This page was updated on Sunday, March 23, 2008 at 03:47 AM
Ice Road Truckers has given my an idea,my own version but called Nice Road Truckers.Some of the roads go on are fantastic - Sally Gap County Wicklow,Kinsale and Timoleague the list goes on,now do I do a spoof of the TV series or just film the roads,more to the point how sad is it to film roads? I know that Bernard went through a phase of filming some of the farm drops in Ireland as even he could'nt get over just how tight they were,I went through a phase of filming bridges just because they were there and I do know that one man has filmed the whole of the M25,so I am not the only sad person out there.
I started this week off by running down to Atherstone for 07:00,I slept in my cab Sunday night to give Jo a sleep in and it would mean getting to work at 03:30 so that would mean getting up at 02:45.So a sleep in the cab got me some brownie points and a full hour extra of sleep.
I went to a drop this week at a RDC for a national firm,and I saw the stupidest thing in my life.A British driver was being arrested for being drunk whilst in charge of his lorry.Now not just a little bit drunk but pissed out of his brain.He had drunk a full bottle of vodka BEFORE setting off in the morning.He could'nt walk or talk so god only knows how he got to the RDC.The staff at the depot had the sense to call the Police and have him locked up.
Now I love drinking,but once I am sat behind the wheel or know that I am setting of early thats it nothing will pass my lips.I have often seen Polish and Bulgarian drivers getting sloshed at trucks and wonder why they dont get pulled but I have never seen a bloke in this kind of state.Had I of seen him before his arrest I would have thumped him,just the thought of someone like that on the road sends shivers down my spine.
The Nice Road Trucker video is starting to take shape,I can set my camera on a tripod and record whilst driving,without touching anything,the only snag is that it just keeps recording everything and the resulting file is massive.I am still on the lookout for a simple way to use my camera as a web cam and upload a 'cab cam' whilst moving.I am looking at getting a mobile broadband usb for the laptop on pay as you go,but I am not sure if 3 will charge a roaming fee when over in Ireland .Vodafone also do a usb modem but not yet as PAYG,plus Vodafone charges roaming charges,but as everything I have is Vodafone it may be case of waiting.
Dont ever say I dont buy Jo anything nice
The Trucker Tucker has gone off the boil as its no fun cooking for one,plus the fact I am always so near to home I can just nip back and pick up more stuff as I go.This week I went to M&S in a Moto service station and got a Sushi mix,two pork pies and a Crayfish and Rocket sandwich,yum yum yum you may think but no it was'nt to be.The sandwich were stale,the pies were soggy and the sushi tasted 'funny',each and every prouct was short dated to that day,now is this poor housekeeping or over ordering or maybe its just me.Any who a letter and photos are off to M&S - the idea of quality shop at high street prices is a cracking one,I got all that for £5,but dont just put out short date goods and cock it all up?
|
|
 |
The Moto M&S idea is a cracking one dont get me wrong,quality food at realistic prices.The more firms that do this the better,but when will one of the big motorway chains grab the bull by the horns and charge realistic prices for food and parking on the nations motorway system rather than milk the cash cow dry.Nobody minds paying for quality but nobody likes to pay over the odds for a shoddy service and overpriced poor quality food. |
|
|
On Monday of this week I went up to Aberdeen - to Inverbervie.Another chance to sample the fine Bervie Chipper.No Irn Bru this week but still the fish and chips were cracking
It was then down to Holmes Chapel with a load of seed potatoes,apparently the best seed potatoes come from Scotland as they are less prone to fungus,dont know if this is true or not but it sounds good and the huge storage sheds are all ways a treat to find.The high trailer I had on made to job that little bit more exciting with all the low bridges and the gales just about put the cream on cake.The bridge near Perth made for fun driving,it was a case of spanning the two lanes as I was being pushed from side to side by the gusts.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The Scottish firm I went to work for when I spat my dummy out last is yet again advertising for HGV drivers,the add is not small and not cheap to boot,and is worded as all singing all dancing,but it fails to mention the fact that your hours are closley watched,so that yes you can do overtime but only very rarely.By this I mean that one day you could work 14 hours and think you are getting a good week in,but the next day you could only work 6 or 7 so all that work was done for nothing.They do not mention that only a certain few drivers work weekends and they threaten to cut your wages if you cant work weekends,nor do they mention that your day is in the hands of of planners from other depots so altough there are some cracking planners - Stuart - there are also planners who realy dont know there arse from their elbow. Its a shame as the work is clean and a monkey could do it,but it seems to get buggered around from piller to post.But the saddest thing is that they have had good drivers - Greg and Co.- and they just dont seem to give two hoots about them and the drivers they have are just turned into fleet numbers and given no insentive to work hard and go that extra mile,when I was there they had three of it could even be 4 different pay scales for drivers,so the Scottish lads were earning far less than say the Preston drivers and in turn the Preston drivers were earning far less than say the Oxford drivers,and yet we were all doing the same work? When asking for a payrise the stock answer was we dont have to and we can get people to do your job for that hourly rate? now how does that work?.They also went balmy when they saw my website to boot.So all in all I was glad to get out and it just makes you feel much better off both mentaly and financialy when you work for a good firm,where you can go that extra mile and give a proper service to both the people you work for and the customers you go too.All this with a firm that has been in the transport buisness since the dawn of time and can cut the wheat from the chaff so you know that everyone you work with is working as hard or harder than you are.There ive said my bit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RETURN TO TOP OF THE PAGE
|
Past weekly news pages : |
 |
03022008 - First walk,Fleetwood |
|
02232008 - Dad |
|
02112008 - Fellbeck,floods,Dad |
|
01252008 - NavMan n40i,DCL,what will be will be |
|
01122008- sw1,parking ticket,diary,hgv tail lift |
|
01112008 - One week at a view - HGV diary |
|
01082008 - Man flu |
|
01012008 - Christmas and New Year |
|
12232007- Moto service stations,Burger King,carrots |
|
12172007 - Warrenoint,NarrowWater,Galway Harbour |
|
11272007 - Bandon County Cork,Jeremy Kyle |
|
11222007 - K800i,Old Kinsale Head,Harvest Home |
|
11142007 - Fireworks,treacle toffee,Cornwall |
|
11052007 - Newtonards,Convoy and rubber duck |
|
10172007 - Sally Gap Wicklow and speaking French |
|
10022007 - New laptop and Spider Catcher |
|
09292007 - 3 week mega run to Ireland |
|
08252007 - First week back at work from the Safari |
|
08162007 - Wales Safari so goody |
|
08012007 - A big thanks to D.C.L |
|
07192007 - 4 week mega run |
|
07132007 - The big BBQ |
|
06162007 - Whit Monday |
|
05172007 - D.C.L and Ireland part ii |
|
05052007 - Good bye to the Scottish Firm |
|
04282007 - It was Witney wot done it |
|
04212007 - Grand National day |
|
04142007 - The A82 - mmmm nice road |
|
04092007 - My Number 10 Petition |
|
03302007 - A day off - Not |
|
03242007 - Adobe C.I.B |
|
03112007 - HELLO MOTO |
|
03032007 -Jessica the gymnast |
|
02182007 -Preston get stuffed in the FA cup |
|
02182007 -wOOOOOO hhhhhoooooooooo |
|
02082007 - feeling realy low |
|
31012007 - The start of the end part two |
|
20012007 - The start of the end |
|
13012007 - Tacho trouble |
|
01012007 - New Year |
|
12242006 - Christmas 2006 |
|
24112006 - Re boot bad |
|
05112006 - Remember |
|
27102006 - Christmas Cake |
|
13102006 - Polska scarf |
|
08102006 - The three p's |
|
01102006 - The re-launch |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Jo and Jess have had fun doing 'The Greeks' at school this week.When it comes to knocking up custumes out of old junk just ask Jo for tips.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
For around 10p a pop I can up load pictures to my Blogger pages - as I find it hard to type on the phone so the text is very little its just pictures realy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RETURN TO TOP OF THE PAGE
|
