The Good Old Days?

You young whippersnapper, you need the cat o nine tails for that slander :smiley: :smiley: when us oldens talk about the good old days, it aint necessarily about the trucks we drove, and the lack of a heater, let alone a night heater…aircon, even a radio…we had to carry our own portable with a piece of wire sticking out of it. bits of string to stop the mirrors folding in, and a bit of cloth to keep them clean…oh no…that was a bit later…lol anyway, what the good old days were about was…plenty of places to park…in town centres on the old bombed out sites…a few bwers and fish and chips after and still had change from our night out money of £1.25…we didnt have planners, the boss did the planning…and he had done the job himself…no mobile phones, you were given your work and phoned the office when tipped from a cl box with fourpence…got it back if you were lucky, and claimed it on expenses…once i learned how to tap the phone…it was fre calls all the way and a few extra coppers at the end of the week in phone expenses…ha ha most of the work was a see ya when you get back attitude no phoning every hour to see where you are or asking why youve stopped..we met other drivers in the flea pits, we mixed freely and always willing to lend a hand roping and sheeting. Later on on international work, it was heres you collection, heres the delivery, heres the return load…see ya when you get back, and most still had no sleeper cab…or the comfort you ■■■■■■■ have today…we made transport what it is, let alone the guys who did long haul, and some of them didnt have a sleeper either…we did our own repairs, we changed wheels…and some even mended the punctures, all at the side of the road…high viz hadnt been invented…neither had a mobile…once again, we called from a public phone, or from the premises we were at…and they didnt mind one bit…we were actually glad to meet a fellow brit as well, rand back together, shared a beer or two, and ate together …our music was from an 8 track ( ask your grandad ) or a cassette…later we had the comfort of radio 4 across a lot of europe, that kept us in touch with dear old blighty…all in all, it was a lot easier back in the olden days…no rush, get there when you did, tip when you can etc etc…far better than todays office bods who have forced drivers to work 15 hours and the minimum rest, to squeeze the most out of drivers for ■■■■ money, in which transport has always paid…even today…but back then, we got our nights out before we went away…so always had cash on us… we only worked a 12 hour day…unless you were driving a scania or volvo, in which case to pay for it…you had to work longer hours…we fiddled the log books…we fiddled the permits, and most carried a printing outfit for this purpose…ha ha …even when the tachos came out, we would still run as bent as muck…but paid our way ( the boss paid the fines ) if we were stopped…coffee money…lol …the job was a pleisure, we looked forward to getting up and going to work…marriages were lost, and found along the way, we sacrificed them for money, or the job we loved, but left a lot behind in doing our job. The warehouses welcomed us, made us comfortable by making us tea, non of this H&S ■■■■■■■■, steel toe capped boots, high-viz or whatever, and we would often see the same crew the following week…theres a great deal to tell of our past, and for a lot of us, we wont forget, we were proud to do what we did…but not many whinged about it…not like today…we just got on with the job in hand which some were dirty, others better, we took the rough with the smooth, in all weathers, and with ropes and sheets of which we still bear the scars…so you can keep your modern day, with the latest trucks, 12 spotlamps and all mod cons, for you are nothing like the drivers of yesteryear, but i can tell you this, we earned the title of Knights of the road, unlike todays steering wheel attendant…gert you cowson… :smiley: :smiley: