COMPUTER CHINCHAT
From Vince Chin
London Black Cabs Online With Internet
Booking
Report by: By Paul Lavin, Newsbytes News Network: http://www.newsbytes.com
<<London's famous black cabs are the first in the world to go
online with real-time taxi bookings according to Dial-a-Cab, one of London's leading taxi
firms. In addition to booking a cab, you can also check the status of your ride or pass a
message to the driver or a passenger in the taxi from the Web page. The service is aimed
at corporate account clients and eliminates the need for telephone contact with their call
centre. The system is a response as much to the popularity of the Internet as the
frustration that users have experienced getting through to the booking office at peak
times. Brian Rice, Chairman of Dial-a-Cab, said:
"We really are streets ahead of anywhere else in the world with this
development. It increases our capacity to take journeys and offers a faster service as the
booking goes straight into the system bypassing the telephone. This complements our call
centre operation, enabling our clients who still wish to book by phone to get through to
an operator more quickly."
Dial-a-Cab’s fleet services many of London's largest companies as
well as the man in the street and has been operating for over 40 years. It is operated as
a friendly society, owned and run by 1,700 member drivers.
ISP’S AGAIN…!!!
Now back to free ISPs again! Sorry to keep harking on about them but they really are
making an impact on the Net. So much so, that I've recently had to purge the taxicab
discussion list due to so many people changing or joining and using free ISPs. Keeping
track is a constant task and I don't expect to see many of the free ISPs around this time
next year. It seems that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and only time will tell
whether the original £10 per month ISPs will suffer. I recently spoke to my ISP who
informed me that they do have some subscribers jumping over to the free ISPs, but only to
return once they realise there's no such thing as a free lunch!
Another regular inquiry concerns building personal web sites on the free
space provided by the free ISPs. Bad idea! Just imagine that you've spent all that time
developing the site, only to decide that you don't like the free ISP. You'll have to
inform everyone who's linked to your site, including search engines, that you're moving to
another ISP. Can you see the problem? What if you don't like the next free ISP? It's not a
major problem if your site is just pictures of you, the wife and kids, but what if you
offer tours in London?
Well that's all from me. By the time you read this I'll have left my beloved
south London for the rural life in Sussex. I suppose it's called old age! However, thanks
to the Internet and it’s subsidiaries thereof (!), I’ll still be in Call
Sign…
C Ya
Vince Chin
HAUNTED LONDON
Call Sign is continuing to provide you with details for the scariest London tour of all - haunted buildings! Every issue, we bring you some additions to your catalogue of frighteners. Here are another five true hauntings to scare your passenger into giving you the biggest tip ever!
Red Lion Square, WC1
Roundheads Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw were reburied here after their
disinterred remains had been ‘tried’ for regicide after the Restoration. The
disgruntled shadows of the three men are said to walk across the Square diagonally,
ignoring modern paths.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, WC2
A celebrated spook, the Man in Grey, was been seen by Sir Harry Secombe
among many others. He wears a white wig, carries a tri-corn hat and occupies the first
seat of the fourth row of the upper circle at rehearsals and the occasional matinee. Two
other
Lyceum Theatre, The Strand, WC2
A couple sitting in a box in the 1880’s swore that they looked down
upon a woman sitting in the stalls with a man’s severed head in her lap. They got a
good look at his face and later identified him from a portrait as the owner of the land on
which the theatre had been built.
The Wig and Pen Club, 229 The Strand, WC2
Earlier tenants while sleeping upstairs, frequently heard the sound of
footsteps tramping along the ground-floor corridor - always at 2.14am. On investigation,
the rest of the building was found to be empty.
The Temple, EC4
Sir Henry Hawkins, who died in 1907, a renowned judge who became known as
‘Hanging Hawkins’, is often seen at midnight in his wig and robe while carrying
a bundle of papers.
