Once I left my house to go to work for 3 weeks sometimes more away[by my own choice ] I never really gave a thought to what was going on in the home,I would ring Saturdays once a week ,you cannot be away and have problems at home that you cannot deal with because where you are.you had to be on the ball ,in what you were doing.
I used to see, and hear men away from their familys,when parked up, getting all the ear bashing when ringing home,ringing home whenever they could,I understood that is what they wanted to do non of my business, but then they would come back all upset wanting to go home,I used to try to tell them how to go about it, a few days seemed like a life time to them, a lot of men used to jack the job in very soon, all the nice trucks alloy wheels,had its price to pay. but I expect I was a different generation.
Once I left the yard I never looked back, I did the same ever where I moved to re guarding work, however I did go back to some companies so it did not amount to much,the old saying .[don’t look back]
At that time back home, we were in the process of having dorma windows, plus the whole roof space conversion fitted both sides to 3 bed rooms shower and toilet it would then be a 5 bed dorma bungalow a access from the lounge ,my sons who are carpenters [chippys]who lived in the midlands used to travel any where ,as subcontractors to work so long as the money was there.[just a point we now have total 4 chippy s in the family] all the work /alteration was to sleep to be able to sleep the grand children, and mums and dads when they came up to stay and that was regular.
I had nothing to do with the planning ,my wife and son did all the planning,I was told when it was all passed by the council,I Knew it would not affect me as you all know, us European drivers had one thing on our minds [when and where is my next trip],well I did ,perhaps it made me a bit selfish HOWEVER nothing wrong in enjoying what you did for a living no matter what so long as your happy,in fact not many jobs around as good as what we had, in my opinion,all the ferry crossing,food and drinking ,no pressure whatsoever, delivery times never rushed,good men to work with,it was a pleasure to be weekend with most,100%different from my fridge days.that is where I went wrong but did not know it,moving up north eventually got me to the right job after years of searching, then I get to lose it.I had no plans at retiring at 65 so long as my health held up,but it did not…
I sort of drifted away from the house running side of things i learned a very long time ago if your away, let your wife have the complete run of things,just say yes…
My main thing now was what was I going to do for employment i had no qualifications I was 58,virtually unemployable in any other sector away from transport.
I did not want to go digging holes, or working on a building site[labouring], but that was about my only option,to be honest I had never thought of any other employment ,I was a lorry driver.
I did toy with the idea of going over to Denmark to drive, I new they would check your licence, but not get in touch with Swansea ,why would they, however my wife put the blocks on that and took the doctors view that it could happen again .
It is easy to say [go get a job], yes ,but where, doing what, where I lived, I did go and walk in the local dole office [work finding ] there were jobs for cleaners,required,hospitalporters,etc,cooks,waiters ,bar staff,all domestic work, or the lady suggested go back to collage, I never had been,
if I had known about computer courses I would have maybe had a go at that ,I had only seen a lap top I had no idea how to work it, I could have maybe got in to a transport office, but that never once occurred to me.
I never signed on to the dole with the sick note ,as I asummed that you would have to go and try all the jobs they sent you to however the lady said I doubt at my age you will find any work at all.
I did not sign on the dole to recive any money from the state like sick pay I could have done until retirement age but I did not my choice, to be honest I did not want them asking questions etc enough said…
After a week getting my head around [not working ]my sons came up with a plan ,idea,as they employed quite a few chippys and all working away from home, on price work ,money was hard earned, but very good,they would be putting roofs on supermarkets type jobs or,university s from start to finish, as subcontractors, so there was flexibility, some day work some priced, booking more men on a job than were actually there,everything was priced down to nails.that is as much as I can say…
MY role was to stay at home, and finish off helping the lads doing our dormar,s helping out in general,some days they would send a couple of lads down for the day,as the main work was at Lancaster. I would help doing dopey jobs but it helped and it got me motivated.
We had a 8 panal Bowkers sheet[by permission] it was used to put over the roof to cover the work up when they used to go back , to their proper job ,they could not believe how heavy they were,when I told them we used to have two of them, plus two 4 panal sheets on general haulage, [before my time at Bowkers] .
Bowkers had a container full of sheets some new,I would have said that 75 % of drivers would have no idea how to use them properly ,and that is maybe a good thing I doubt sheeting loads will ever come back in to fashion,however I do understand the odd loads still get sheeted.
I was keeping busy and never went anywhere near trucks I could have went 10 mins down the road to FLEETWOOD watch the ferry,I just thought the lest I see the better.
I started to do a lot of walking as I was only 5 minutes from the sea front if the tide was out I would walk down to the main town,it was easy than pounding on the concrete,but I soon tired of that, you can only look out to sea for a certain length of time I need something to do,
We had two gate hanging brick pillars at the end of the drive I thought I will knock them down and put two more up,just like that,the knocking down and running the rubble down to the tip just something to do, I ordered some different bricks,sand cement got it all cleaned up, ready to start,I now know why the apprentice ship for trades men was 5 years/
,I thought it was easy ,I got the mix right, the bottom layer was ok then as it was growing up I had to use a spirit level,my fatal error,I was putting the upright level to the bricks and doing it wrong I could not see it,I was building a mini leaning tower,[on the ■■■■] of pisa it was not untill I stepped back I could see the mistake. That was the end of that.sons to the rescue…
I was! getting used to home life, it got a bit fraught at times ,as a women has different routines I could all ready cook so that was no problem .I seemed to sort of be in the way.
All the building work got finished all went well ,it was getting close to a year lots of visitors for holidays,I did relies that I had missed out on a lot of my children and grand children s lives I suppose putting my job first,in a way it did come first,it was my living,you can never get back what you have missed, so I expect that it was for me the downside of having a job that you enjoyed and would never change ,there is all ways a price to pay in all walks of life, I expect being apart from your wife,got that it was normal…
The summmer had arrived and one of my sons asked me would I like to go to BUTLINS at SKEGGNESS for a weeks holiday,to help look after the grand kids ,what a result,a week away on my own -ish.
Once there it was just the thing for children,fast food,entertainment and some beer for me ,my son did not drink at all or never smoked,in fact two sons being brought up by two parents who all ways smoked, they have never smoked.