Well what a relief the students are back, I can tell you.

It’s been a long hard summer without them, and we’ve not had much sunny weather to brighten up an otherwise miserable holiday season.

Speaking of holidays, I didn’t even manage to get one this year due to a number of factors, one being the fact that Mrs Taxi rejoined the workforce after years of being a housewife.

However, we’re planning on flying to somewhere warm next year, hopefully in the New Year, when the taxi trade dies a death from the general public over-spending at Christmas.

My son Brad managed to get away during the summer, he was kindly invited to go on holiday with his mate and his family to Majorca. By an incredible coincidence he was on the same flight as my brother, and we all only found out about the coincidence the evening before they flew out.

Brad & his uncle Dez.

Anyway, back to taxiing and the students.

So, they’re back, and our wheels are turning again, albeit tiny little jobs to the halls of residence, but they add up if you put the hours in.

The return of the students also lead to the return of the Promo Pests, but this year they’re in plague numbers of Biblical proportions. Honestly they’re everywhere, and they compete with Promo Pests from other venues by racing each other to unsuspecting passing students, in the hope they can pester them to visit the venue they’re promoting. There’s some underhand tactics going on too from these Promo Pests, you’ll find them on the doorsteps of rival venues unashamedly poaching their customers.

The Student Union club falls victim to poaching by promo staff from other clubs in the city.

I think it’s time the council called time on this practice of aggressive street promoting and let the students decide where to spend their cash on their own accord.

The over promoting and cheap drinks offers might have something to do with the fact I’ve had to mop up two lots of vomit out of my cab already, since the students returned. On Monday night I had a lad vomiting out of the cab window, the sick went all over the side of my cab, leaving me no option but to jetwash it off once I got the lad home safely. So that’s three vomiting customers, two inside, one outside the cab, since the students’ returned.

But all in all, this town would be a lot worse off without them; it’s just a shame the place, particularly the Friargate area, turns to a ghost town when they leave.

In connection with the students’ presence, the notion mentioned in the LEP recently
about giving student reliant businesses a ‘rates break’ during the summer, is a magnificent idea, and one that I hope can be made a reality for the sake of Friargate.