvious affection
and respect for the Bristol City Council. By the way why is Bristol a City
Council yet the smaller city of Cardiff is a County Council, particularly
as Bristol is supposed to be a City and County? Something to muse over.
Anyway keep us smiling and informed. All the best. Ian |
| just found your page thru the DJ Ginsters page. I thought
it was very good. Sorry to hear about the trouble with the council with
regards to cabs that have disabled access. Keep it real. Rob Ash and Mandy
Wise. University of the West Of England, Information Support Skiving Team
|
| Its great to go thru your website. "To friends if one day" is
excellent. Keep up the good work....Wish you goodluck always Take care |
| Stumbled on your web page. Not proper Brissle, me, but I lived there 1970-1978.
Worked at first at Bristol Commercial Vehicles (guy on the broaching machine
hung up a bunch of gears, and could play "A DOUBLE DIAMOND WORKS WONDERS!"
on them with his spanner.) Worked at Bristol Tech/Brunel Tech. Enjoyed the
brief revival of the speedway -- Bristol Bulldogs. Also a regular up at
Mendip Raceway for the stock-cars. Forget most pub names, alas! Remember
seeing a Russian sub coming into the harbour after being "accidentally
bumped" by a freighter. Saw the Great Britain come back under the suspension
bridge. Loved those Bristol cars; knew a guy at Glenfrome Motors who had
a beautful 406, and one or two restorers. Ah, just remembered the scrumpy
-- THAT'S WHY I can't remember the pub names. Feel free to put this on your
ex-pats page, though I don't really count as a Bristolian. Here's my accent
story: when we moved in, we wanted to buy/rent a cooker from the "lecky"
board. When I went to sign up, the woman in the showroom asked me "WHAT
AERIAL?" I was stunned; I just wanted one you plugged in to the mains
electricity. "Aerial? Do they have aerials now?" "No, no,"
she said, "WHAT AERIAL DO YOU LIVE IN?" True. David Kipling BC,
Canada |
| Hi there, reading through your reports and letters,
there seems to be a greater link through out the country with the problems
taxis and their drivers are having than anyone could possibly imagine. Your
problems appear to mirror those of many other towns,cities and villages,
the people who run the councils have not got a clue and definately appear
not willing to be of assistance to our trade or to our members. Any way,
all the best from Sunderland and I look forward to reading your site again.
regards Keith Bell |
| I've just had a quick look at your website and liked it. I've been meaning
to check it out since seeing the article in the Evening Post a few weeks
ago. I'm proud to be a Bristolian and think Bristol's great. Nice photos!
|
| Simply love your site. It is full of very interesting stuff and topics
that are current. As an expat it is really good to see what has been going
on in Bristol. Thank you for sharing your Bristol with us. Regards Keith
Collins |
| What a wonderful eclectic gathering of pages on the
best city in the world!Excellent.And humour as only a taxi-driver can produce
too! Can I add a link to your St Mary Redcliffe pictures from my site when
I next update? Thank you for the link to my site, Visitors however may find
the choice easier to make if they visit www.churchcrawler.co.uk first off!
So can your link point there now? Thanks. There is a small logo now on each
page which you can pinch for yourpage if you prefe, that is up to you. I
can also send you the very small JPEG for this as an attachment. Best wishes
Phil Bristol UK Visit my Church Architecture Website at http://www.churchcrawler.co.uk
To join a Church Architecture Mailing list (it's free!!) send Email to Churchcrawling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Let's chat churches! To join a Church Architecture Pictures Mailing list
(it's free!!) send Email to churchpictures-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Let's
view churches! |
| Just a line to congratulate you on a very interesting, entertaining and
very amusing website. You have made an old man laugh and are now on his
favourites list RFS. |
| Hi Mike,
What a wonderfull site you have. I love the half an email you got "in error" - excellent. Too true what you write about the traffic in Bristol, some mornings I
walk Personally, I really don't know what they can do about the traffic. The I've mentioned the water features around Bristol on my own pages. The
water Having a go at the Council isn't a bad thing. If people did more of it
then I'm glad you like my site. I love living in Bristol, for all its faults
it's I'm forever looking around the net for sites about Bristol and I'm surprised Regards Ray |
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