Just a very short week this time due to the holidays in Europe. I tipped Slough on Sunday evening and reloaded on Monday morning, This time I did not have to clean between products as they were both compatible and it means driving from Slough to Dagenham and back for the nearest cleaning station.
Going over by train, I ran through Belgium to the last services before Luxembourg and had 11 hours and a couple of bottles of Heineken. I was due to tip in Steinbourg on Wednesday but I arrived at around 1430 on Tuesday, the factory were waiting for a tank of milk chocolate but he was running late, so eventually they decided to unload me as I was carrying Dark Chocolate 
mmm!
At this drop I have to use compressed air to blow the load to a factory pump, and normally we use tipping tanks for chocolate, my GP tank has not got a tipping ram so we are always left with rest product as the factory will not allow me to paddle the tank.
The digital display shows me the temperature of the product and I can control it from inside the cab anything from -5 to 99’c
As i was tipped early, I sent a message to my planner and expected running into Swiss to load. Because of the holidays and the need for our delivery of fresh orange to be fresh, it has a 48 hour shelf life until it is processed. Instead I had to wait and parked in Hagenau where I found a little bar opposite the bus and railway station.
I had been parked there for almost 24 hours before my satellite alerted me to a load. I had to run empty to Belgium to clean out, and due to the holidays there was a lot of traffic and as I drove through the Luxembourg border back to Belgium the road was at a standstill. I managed to get into Habay, which was a mistake. The food was absolutely awful, the bar was ok though and I had a good natter with a Czech driver who used to drive a Tatra on heavy haulage.
Cleaning at our depot in Belgium and wasting all that lovely chocolate down the drain. I had to load quite close to the depot with Soya Milk and the cleaning station manager had to come in on 200% to wash me and 2 other trucks out.
I went round to the factory to load after meeting one of the Belgian guys, we compared maps, He knew where the collection was, I knew where the drop in Kettering was.
Shortly after loading my tank the 3rd tank arrived driven by one of my planners. He had planned the loads, 6 in all because the UK factory had a breakdown. unfortunately he could not find drivers willing to work Ascencion Day. so had to get his boots on and do it himself.
This urgent delivery was so urgent that when I arrived at the factory, they told me to come back on Tuesday 
I told them we must tip tonight and there were 5 other trucks behind me. Come back in the morning he told us.
Friday morning the excrement hit the revolving device when the planner called his contact in Belgium who wanted to know why we were still there and more importantly still loaded. This guy I spoke to in the evening had not even prepared a tank or cleaned his pipework.
That was a weeks work for me, although it is not always so easy but I got home around Lunchtime and parked for the weekend
