It's the Day drivers who get all the credit, cos what we do by night is all forgotten the next day !!
Excerpt from Taxi Diaries;
Chapter 34. The Flood and the Ice-month.
The floods came to Cork on the evening of 25th November 2009, it was a Thursday night, which is the student party night on the western side of the city. It had been raining heavily all day and a high tide to boot, by 11pm Victoria cross was well flooded, I was cruising for taxi-business in the area and I saw this Boy-Racer in a huge Hi-Lux 4x4 white jeep go flying through the flood in Victoria cross, it was something you would see on the 'Jungle-River' splash-slide at the Funfare, with water splashing up for Twenty meters on either side, much to the amusement of the student population who were all heading into town for the late nite clubs and the Boy-racer got a huge cheer from the crowd.
The city continued to flood for the rest of the night and we were getting regular warning from the base radio on areas to avoid, eventually it was to avoid every quay in the city. My last fare of the night (about 3am) came from a young polite male student, who told me his female friend was unwell (drunk) and would I take her home to the Model farm road if he and his mate accompanied her, so I agreed and the Four of us set off, she was living a few hundred yards beyond the old tennis village (now Eden hall, student accommodation).
The young girl didn't seem very sick or overly drunk but she was very dozy and sleepy and she passed out on her friends lap as soon as she sat into the taxi. We got just beyond the tennis village and onto the small bridge on the Model Farm road to Ballincollig but the bridge was Flooded and Under-Water, we made a brief effort to attempt to drive through it, but it was soon lapping at the doors and we retreated quickly, all of a sudden Waves starting appearing on top of the flood waters and lights were coming against us, it was a farmer in a huge tractor easily wading through the floods.
I hopped out of the Taxi and stood in the middle of the road and stopped the tractor, I told him of my predicament, that the young girl was unwell and that she lives a few hundred yards on the other side of the flood waters, I asked the farmer would he take her and her companions across the water safely to her home, he agreed with a nod of his head, the gallant young student lad insisted on paying me a Tenner for the fare and I helped load the Three of them into the tractor cabin and away they went, safely home through the Floodwaters.
Car 16, I will always get you home !
