Olympics - CallSign

Call Sign September 2012 Page 22
We at Call Sign aren’t too sure why the article
on London taxi driver Phil Hewson - more
commonly known in the cab trade as Loz –
had quite the number of readers that it did in
our last issue, so we have to assume that there
are a lot of you currently interested in your
health and well-being.
How do we know so many read it? Well the
magazine reached most of you on July 31 and
from that morning until the following
evening, our phone never stopped ringing
asking whether we knew that there had been
a typo in the article? As for the DaC staff, it was
as though they couldn’t wait to tell me! You
would have thought we had threatened something
sensational rather than accidentally
write about the Loz as a purveyor of Keep Tit
rather than one of Keep Fit! Yep, we said it
again!
It was Dial-a-Cab’s Paul Taylor (M01)
who reminded us about Phil the Loz. Phil
has been running keep fit classes for taxi
drivers for over 30 years – the last fifteen
of them at the John Orwell Sports Centre
in Tench Street, Wapping. Paul told us:
“If you are thinking of trying to shed a few
pounds and need to get fit after all those years
stuck behind the wheel or even if you are
already fit but need to find a new class, then
this will be the one for you. Phil’s classes are
suitable for all ages and all levels of fitness
abilities, regardless of your current fitness status.
From the very fit to the very fat, you can
Loz: “It’s definitely
feel rest assured that you will get a thorough
but safe workout, because you are able to
work at the pace that suits your level of fitness.
The workout starts from a free standing
position (there are no apparatus), consisting
of exercises ranging from aerobics, muscular
strength and stamina, reaching every body
part including those all-important lungs!
keep fit!”
If you are overweight and feel shy or
embarrassed about joining Loz’s class,
then don’t be. There are no targets and definitely
no ‘peer pressure’. In fact it is a very
friendly atmosphere.
Loz’s classes are held on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays, all starting at 1.15.
The added bonus is the price at just £5 per
session. You can attend as many or few times
as you like to suit your work patterns and fitness
levels, so if you are a beginner and you
only fancy once a week, then that’s fine. You
only have to pay for the sessions you attend
and if you don’t attend, then you don’t pay.
There are no membership fees or contracts,
but there is ample free parking so you don’t
have to watch out for wardens! £5 is excellent
value for money, but first-timers enjoy a
week’s free trial from the Loz!”
The Loz’s keep fit classes are held every
Monday, Wednesday and Friday beginning
at l.15 at the John Orwell Sports Centre,
Tench Street, Wapping... and it’s definitely
JUST keep fit
LONDON CALLING
London called the rest of the world to come and
join us. It took seven years to plan with a cost of
over £10 billion, but the Olympics finally arrived
back in the capital after 64 years. Instead of Hey
Jude, perhaps Paul McCartney should have closed
the opening ceremony with when I’m 64!
No doubt those Olympic visitors who came will
have returned to their homes moaning about how
expensive our capital was, with coffee shops in
Holiday Inn style hotels charging £2.05 for a cup of
tea, £3.45 for a cappuccino and sandwiches starting
at £4.50! As a London taxi driver, we are often
told by passengers how very expensive London is,
but it doesn’t seem to stop people flooding in. It's
mainly the wealthy that stay on, because London is now firmly
entrenched as a rich man's city. OK, so you won't starve in London
even if you haven't a brass farthing! Many of the sandwich shops and
patisseries give their food away to charity or reduce prices if not sold
on the day. But just look at the queues forming before closing time, I
know because I am standing at the end of one!
But undoubtedly the gap is indeed wider than ever between the
well-off and the poor; ironic when you consider we had a Labour government
for fifteen years! The discrepancy between wages and house
prices is of Everest proportions. Once upon a time, buying a house in
London was achievable for a decent wage earner. No chance now
unless you are a banker, lawyer or stockbroker.
The areas attracting the well-heeled with disposable incomes are
London's villages: Hampstead, Highgate and Wimbledon etc. One of
the most sought after is Marylebone because of its prime location. The
Howard de Walden estate with its portfolio of properties standing at
£1.8billion has been instrumental in raising the profile of this area,
bringing in top-class retailers such as Waitrose, Conran and quality
independent shops and posh patisseries. This has now given
Marylebone High Street an almost chi-chi Knightsbridge style as we see
more Arab shoppers coming down from the Edgware Road overspill!
How things have changed. Back in the seventies and eighties that
high street was a friendly, quiet backwater with a butcher, baker, fish-
monger and even a few charity shops plus plenty of traditional
pubs. Those traditional pubs have now become
gastro pubs where the cauliflower cheese has been catapulted
into nouvelle cuisine status by adding the word
soufflé – ok, you also get a dash of white wine! This
dish, if washed down with a pint of real ale from an
independent brewer will see little change from twenty
quid. There are still places left that offer reasonable
prices, but you need to know where to go and they are
dwindling at an alarming rate.
London's village areas now also boast farmers' markets.
Yes, word on the streets is that a big shipment is
coming in and we're all going to get happy! They’re
selling organic cauliflowers for £5 each! My son says
London can still be good value, but knowing where to go is the key.
You can be ripped off far too easily. However, speaking of good value,
London's taxis are still that when five people can travel in the back of
the world’s best taxis for the price of one. Now that’s value...
David Heath (Ex-W27)
Keith Reading
Professional Toastmaster
Master of Ceremonies
Tele: 01279 465 938
Mobile: 07774 860 374
Email: kgr.2@virgin.net
10% discount for DaC drivers and staff
Fellow of the Guild of
Professional Toastmasters