Incommunicado !!

Sometimes this blog has pictures that make no sense at all and today is one of those days!

Sometimes pictures say more than words but sometimes words are required.

Sometimes things go great at work and sometimes things don't.

Firstly, I get in the truck, and apart from the awful tat the driver pinned up all over the thing such as an iveco flag in the middle of the windscreen and above the table, frilly curtains, iveco all round. Front and sides, nameplate that lights up !!,England  flag on back wall , iveco chrome wheel trims, electric grill in between the seats, there is a distinct lack of fuel and Adblue so off I go to the fuel depot to fill up.

Settle into my run with a delivery in Guilford for 9 am. its 5 now so plenty of time.

I get to Guilford at about 7.45 so settle back in the seat and wait until the shop opens.

I can't get on the bunk because a) its not my truck and it doesn't feel right and b) its not my truck and it doesn't smell right.

I go through the rest of the run while i'm waiting and notice a few discrepancies such as a collection in Woking next and then a delivery to poole folowed by chandlers ford and finish near basingstoke before coming back up.

I decided to change thing around and finally finished in Ferndown with a straight run back up.

everything would've gone pretty smoothly,  even when I found the collection note with £250 stapled to it, I could've asked the office. 

Its a shame then that o2 decided to have a blonde moment, and my signal dropped off my iphone.

I had to call a customer 1 hour ahead and confirm the cash collection, i had to confirm a few returned pallets and I had to get a pin number for the fuel card.

After doing the usual things like switching the phone on and off numerous times and removing the sim card and rubbing it with rubber , (yeah I know!) i realised it must be the network, I mean im on o2 so i should've realised that a lot sooner.

I was on the M3 and decided the best thing was to call the office from a pay phone.

I had plenty of cash and a credit card so I didn't foresee a problem.

The phone box wanted 60p for a call and it didn't accept £1 coins, funny that because it didn't give them back either.

I rang the operator to explain it had taken my money and he just told me it wasn't  his department. yes he was the BT operator and Yes it was a BT phone but it still wasn't his department.

plan b was the credit card.I was put straight through to an american operator but he said my card wasn't valid as it was a certain type of visa or something, I was contemplating smashing the phone up when I had a brain wave.

I went into the macdonalds and attempted to log onto the free wifi  i could text and face time my wife at home and she could ring work and get them to text me any info i needed to my terminal in the truck, mine is one way only incoming.

Macdonalds needed me to register to access the wifi, i have used it many times and it still seems to want me to register, i registered and the message comes up , we have sent your access code to your mobile phone !! 

I have no mobile coverage so i have to fill out an online application, its long and my fingers are hitting the wrong buttons, a lot so i'm very close throwing the phone when im in.

I text the wife and i walk away as i'm texting and lose coverage !! i'm out again, register again it says on the screen. 

Well i didn't register again, I drove off and decided to just get on with my deliveriey's.

I got around them all eventually but it was 12 hours into my shift when I saw a quaint red  phone box at the side of a lay by , shining out like a beacon in my time of need with ample parking.

It seemed heaven sent, I took a handful of silver, kindly left by the holidaying driver and depositing my last remaining £1 coin in its place I set off for sanctuary, 

I had lost all signal on my phone at 10 am and it was now close to 5 pm, my iphone had become just a very pretty but expensive ipod in my hand.
I felt isolated  cut off and helpless. Its amazing how much we rely on technology these days, a few hours without communication and I was practically stranded.

Opening the door to the old fashioned red phone box I could sense civilisation was only a few numbers away and I lifted up my hand to enter the  coins into the slot.... but there was no slot, only a sign saying this telephone box is a coin free telephone.

I wanted to weep, to slump to the floor in a heap, I had driven 150 miles down the backbone of England with only radio 5 to keep me company and i was so close to reaching someone on the other end of a telephone to check in for return load instructions and  a refuel number and it was snatched away in a sentence.

I decided to be reckless and rang 100 and reversed the charges, told my name to the computer nice and clearly for the receptionist to hear in the office, I waited, and waited, and waited,and finally , they refused !!! refused , all day without so much as a whiff from me, out in their truck all day and wanting to know simple logistical things like , where to go next , etc etc and they refuse.

I reversed again and had my wife do what they should of done several hours ago and send everything to my terminal. it was a long drive back and funny enough I had just enough fuel to get back to our fuel depot and landed bang on 8 pm. lucky me.

All our company phones are on o2 so they lost a lot of drivers that day, they didn't lose what I lost though, I lost my dependency on my little bundle of electronics, I bought an orange pay as you go Today !