picture quality for this diary aint that good 
sunday night
1700 start tonight. so off i set at 1630 and get to the yard about 1645 its absolutley raining hard 
. get the keys for the truck from security. tonight its one of the 56 plate fmâs. on nights you dont get the same truck all week as it all depends on which of the day lads is night outting.
get a brew and grab my paperwork ,and it tells me i need trl 42 to go over to wolverhampton swop trailers and head off to burtonwood.
so its off down the a38 where 300 yards on to it 2 cars have aquaplaned into the trees 
and there was only a ambulance on scene and one of the technicians was directing traffic. onto the a5 then the a460 onto the a449 onto the wolves ringroad. you can go either way round the ring road to banksâs and youâll eventually reach it. .
security guy opens the gate for me and i was greated with âalllriiggghtt matteeâ 
he asked me what i was picking up and he told me i needed trailer 47 for burtonwood.
dropped and opened the curtains on 42 and hitched up to 47 and fastened the clips checked all lights were working and off we go .
round the ring road and join the a449 all the way through penkridge and join the m6 at junction 13 at stafford. the m6 was quite busy tonight and i dont think i got much above 45 all the way to stafford services. where i indulged in one of my passions⌠eating.
grabbed a burger king and 15minutes later im back on the road and its still slow all the way up to junction 19 where it eased and over therwell onto the m62 and come off at the st helens junction. turn towards sthelens and when you get to the roundabout for somerfields you take a left instead and then first right and then right again into suttons yard.
i got there and alan the guy who come drect from burton had just finished tipping and reloading (result 
) and i went straight into the warehouse opened the curtain and stuck it on break .as i was free to drink as much free coffe as posible
takes them about a hour to tip it . in the mean time the local scroates are trying to shoot fireworks into the warehouse 
and then its around the back to load the empty kegs for wolverhampton.
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got them chucked on .
its a uneventfull trip back to wolves and whe are on the limiter because theres no traffic. back into the yard and its trl23 that needs to go back to burton, which will end up going to mansfield sometime tommorow.
back to burton and knock off at 1am
monday night
tonight or should i say this afternoon its a 1600 so i arrive about 15.45 drop tachos in for the previous week have a brew and a natter to the lads in transport. get the keys and paperwork (same truck as last night ) and off up the yard to find it .
graham has done me proud and hitch my trailer up for me and i ahve 26 pallets on for west hallam. after a quick walk round to make sure the lights are working. where off down the a38 to derby.traffic is quite light for this time of night.
my first mistake was to go up the a609 into west hallam as ive been to the storage depot before (but it was 7 years ago in a 17 toner). gets to the turning i need and it has a weight restriction on it . so i end up going into ilkeston and coming back out on the spondon road.
gets to the depot 5 mins after my booking time (rembering the 20 mph speed limit on site)and im straght on a bay.
bloody hell are they quick here(might have something to do with the fact they use a fork lift truck on the back of a curtainsider ) and im out in 20 minutes.
quick trip over to mansfiled depot and swop trailersfor one loaded for hull. theres two off us running up there and malc has done all the clips on the curtains for me . a quick brew and were off.
uneventfull run up the m1 /m18/m62 and a63 and were into hull by half eight. we tip malcâs truck first and load empty cask and pallets on to his (hes runnig back to mansfiled) then collecting a emptys railer for wolves. then tip mine and load kegs to go straight back to burton.
i call in the total garage by the humber bridge for my break and head back to burton. yet again uneventfu exept for the fog on the m18
back in the yard wash truck drop trailer hitch grahams up for him fuel up and off home for 1.30
tuesday night
start time for tonight was 1730 so i got to the yard at 17.15. collected my paperwork and tonights delivery is for bookers at hatfield and waitrose at bracknell.
same truck as previous nights and graham as hitched up for me. quick walk round checking the usual suspects and put me tacho card in. a quick scan of my paperwork and im booked in at hatfield for 19.50 . now unless volvo have put wings on the unit overnight , that aint going to happen 
so off we go into rush hour traffic and head out of burton
down the a38 and join the m42 at the belfrey.onto the m6 (bit sticky around coventry) and onto the m1.the m1 was flowing alright all the way down to luton.where it came to a halt. with it being 19.20 already i belled the office and told them to ring bookers. tell them im going to be half hour late.
with the traffic not moving i decided to cut my losses and go through luton onto the a505 into hitchin then the a609 to the a1 and go that way.even though theres roadworks on the a1 its straight through and i arrive at bookers at 20.20.
eventually on a bay by 21.15 and tipped in 15 minuts the 14 pallets i had for them.
didnt mind the wait as they got a coffee machine and you could sit in your cab if you wanted.
eventually out of there by 22.00 and back on the a1 down to the m25 and around to the m4 over to the a329(m) and into bracknell. made good timeand arrived at waitrose at 23.20.
booked in with the gatehouse and he rings them up and im on bay 259. ive never been before so the guy directs me where to go and he keeps the paperwork which he sends over in one of those shoot things.
open the doors backs on the bay and hang my keys up where instructed and press the button to turn the lights red. here you have to stand by the bay whilst there tipping you and the guy checks around each pallet to make sure its not broke.
sods law the last pallet is broke and i get the option of either restaking it or taking it back with me. with us being own account i decided to restack it (80 bloody cases)
heres the damaged pallet
he finishes checking the load off and theres one pallet that wont scan so that ends up going back on the truck and im away for 00.30.
back onto the m4 and up the a34 to join the m40 then onto the m42 and then onto the a38. got as far as alrewas and theve shut the a38 and get diverted via kings bromley and yoxall and end up coming back into burton from five lane ends.
in the yard ,wash down ,fuel up, drop trailer ,book the pallet back to stock that come back from waitrose, hook up grahams for 5am and knock off at 4am
jon
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