Comments on The Pensive Quill: People Persevered

Davy, Thanks for this. I rarely use Black taxis t...

2013-08-06T18:55:16.165+01:00

Davy,

Thanks for this. I rarely use Black taxis these days but they were a godsend in the 80s & 90s getting us there when few could afford cars and buses were a target for barricades, bomb transport or bricking by some of our local reprobates and often stopped services for days on end.

I learnt to my surprise recently that the community in Suffolk relied on them as much as the republican community in West Belfast.

You also brought back to memory my few experiences of using the Black taxis that served loyalist areas - sitting in the back chanting a mantra 'next stop please driver' in fear of a lapse and knocking the window with a coin.

It also brought back to mind many a drunken wait in the early hours at the old Castle St stop and the different fear of ending up squashed in beside a fighting couple, a nasty looking a fight or on one memorable occasion stopping a driver at Andytown to drag a drunk out and explain to him with my fists why you don't touch the bottom of another man's date.

As someone that always hated mindless small-talk I avoided sitting with the driver when possible. Those lads had too much gossip and stories to tell and I've an awful pretending to look interested face.

Davy: As I read this pice, I went into a dream of...

2013-08-06T02:04:52.259+01:00

Davy:

As I read this pice, I went into a dream of the past, Sitting in One of those Black Jo Baxis, on my way to the new lodge, we got stopped by the brits on the Antrim Road, we were all searched, Driver included, I was arrested, The brits ask me, Whats in the Bag, I replied, My Tools, They ask me, Whats your Trade, I Replied, Plumber, They said to me Open it up, So I did. When they seen what was in the bag, The OC of them brits said, What has two ak47s have to do with plumbing, I replied, To send a burst up to clear the water mains!. Suffice to say, I ended up in diplock land. For what?. after that i never delivered a package for anyone. that's when I woke up.

I have to say, your story made me think about it. Did you not know, Our dogs are different from the Brits, There dogs aren't allowed to bark , they just whisper, Just like our cats on the yard walls, everyone thought they were banshees.

Hope yourself and family are doing okay, stay out of trouble and keep writing. I'm still a plumber, Sorry, Its now called, Corgi Registered, ffs, They even named it after lizzies DOGS.

Davy, I am surprised at how much I am enjoying th...

2013-08-06T00:26:50.588+01:00

Davy,

I am surprised at how much I am enjoying this excursion you are taking us on. Normally, this type of thing does not grab my imagination or what is left of it. But this is really good. Good job mate. Hope all is well with you.

Michaelhenry, this dissection of the behaviour of...

2013-08-05T23:29:52.167+01:00

Michaelhenry,

this dissection of the behaviour of Catholic dogs vis a vis Protestant dogs is funny!

I think the last bit about the dog running back is in one of Adams' books

" The thing with the dogs and the brits "...

2013-08-05T23:12:43.966+01:00

" The thing with the dogs and the brits "

I think that the dogs picked up that their masters hated the brits
so they hated the brits-i have seen a few dogs attacking the brits-saying that I wonder how the dogs reacted towards the brits in a loyalist area or were they just as cross at them as our dogs-

" one such dog from the Murph getting buried in the Colours "

There was a grenade thrown at the brits one day during a riot but the grenade throwers dog chased after the object- picked it up by the jaws and saved the brits- then come running back towards the people who scattered as the dog blew up-