Useful Again !

This post is being written in a motorway services with absolutely no 3G or even GPRS.

“Vodafone should hang their head in shame so low that their foreheads touch their boots."
I don’t' want to trivialise the Ghurkha’s struggle I was just trying to be topical and witty and I thought it was a great quote.

I have had a pretty crap week and it just seems to be getting worse.
.
I’ve been getting less and less hours at work for a while now and last week I only had two days in the Lorry.

They were long days but still only 30 hours in total with one night out.
Things were not looking good at work for ages but they took a sharp turn for the worse for me.

I was told on Friday that my job was up for review and that out of the two class C drivers we have, one was going.

On Monday I was issued with a criteria to evaluate my job against the other Class C driver to see who scored higher, We both score the same but because he has been with the company longer I knew it was me going.

I am gutted… It was a hard job and sometimes it drove me mad. But it was also a great job and allowed me hours and hours of freedom. A lot of those hours were spent in far flung and beautiful places.
It allowed me thinking time, dreaming time, worrying time and time to be thankful for everything.
It is also a great little truck. Well maintained. A DAF CF on a 54 plate, its pulls like Dale Winton in a lap dancing club but it’s great down hill.

I have been contacting old agencies I used to be registered with over the weekend and alarmingly most of them have now disappeared.

The job centre websites are full of Agency’s offering jobs that don’t exist and even the old certainty’s like Landfill jobs and the bins are not there anymore.

I took off on Monday after the meeting with the boss to register with any agency that would have me.
I cleared everything out of the truck because I didn’t fancy emptying it with all the other blokes around.

I didn’t go in on Tuesday and expected to go in on Wednesday to the meeting the boss had scheduled
It was supposed to inform us of his decision.
Instead I got a phone call saying I had a run, maybe a night out. A run to Wales, All of Wales as it goes.
Welshpool, Cardigan, Tenby and then finish off in Swansea. One pallet at each drop. Seems I am useful sometimes.

I didn’t get home. My ten hours finished in the Lorry park of Strenshaw services on the M5. That’s were I am now listening to the game.

I have not heard from work so I’m in limbo really, I know I’m out of a job, but I’m not out of a job yet. Weird.
I am running in early after a 9 hour daily rest and then I think we will have the meeting that was planned for today.

I have had a tiny piece of good news.
The Agency I did my test with and worked for before doing this job actually called me back and offered me some work next week after the bank holiday… for ADR! Ahhh!!!! I didn’t do the ADR because I was given this job instead. I decided to book on it while I’m doing nothing. They have a contract with Calor so who knows?

I will still keep the Lorryday going; it might be Lorry week with all the other posts about my job search and training.

I‘m still going to Truckfest and I’m going to write a blog about it, so I’ll have something to look forward to this weekend.

The day was really nice and I will post when I get back to civilisation
But I have to stand on the cab roof and hold this lappy up to the moon to get a few KB to send this.

"Roadcookin"

Today was pretty wet all round , I went to work with orders to wash the truck because they had nothing else for me to do.

It didn't stop raining all day and still I'm washing the truck.

I wasn't in for long and because all the other trucks were parked up as well, I got to go home early.

When I don't work, I find it difficult to write anything, because for the last two years , trucking has become my life.
Of course I have other things in my life, like my beautiful wife and my kids but I don't feel the need to write about them.

I write about trucking because it's nice to have someone to share the horrors of distribution centres with and the delights of a tight country lane with, and all the other ups and downs we all go through in this business with as well.

When I arrived back home I found a parcel waiting for me.

It was my "Roadcookin" food book. I have been looking forward to getting this for ages and wanted to dive straight in but domestic life came first.
I had to put the book down until calm descended on the house, and that only occurs when certain members of the family are asleep.

So with the kids in bed I was going to settle down with the book. Then I remembered that Monday night is 24 night. I set 24 to record so I can skip the adverts and picked up "Roadcookin".

I have spoken with the Author and he has agreed to let us post some of his recipes every week so I am going to pick some out .

That is good of him and they will be really useful to all truckers but I think just using a recipe once a week isn't enough.

The "Roadcookin" book really hits the nail on the head on the first few pages by explaining that trucking isn't just a job. It's a way of life.
Because it's a way of life , that means what you eat on the road affects you life and your health in ways that are exclusive to our job.

On average, we will get 45 minutes out of a 12 hour day to cook and eat our lunch out of a packet or a tin. When we stop out over night ,we have to cook and wash and then sleep in our vehicle. Pretty unique circumstances for most jobs.

The "Roadcookin" book is described as a manual as much as a recipe book and you need a copy with you in the cab at all times.

It can be your conscience when you are getting tempted by the quick fix on offer at the petrol station, "Roadcookin" will scream out at you , Stop!

I love the idea of this book and what it can give to all us road workers. And the co author Don has been so generous with his time speaking to me on twitter and on email.
Peaople are encouraged people to email him on his website www.roadcookin.com and he will even draw them up an eating plan . Don has the health of all Truckers both in the USA and now in the UK, close to his heart and I encourage you to take a look for your selves.

I hope for your sakes I get some work soon because I’m planning on getting Mr Motivator a slot on Lorryday if I still have to much time on my hands, and you don’t want to see me in Lycra.

I was up and out for 6 am today, 1 pallet to Halfords , booked for 9.30 but told to get in by 7.30.
I had a few food drops for a cash & carry near Heathrow and although it was only a small load, I knew it would take a while, so I thought it best to get in as early as possible.

The Halfords at Redditch is a strange place. When you arrive they give you a gate pass, that’s handed in at the drivers window, a tiny Perspex lean to, on the side of a concrete building.

A sign warns you not to bang on the window but to wait until someone comes to help you.

When you get onto a bay, you go back in to the warehouse and wait by that bay until the person in charge of it comes over to you.
Every bay has someone specific to unload it.
If your bay operator is due a lunch break, then you too have a lunch break.
Bay 2 could be sitting next to an empty bay and saying “he’ll be back in a minute drive “ or “tea break Drive”.

Lucky for me at 7.30 they were not due a tea break, so It didnt take that long and I was out in minutes.

I was going to arrive at the M25 just as the rush hour started so I decided to take my break on the M40 and get in a little later to avoid the Jams.

I arrived at the Cash & Carry for 10 am and sat watching lorry’s getting unloaded until 12, before they took my two pallets off.
I was ok waiting because I only had one more drop, it was in Market Harborough and would be a drag to get over to through all the market towns on a Friday.

I was going the right way when this was happening. Home.





These two had been like this for about 8 miles, no one giving way.

I was at that last drop when I got a message to collect in Leicester on the way back in.

I remembered last Friday sitting at the mustard factory until 5 pm, well this Friday I was standing in the back of an ever-expanding truck at the pickled onion factory humping 500 k pallets into place. 14 in all.


I finished at a slightly more respectful time of 4 pm but still didn’t finish unloading back at the yard until 6 .

Ill have a weekend to recover and then lets see what Monday brings.

Searching for St George

It was William Shakespeare's birthday yesterday so Happy Birthday Will.

I was finally out driving again on Thursday. In the cab for 5 am.
I did a tour of Norfolk,taking in Norwich and the east coast.

Kings Lynn for 7 am and an important delivery of a compactor for JCB to a plant company working on a farm in the village of Wormegay.

It only took a few minutes to unload and I set off for a little village in Norwich called Felthorpe.
It was a builders yard and again straight off. Three hours twenty minutes driven and I was on the way to West Mersea, an Island on the Coast near to Colchester.

Things were going really very well and I had a 45 minute break in a Lay by on the A 47.

I have a new eating regime to try and stop me eating all the junk I have been eating in the past. I bought a Tupperware lunch box and filled it with salad and Tuna. The idea is your meant to graze from the lunch box throughout the day and stop eating junk.
I had finished the box by 11 am and had found an Easter egg I had left in the cab from last week. Whoops.

All throughout the day I have been hearing about St Georges Day and how we don't celebrate it anymore.
Radio stations were trying to stir up controversy as usual and insist something sinister was going on but various historians came on and they all agreed that St Georges day has never really been celebrated in England because of a mix up over the Georges.
The Patron saint of England was actually a Palestinian and made his name by defying the Roman Empire. He was killed and became a martyr . The other George was a bit of a rogue and the establishment were embarrassed by his behaviour and have tried to forget him.
I didn't see much evidence of communities celebrating the day so I guess it's all media hype, made up to take our minds off the Budget.

It was a slow day today but a long one. I had been to the Island of Mersea and my last drop was at the John Lewis in Stevenage. I wasn't on a schedule but I did have to make use of every minute of driving time if I was to get back home tonight. I went across country along the A120 and I must of met every tractor in Sussex

It was a really nice drive, I made good time and arrived with plenty of time to get home.
John Lewis tipped me really fast and I was turned around in under 15 minutes.
I had to take another 45 minute break on the way home so I stopped on the A 14.
While I was sitting in the cab clock watching I couldn't help thinking how close to the countryside I felt. I could here the lambs bleating as if they were right next to me and I could certainly smell them.
I wound down the window and looked at the trailer next to me. DOH !!

I had done a ten hour drive and not seen a Motorway. That's a good day.

I got back to our Yard at 7pm and loaded up for my trip into the smoke for Friday.

Its food again so be prepared for a moan or two later.

'Simply Food'

Simply Food – Tracking down decent food on the road



I usually make some sandwiches to take out with me but my main problem is time. I work unusual hours so it’s hard to prepare any decent meals because of the uncertainty. If I make sandwiches and leave for work in the early hours, by the time I eat them they will be all soggy, crushed and horrible. If I buy sandwiches or other food on the road it either costs a small fortune or tastes disgusting. When I then get hungry I’ll go for chocolate bars and sugary foods like wine gums to eat throughout the day that give me a short burst of energy. Healthy food costs more on the road so most of us make do with junk.



I usually take my breaks on a motorway if I can because I can at least use the toilet facilities. If I’m lucky I will find a ‘Simply Foods’ from Marks and Spencer, then I can usually afford to get myself a small lunch of a basic sandwich and a desert. I usually buy a bottle of their water as well.



I have a small problem with ‘Simply Food’ though and that is, they are not always simple to find. The signs are huge. But the shops can be difficult to track down. Take this one I was looking for on the M6 near Lancaster. I saw the massive sign emblazoned across the footbridge and thought ‘great, bottle of water and a cheapish sandwich, maybe even some mints.’



I followed the sign.



And found…



Another sign…



And another sign…



And so on.



And so on.

And so on



I eventually arrived but it was a long way away from the lorry parking area. It started me thinking about our food options out on the road. We only get a 45 minute break and some of us are advised to split that into one 15 minute and then a 30 minute break.



I didn’t work on Monday or today so I spent some time looking at diets. Not the losing weight type of diet but what sort of food I regularly eat. I do always think about what I eat, it’s just that I don’t do anything about it. It’s not a problem exclusive to me. A lot of lorry drivers are running serious health risks every day by not being able to buy, cook and eat healthy food. It’s a national problem.


I usually work a day job with the very occasional night out, but a lot of drivers live in the cab all week and have to rely on their own cooking skills and the in-cab facilities to rustle up a half decent and healthy meal. There are lots of reports around that list the health risks of being a lorry driver, and after a few of my close friends were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I have been thinking more carefully about my eating habits. I found very little literature in the UK on the subject of eating well on the road.
some articles I found feature here but might be a little out of date.
and another here
and another here which seems like clearstone nonsense.

I did find a brilliant book and a great website in the USA called ‘Roadcookin': A long haul driver's guide to healthy eating’. I met the co-author Don Jacobson on Twitter; he follows my blog. I asked him if he would be interested in helping out us truckers across the pond and he said he would be delighted.




I offered to place a link to his book on the UK Amazon website on my main blog page because he doesn’t ship it out of America himself. In return he will give me a weekly recipe to post on my blog. I have ordered his book and I will also post with his permission any recipe ideas I think might translate well over here. Don did say we would have to adjust the portion sizes to suit the UK!



I have also ordered a new book called ‘The Lunch Box Diet’. For those drivers like me who usually do get to sleep in their own bed at least some nights of the week, this system involves simply making a healthy lunchbox the night before, like a chicken salad for example, and grazing on it through the day. You would also eat a healthy breakfast in the morning and a good meal at night. I haven’t spoken with anyone connected to this book or the website, it’s just a book I have bought, but I will keep you posted as to how I get on.




I’m keen to raise awareness of this issue and have found some research into the problem of lorry drivers’ diet in the UK, but it seemed to be a few years ago. The web pages I have read can be found here: insert links …



We need our own Jamie Oliver to stand up for us and do something to improve the availability of good food on our roads, but I think we are pretty much in the back of most peoples' thoughts as usual. We can all start to improve our own health by at least thinking about what we eat and trying to improve our diet. I have noticed our European cousins cooking at the side of the road while my fellow countrymen stand in line at the Burger King or McDonalds. It seems to be a cultural thing, and just like our children are being re-educated in our school dinner halls , we might need to be re-educated in the lorry cabs across Britain.

Obama Get Me Out Of Here

‘Obama get me out of here’


If some of you read yesterdays post you will know I was at home most of the day after an early run into the yard.
I took the chance to visit the Dr because its pretty difficult to get the time usually .

The Dr was a Locum and he was very Interested to hear I was a Lorry driver. He asked me if I had taken my medical at the surgery.

I was wondering if my dodgy internet medical had something to with the state of my health. The Dr, sensing my alarm explained he was looking into offering them privately for professions that required them.

I was relieved and told him I didn’t have a medical at the practice because they wanted £90 and that was two years ago.
I told him about the website sticky on Trucknetuk and how I went to an old rugby club and paid £30.

The Docs eyes lit up and wondered whether any one would pay £40 and I said probably yeah.
He was going to look into it.

I left with my prescription in my hand and the Doc thanking me for his consultation.
Ill have to look out for him in the newbie’s section on the forum.


As regard today’s lorry day, here it is.


Friday.
3.15 am woke up got in the lorry for 4 am .
I had a nice drive ahead of me up to Hull.

I decided to ditch the radio because I was sick of hearing about endangered chimps ,over fished cod and wannabe shock jocks trying to make a name for themselves by patronizing early morning or late night callers, either too dumb or too drunk to notice.

I decided to move the dab dial out of the talk stations and found GOLD it was brilliant. There wasn’t many adds and I was swamped with hit after feel good hit over and over again, it made the journey fly by and I was running underneath the Humber bridge before I knew it.


My blog is written as stuff happens so this morning I was out of the information loop and wrote about my day off, but by the time I was finished in Hull it was 8 am and on my way to Barnsley. Gold was playing more ads and it was getting on my nerves so I switched back (Kid Jenson turned up later so I escaped lightly I think)

I heard a news report about the CIA and how President Obama had released all the details of the Torture techniques, It involved putting people in enclosed spaces with scary insects and let them be bitten, pretend to drown them , sleep depravation and generally throw them around, bully and intimidate them.
I thought it was the details of the new ‘Celebrity get me out of here Show’.

I had one flooring drop and four food drops today and the thing I hate about food drops is the amount of paperwork they have.

I have a pallet of mustard and four pages of paperwork. They all need signing and copying and counting and stapling.

I had a drop in Barnsley that was at a Netto store.
Netto have this policy were you drive the lorry, you unload the lorry and you load (if applicable) the lorry.
Their staff smile and open the doors for you.
I had to drop the tailift onto this bay and then unload my pallet and then collect a return pallet full of Pickled Onions, The paperwork was sent separately on another pallet for that one! (joke)




I was expecting a nice simple run back from The Netto store and drop a pallet into Chesterfield on the way down the M1 and then the Cab computer went off and Im sitting at the mustard makers factory now waiting for 13 pallets to go back to my yard.
Its 4:15 pm and not a site of a forklift.


Ill leave you with this weird sticker I saw on a truck that was in front of me.


Its Friday so If I ever get out of here tonight Ill be delivering mustard on Monday.
Update I got out with and Ill post an update later . its 5 pm now.

The 24 Hour Job

This is the first post on my new blog at roadtransport.com. They asked me to write my lorryday blog here.

I started work yesterday at 5 a.m. and I finished this morning at around 8 a.m.
I don’t want to get the WTD police on my case so I’ll explain.

I had to have a night out but I wasn't prepared for it. I didn’t have a change of clothes or any provisions so it felt like I hadn’t stopped working for 24 hours.
I know I should always be prepared, and when I looked at my run the night before I should have known better. I even posted it here and on the trucknetuk forum.
I’ll list it here again. Started out from home in Leicester at 4.30 this morning. It was thundering and lightning and throwing buckets.
This was the M25 at 6.30.



I had my first drop in Horely Nr Gatwick Airport, 30 doors in frames to a building site for Jewsons.
I was behind this Moffet driver.

I wish I had one of these, none of that handball nonsense. I’d be "right then where do you want it?” No more being invisible at the Goods In office.

After the Gatwick drop I had some more doors going to Dartford, just next to Bluewater shopping centre.
It was in the middle of a new housing estate and wasn’t showing up on my sat nav. I stopped and looked up the company on my Mini Dell laptop and found the street I needed. It was in an area called Greenhithe, that’s why the Sat Nav couldn’t find it, it was looking for streets in Dartford.

When I arrived I found an empty building site and drove up a long muddy track and eventually came to a cabin and a solitary JCB. They didn’t know what I was doing there because as usual they didn’t know their head from someone elses arse. The lad in the High Viz with the Clipboard insisted they hadn’t ordered anything and that all the houses were completed.

I explained to him that all I knew was the address and the plot numbers (which were both correct and stated on the paperwork). After much umming and erring he decided to play safe and take them off. Just as I was pulling the curtains closed the boss turned up and guess what? Insisted he hadn't ordered anything either.

I suggested they took off the shrink wrapping on the pallet and looked at them. "Oh yeah" was the unanimous cry, "the doors for plots blah blah and blah!!"
Paperwork signed and a very slidy reverse out into a very trendy and highly populated housing estate later I was heading for Job Three.

This is on my way into London and when the batteries in the camera decided to go flat.


Job three was the job from hell.
A building site right in the heart of The City of London, the banking district. I was expecting to find a ghost town, tumbleweed blowing down empty streets, pass by empty sushi bars and bistro's, see destitute beggars in shabby pinstripe suits selling the FT and have to fight my way past desperate men shouting "Giz a Job!" in cut-glass accents. But I was suprised to see sharp suited men and women lying on the grass (yes real grass) outside trendy gastro pubs drinking pints of chilled beer and ice cold shiraz chatting and smiling. I found the building site and was directed to the Goods In entrance and that’s when every thing came to a grinding halt.

I had a name and a telephone number but that wasn't good enough for them.
The kind security guard, who had watched me nearly wipe out a few ‘bankers’ because they were desperate to cross the road while I was getting an 18 tonne truck into the underground car park, decided it would be best if I kept going around the block until I could find the person I needed!! What??
But as some of you drivers will know, like London traffic wardens ,there is no reasoning with a building site security guard.

So I was driving around the Barbican area and past the London Wall and then back up to Silk street until my boss could get in touch with the person I needed.
I had been around four times when I was waved down and went back into the underground loading area. Twenty minutes later and I was out and looking for Job Four.

Job Four was 40 packs of flooring to Brentwood. It was a brand new Community centre and they had just finished the tarmac literally 30 minutes before I got there. That meant I couldn’t back into the car park and use the tail-lift so it had to be handballed off. The two lads that drew the short straw were not best pleased.

My last drop was Ipswich, well a little village, right in the middle of weight limit hell (again) called Nedding in Tye or something like that. The load was a tiny air vent and here I was fighting my way through tiny country lanes at about five minutes to five getting diverted at every bloody road I needed. It was eating into my driving hours and I was still three hours away from home. I only made it back to Cambridge services and I was very close to ten hours. I got settled for the night and was listening to the Man United game. I didn’t hear the goal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyrgvCwszzc because I fell fast asleep and woke around 1 am to the sound of fridges and trailer changes.
Just before 6 a.m. and I set off for home and parked up in the yard. Work said they would phone if anything came in but I had a day at home.

I am in Hull for 7 a.m. so it’s time for bed.

A Flat Return

Thought Id start with this clown that was overtaking me this morning on his phone and then cutting in without a signal.

I had a really relaxing Easter break and I was feeling great.
I got my start time from work, 6am. That was ok. I didn’t mind at all really , A nice early run up to Leeds and then over to Selby, Easy.

I arrived in the yard a little bit earlier than 6 and prepared my truck for the day.

I logged into my cab computer and turned the key , nothing . I turned again , it was flat. I looked around the yard and a few of the lorries were still in so I jumped into one and pulled it up to the side of my Daf and connected the jump leads.
The Daf always goes flat if left for a while so I assumed it had been sitting for most of that week.

I was up and running in about 20 minutes and after reading my notes that were left in the cab I found that I was booked in at Curry’s in Newark at 9 am with another pallet at the same depot for 11.30 am.
It was 6.30 and I would be there in an hour. A long wait expected, I set off.
I arrived at Curry’s in Newark very early for my delivery and I expected the gate house to refuse me.
I had a carton for 9 am and a pallet for 11.30 and I didn’t think they would be very sympathetic.
Security at the gate let me go round to the warehouse I needed after putting a seal on just about every curtain strap he could see.
Feeling optimistic I went into the drivers room and handed my paperwork in at the window.

I explained my situation and they were incredibly helpful, kind, polite, even generous. I was totally amazed and thought this was to good to be true. I was an hour and a half early for one delivery and 4 hours early for my 2nd and they were smiling and saying “Yeah no problem drive, pull onto 66 we’ll take them both off for you no problem”.
Not the usual distribution centre treatment I’m sure most of you drivers will agree.

Well it was to good to be true but the people actually helping me weren’t to blame.
It turns out the 11.30 pallet was packaged all wrong.
It was supposed to be in packs of four and it was actually in packs of 25.

They had accepted it on behalf of another warehouse (next door) and when that warehouse had found out it was boxed wrongly they had given instructions to refuse it. Hardly the crime of the century you would of thought but that’s big business for you, give a small cog in that business a tiny bit of power and they will abuse it.

The receiving department I was parked at were really apologetic and insisted they wouldn’t of been so petty but they couldn’t overrule anybody so I was left to bring it back to the original customer for repackaging.
I can only imagine the cost to the environment let alone the cost to the company's who have to return the goods because this is a very common practice in this Industry.

I was still ahead of schedule and I had some drops to make in Leeds. They were both quite easy although the one at the Go Outdoors store involved a tricky reverse off the main road into the tiny loading bay on the front
and the Leeds Water board left me at their front gate long enough to have a 15 Minute Tacho break , (with change) if I had of wanted to.


All Over in Leeds and I had to get rid of the 2.5 tonne in the middle of the deck at a tractor dealer in Selby.
I had been here before so It was easy to find and get off. I found another of those Tracked Cats I saw at another dealers.


I took a 45 minute break on the M62 and saw this bloke doing a trailor swap.

I had to find an old airfield in a place called Breighton. There was a food processing plant on it that had three pallets for us.

I was loaded in no time and reversed out and set off the way I had come in because of a lot of nasty weight limit diversions.

It was two hours back but I didn’t get back to our yard until 5 ish because I had to drop the 3 pallets off at Freight link , They are a forwarder we collect for. They were all going home at 4.30 !! Lucky for some.

I am loaded for a long run tomorrow taking in West Sussex , Dartford, East London , Brentwood and Ipswich.


Im off to bed.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Lorryday and Feathery.

The Sand Storm

I have taken a week off from work this week and decided to make use of my favourite Aunts holiday home on the east coast of England.
It’s a brilliant location, right on the beach.
We drove up to the sea front yesterday evening and saw the prettiest sunset I have seen for years, hovering over the horizon was a swirl of pinks, reds and soft oranges that made the whole family stand in silence and admire it.

I decided to leave my other half in peace this afternoon and take the kids back up to the beach to show them the sea and play with the buckets and spades.
As it’s only a few hundred yards we loaded up the pushchair and walk.

We got to the top of the hill and it was a little breezy, well when I say breezy there has been a weather warning in this part of the country regarding gale force winds.
I decided to carry on and we arrived on the beach with the sand whipping into our faces I had the little one in the pushchair and I pulled the hood down but still the sand lashed into him.
He was squealing in delight and we struggled over to find some shelter behind a small sand dune.
I took him out of his pushchair and it flew across the sand, I had to chase after it while holding onto his arm and keep him from falling over.
His sister was trying to throw the Frisbee but it was flying over backwards over her head. The spade was pulled out of her hands and she had to chase after it along with the bucket.
The kids had been driving me mad to go to this beach since I mentioned it earlier so I was reluctant to give in but it was really impossible to stay.
"Come on" I said lets go to find the sea, I was running toward the sea that’s had left the beach because of the tide and the wind was pushing me backwards "No" said the kids "we want to go home".
I didnt need much persuading to get off that beach. It looks very pretty deserted and now I know why.
The Vacation continues but with Tonsillitis striking and gale force winds along with a dramatic drop in temperature predicted tonight, I don’t hold much hope for us seeing out the week.

Cab Essentials part 1

I have decided to write a review of some of the Items I use on a daily basis.



I am starting with the Sony e reader because since I found this gadget it has made life sitting on a bay for hours on end a pleasure and no longer a chore.
I love the idea of the e reader by Sony, hundreds of books all in one place and all available with the push of a button. I have books all over the cab and they always get filthy and dog eared. I always lose my page when I have to put them down because the red light on the bay changes to green and they want their bay back.
Another thing with a paper book is that if you take it into a waiting room , every one can see what your reading ( well the ones who can read anyway) and I'm a little shy about sharing my reading habits especially when I'm picking up the free books in the waiting room at Blacks In Northampton, ( at least I hope theyr'e free).
The e reader looks and feels sleek and its covered with a really nice brown leather cover that opens out like a book. You simply press a button to bookmark a page and press it again to remove it. Perfect for those fast exits off the bays or traffic warden moments in London.

It comes with 100 classic titles to start you off from William Shakespeare to Treasure Island.
You turn the page by clicking an easy to find button that sits naturally in your grip as you hold the device.

The bad points about the e reader are the fact it doesn't have a backlit screen so you need a light on to read in low light situations ,that's just like reading a paper book you might say, well yes but this costs £200 +.
Other things I am not happy about are the the battery life, It lasts at least a day on one charge, but I once left this switched off,unused at home for a week when I got my new Laptop. I went to pick up the Robinson Crusoe Story again and the e reader wouldn't start up.
It needs to be charged like an Ipod , plugged into a computer via a usb lead.
They sell a mains charger separately which I think should be included because not everyone will be computer literate.
The mains lead is also very expensive at £24. I use my PSP charger to charge my ebook as its less hassle than plugging it in to the Laptop.
The price of ebooks are also prohibitive because even with the offers they have on at the minute they are still £6-£10.
The books are downloaded via a sort of Itunes system on the Waterstones website.

I have seen a light on Amazon that's used for the ebook, it has great reviews. I don't think Ill get one though because I only really use it in the truck.

Ill post an Amazon link to the Sony ebook for you to get all the technical specs.



The link to the Sony e reader light is here.

That Shearer Feeling

Thought this would be Topical








I had two drops in Northampton today and they both went really well.
The last one was booked in for 11 am and I was a bit worried they might not let me tip so early because I was ringing the intercom at 8.30 :D .
The security guard was really helpful and got me onto Bay 4 . I was out of there after 15 minutes.Perfect.
That meant I would be nice and early for my last drop in Bedford.
It was a tonne of wood flooring at a private address and I was dreading it , wood floors at private address's usually mean lots of lifting and carrying. l rang them and told them I would be with them in around an hour.
I made good time and pulled up next to a very , very long drive. I was gutted but then noticed the builders vans and felt a lot better.
After letting them know I was there I started to try and move the pallet of wood toward the back of the truck and on to the tail lift.
I was making good progress , about an inch an hour, when the lady of the house appeared , obviously wondering where her floor was.
I was in a tiny street with parked cars everywhere and it was in a cul-de- sac.
I had to move the truck three times for her neighbours to get past.
The customer came out and said "why send such a big truck for such a small load"?
Here I was puffing and panting and struggling up the deck of the lorry with a tonne of bamboo flooring the size of a small flat and she is worried about the size of the truck.
It was a good job I was breathless.
I was polite as ever and pointed out that it was the trucks last drop and I had been on delivery's earlier on in the day.
I managed to get the pallet to the taillift and dropped the whole lot on to the side of the road where the builder asked me to leave it. He wanted to get the vans out of the drive and that suited me.
The lady signed the paper "unchecked"!
I went back to base and Finished for the day.

A few things about the day caught my attention , I heard Lewis Hamilton begging for forgiveness for telling an untruth but then insisting he is not a liar. I feel sorry for Lewis though because it seems he cant do anything right. He pulls over and lets them pass .Penalty.He passes and then lets Ferrari have the place back (last season) Penalty.

Later on in the day I heard Porky and Townsend on Talk Sport scaremongering about Google street maps and trying to link it with a spate burglary's callers had suffered after their houses had appeared on it.
I love street map. I have found lots of hard to pin down delivery's on it already.

One last thought Ill leave you with.
I saw this van on the road .
It might not be clear but does he look like a roofer or a burglar. not really dressed for work is he!
Im off for a week but I think Ill be doing some kit reviews this week if I get time form all my own DIY chores .

Fen Lands

I was at it very early today. I had to deliver a 2.5 tonne load to a tractor dealer in Littleport near Ely in Cambridgshire. It was a two and a half hour drive. I was there by 8 am and found this beast in their workshop.



I had the pallet on the rear doors and it was that heavy that when they started to lift it off, the forklift tipped forward and the rear wheels were off the ground .The driver went a whiter shade of pale. He panicked and dropped it back on the truck. Nice and easy he tried again with the big tractor that was taking it off rocking back and forward.
It didn't take long to get the paperwork signed and I was off to the next drop.


It was another 2 and a bit hours away in Halesworth, it had an Ipswich postcode but was nearer to Lowestoft. Lots of nice flat but very winding roads. I passed an Air force base in Mildenhall.that seemed to go on for ever .
I had a drop in a private house, a pack of wood flooring that was put away in the tidiest garage I have ever seen in my life. Everything had its own place it was meticulous .
I felt guilty just slinging his delivery all over the floor. (Joke) I stacked it in the already designated area all ready for when he came home from work.

I took my Tacho break outside the house because I had driven 4h, 27 minutes and planned the route to the next Drop this factory right next to white hart lane in Tottenham.

I opened up the curtains and found that the top pallet had slipped a bit because it was full of rubber car mats and they had shifted.
I had to lift them off and re stack them to get them off.

This was where they were going.



I had another drop around the corner, just one pallet and then home. it was a long day and I had to run a ten hour driving time shift so I needed another break on the way home. I stopped at Toddington and these boys turned and livened things up a bit.