The World According to Gillespie

RIDE SHARE SERVICES ARE HERE TO STAY    This column originally appeared on Wicked Local     It appears that the age of the taxi cab in the city of Boston is coming to an end.   I was talking to a hotel doorman in Copley Square last Sunday morning and mentioned how business appeared to be slow.   “Cabs sometimes wait in line for seven hours for a fare,” he said.   For a city that was once a bustling thoroughfare of busy cabs of every style, size, and color zipping about competitively, I was shocked.   Ride-share services like Uber and Lyft have infected Boston’s taxi system, and the demise of the cab appears to be imminent. Ride-share services are quickly eclipsing the use of cabs.   Any hotel doorman will tell you that there has been an economic shift in the way that people are getting around the city.   “The game has changed,” says Blake Sutcliffe, who has been a doorman at the Boston Marriott Copley since it opened 33 years ago.   “The taxi system was a monopoly.  

THE 14-YEAR-OLD DIET This column originally appeared on Wicked Local As we get older, it seems, weight gain is inevitable.   When I look at pictures of myself from 25 years ago and compare them to photos from today, it appears that my head is morphing into the second coming of Ted Kennedy.   I make a general attempt to run regularly, although I haven’t experienced a runner’s high in at least two decades.   Exercise to me has become the equivalent of taking medicine.   You don’t particularly want to do it, but you know that when you have to endure it grinning and bearing it is really the only choice you have.   Keeping in shape is a combination of both exercise and a proper diet.   My wife claims that breaking a sweat is hazardous to her health.   When she discusses a diet, it usually entails contacting a witch doctor she has seen on Dr. Phil.   She and I did successfully try juicing last year, but in order to actually create the requisite juices necessary you must store away