Astran / Middle East Drivers

[whisperingsmith]

Thinking about the looming fuel & food cost crisis, I’m thinking of checking out recipes for those Turkish stews& casseroles we used to get in the Turkish roadside cafes in the winter.

Mainly pulses & beans with a smidgeon of lamb, very tasty and nutritious but cheap. Obviously have to soak the pulses/beans/peas overnight but - stick them in the slow cooker the next day with a few small bits of lamb etc. and a feast for dinner

Shop near me sells everything loose for half the price of the shops, you can even take and fill up your own jars (which they weigh).

Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.

[suedehead]

Not my pic

[lurpak]

Just heard that Richie Thorn past away yesterday, RIP Sir.
Ade

[erf-ngc-european]

lurpak:
Just heard that Richie Thorn past away yesterday, RIP Sir.
Ade

I’m sorry to hear that. I last shared shai with him at the Saudi border at Haditha over 20 years ago. RIP Richie.

[mushroomman]

It’s always sad to hear that another old Middle East driver has passed away and its even sadder when you realize that some of those drivers never joined Trucknet and now their stories and adventures will never be told or shared with people who never met them but who would be really interested in what they would have to say.

I am sure that anybody who met Richie would agree that he must have had some really interesting experiences during his time driving across Europe and Asia and over forty years ago I remember Richie as being what I would call a brilliant bush mechanic.
We have all heard most of the stories of drivers limping back from the Middle East with the help of a Coca Cola can, a piece of string, a length of wire or a chain and Richie was one guy who would use all those kinds of things to get your wagon mobile again. He was never scared of getting his hands dirty while working on other driver’s motors.

I remember him on two occasions after having a thirsty evening and screaming ‘GO THE FORESTERS’.

So, R.I.P. Richie and ‘GO THE FORESTERS’.

trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewto … hie+thorne

[dipster]

whisperingsmith:
Thinking about the looming fuel & food cost crisis, I’m thinking of checking out recipes for those Turkish stews& casseroles we used to get in the Turkish roadside cafes in the winter.

Mainly pulses & beans with a smidgeon of lamb, very tasty and nutritious but cheap. Obviously have to soak the pulses/beans/peas overnight but - stick them in the slow cooker the next day with a few small bits of lamb etc. and a feast for dinner

Shop near me sells everything loose for half the price of the shops, you can even take and fill up your own jars (which they weigh).

Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.

“Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.” Best order several tons of beans and a few sheep then. This may take some time…

[franglais]

Dipster:

whisperingsmith:
Thinking about the looming fuel & food cost crisis, I’m thinking of checking out recipes for those Turkish stews& casseroles we used to get in the Turkish roadside cafes in the winter.

Mainly pulses & beans with a smidgeon of lamb, very tasty and nutritious but cheap. Obviously have to soak the pulses/beans/peas overnight but - stick them in the slow cooker the next day with a few small bits of lamb etc. and a feast for dinner

Shop near me sells everything loose for half the price of the shops, you can even take and fill up your own jars (which they weigh).

Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.

“Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.” Best order several tons of beans and a few sheep then. This may take some time…

Beware cooking red kidney beans in a slow cooker: they need to be properly heated or they can cause sickness. Tinned ones are pre-cooked and fine.
Beware Brexit too, as discussing it can cause severe discomfort to some.

[dipster]

Franglais:

Dipster:

whisperingsmith:
Thinking about the looming fuel & food cost crisis, I’m thinking of checking out recipes for those Turkish stews& casseroles we used to get in the Turkish roadside cafes in the winter.

Mainly pulses & beans with a smidgeon of lamb, very tasty and nutritious but cheap. Obviously have to soak the pulses/beans/peas overnight but - stick them in the slow cooker the next day with a few small bits of lamb etc. and a feast for dinner

Shop near me sells everything loose for half the price of the shops, you can even take and fill up your own jars (which they weigh).

Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.

“Obviously, this is only a short-term measure until Liz Truss supercharges the Brexit benefits.” Best order several tons of beans and a few sheep then. This may take some time…

Beware cooking red kidney beans in a slow cooker: they need to be properly heated or they can cause sickness. Tinned ones are pre-cooked and fine.
Beware Brexit too, as discussing it can cause severe discomfort to some.

Living Brexit has caused severe discomfort and inconvenience to me!

[suedehead]

NMP

[justpassing]

Astran subbie

[les_sylphides]

Quite a useful way of avoiding having to have your unit signwritten. Some subbies were happy to run in Astran colours without the signing. This is a gift for modellers who would supplement their Astran fleets with subbies in their colours.

[les_sylphides]

[robthedog]

GW

[mushroomman]

sinbin31:
Spot on Wheel Nut , Pete my Brother was with the Dominoes ,the Trems and now with Alan Silson of Smokie he made several trips to Baghdad in the 80s before returning to music ,now resides in Germany Touring all over Europe and the Eastern Block countries ,Great drummer duoed with many top singers as a session drummer

Roger Haywood

Sorry to bump up a twelve year old post but I was watching a film a few nights ago called The Goodfellows. One of the songs in the film was one of those that I had not heard for years and I just couldn’t remember the name of it, so I had to sit watching all the credits at the end of the film.

It turns out that it was by Derek and The Dominoes, and I suddenly remembered that Roger Haywood a.k.a. Rita had mentioned something about his brother all those years ago.

So, after a bit of researching on a Sunday morning I came across this.

Does anybody else think that there is a resemblance between Rita and the guy at 3 min 21 secs, who starts bashing (Z.B.) out of the Gong at 3 mins 59 secs.

youtube.com/watch?v=Sb1qpuQoMxo

Roger Haywood, photo courtesy of Brian Holmes.

Rob The Dog, I am fairly sure that the Marathon belonged to Steve Greenwood and that Carl Jarman used to use Steve’s garage in Middleton to do a bit of maintenance work on his unit and trailer many years ago.

[les_sylphides]

[les_sylphides]

Where’s this then? To me it looks like Doha. But it could be Kuwait, or any other Gulf state. There was a British club in Baghdad. Any ideas?

[les_sylphides]

[les_sylphides]

Nicked off FB for those not on it:

[gs_overland]

Schweinshaxe and a few Weizen Biers at Geiselwind no doubt !!

[mushroomman]

It’s good to hear from you again Gavin.

You have just reminded me of an accident that I once had in West Germany, with a Schweinshaxe.

Without sounding like your Uncle Albert, during the war, The Cold War, I was running with Brian Hurst and an old workmate of yours Tony Gibbons, a.k.a. Big T, on our way to somewhere out East. We were heading for the West German/ Czechoslovakian border one Friday lunchtime when Tony pulled onto the supermarket carpark in Furth-am-Wald. It gave us a chance to do a bit of shopping, but Tony had also mentioned that they sold Schweinshaxa and cooked chickens. I had never tried a Schweinshaxa before but Tony kept on telling us how good they were, so I decided to give it a go.

We went back to our cabs and put the kettle on and while I was eating mine, I heard what sounding like a bit of bone breaking which happened to be a bit of one of my back teeth.
Do you think that I stopped eating straight away, no chance, there was still plenty of hot ham left on the bone, which I just had to finish.

I must admit that it tasted delicious and it was also the first of many that I had over the following years.

Now the problem was that for the next two weeks we would be travelling through The Soviet Block and into Turkey and the thought of having to pay a visit to a Turkish or even a Commie dentist didn’t bear thinking about, I just had to get my tooth sorted out right away.

I asked a German taxi driver if he could drive me into the town to where I could find a dentist. Tony came with me while Brian looked after the trucks. We soon found a dental surgery but the receptionist said they didn’t have an appointment until the Tuesday morning. I tried to explain to her the situation and she said that she would have a word with the dentist, after he had finished with his patient.

About ten minutes later the dentist came out and had a quick look in my mouth. He spoke good English and told me to come back at 6 p.m. that afternoon. Tony and I got another taxi back to the supermarket and I suggested that he and Brian carried on and that if they parked up on the first services on the Prague motorway, then I should be able to catch up with them in the morning.

At 6 p.m. that Friday evening I was sat in a German dentist chair having a filling put onto my back tooth. I thought at the time that the price wasn’t cheap but over forty years later it’s still in there.

Vorsprung Durch Technik.

Tony Gibbons at the Londra Camp. Photo courtesy of Dave Mackie.

Czechoslovakian Border.