When I got my own truck I was going to get living the dream written on the back of the cab. Owning my own truck was all I’d wanted since being very young, so in a way I was living the dream. I never got round to getting it put on though. But if I had it would of been crossed out a few years later and trapped in a nightmare written underneath it
Rob, you may, or may not like this, but I’ve found myself flying back from Las Vegas or San Fran in a 747 with 16 hosties down the back watching the sun come up from the night as we make our way to arrive on a morning into London. But I’ve found myself day dreaming about a simpler way.
Crazy talk, on paper sounds mad. The reality gets glossed over. I daydream to find relief from the stress, having to perform at 110 percent 100 percent of the time, the overbearing pressure of responsibility, the crashing fatigue, the constant high pressure testing, the broken home life. I let my mind wonder to a happier, less complex life I knew in the driving days.
Outside of Russian Oligarch or film star there’s not many jobs that don’t offer high financial material extras without taking from you. Its a Faustian pact.
The man who drives a milk tanker or delivers the post who has a modest material life but is happy is the richest man on earth as far as I’m concerned. And I’m envious. After all, if you’re content, what more is there to want.
If you’re happy, you’re a rich man.
the nodding donkey:
AndrewG:
robroy:
A couple of you have missed my point, I aint having a knock at the job, or trying to attract a comparison with other jobs.
I’m just questioning how it can be ever described as ‘Living the dream’ no matter how content or even happy you are with it.
Hey! Maybe it’s just me, who knows.I dont think any job no matter what it is could possibly be described as actually ‘living the dream’ Rob. Living the dream would be doing what you want to do most in life which wouldnt include work of any kind imho…
As someone who has wanted to travel or move around, since my early teens , and has never felt ‘home’ or settled wherever I have had an address for mail purposes, being provided with a (small
)space to call my home, that happens to move my bosses means of making money, allowing me to watch the world go by… And getting paid for it… I’ve loved this job. Still do.
Same here, i love what i do and moving over here years ago allowed me to see the rest of Europe while getting paid for it. Yes its main routes and certainly not the holiday destinations of certain countries but ive driven now in every country in Europe. Ive done the same route for years now but still love the feeling of the further south i get to ‘home’ the warmer it gets and although the mileage does get to me some weeks and the trailer bodging does my head in sometimes wouldnt swop this for anything…just got to hope it lasts… 
robroy:
A couple of you have missed my point, I aint having a knock at the job, or trying to attract a comparison with other jobs.
I’m just questioning how it can be ever described as ‘Living the dream’ no matter how content or even happy you are with it.
Hey! Maybe it’s just me, who knows.
It’s sarcasm !! That thing we English to best !!
But for me I love being out on the road and not stuck to a desk or machine waiting for the 17:00 buzzer so I can go home .
Since I was a little boy, I dreamed about traveling the world, and I am engine daft.
Anything with an engine from a lawnmower to massive ship engines has my attention.
Starting as a fifteen year old doing my mechanic apprenticeship, and as soon when I had my license, I was off.
Truck driving gave me the fantastic opportunity to see big parts of the world, see different cultures, and meet the most fantastic people.
It gave me the opportunity to do things other people would struggle, and it has paid for a very comfortable life.
I have had the opportunity to drive in the USA, Canada, Eastern Europe (before the iron curtain came down), Africa, and Asia.
I have seen a lot, heard a lot and learned a lot, what is not to like.
So yes for over 25 year I lived the dream.
After that i progressed through the ranks, and while the money went substantial up, the experience went down as a ton of bricks.
I am lucky now to be semi-retired, and have again a dream job (for a lot less pay) with a massive job satisfaction.
Would I want too do it all again, not in current times, the opportunity we had is not there anymore.
The camaraderie is gone, the attitude of the world surrounding us has changed, but yes I have been living the dream, and yes it was 1000 times better than Simon Cowell with all his money ever will get.
We all dream about that big win, that massive windfall, but look around you, and think about it, would it make you happy? Really happy?
I knew a lad who had a massive win in the lottery, his wife run away with some young lad, his “Holly Willoughby” look alike blew all his money on coke.
He has SFA left, not even his own kids talk to him, so did he have a great life? Don’t think so, as he was a very broken man, when I seen him the last time alive.
Night-and-day:
When I got my own truck I was going to get living the dream written on the back of the cab. Owning my own truck was all I’d wanted since being very young, so in a way I was living the dream. I never got round to getting it put on though. But if I had it would of been crossed out a few years later and trapped in a nightmare written underneath it
It’s one of many stupid slogans written on trucks… I think by law they should have figuratively written underneath to avoid this sort of confusion…
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
I am living my dream. My dream of being able to do my job without having someone looking over my shoulder. My lot, the place I’m now leaving weren’t the best to work for. The pay was crap and the office could be annoying but at least on nights they trusted us to get the job done. That was more than I ever had in my previous work. For the office to say to me, “here’s your run, trailer empty back to the yard, collect day man’s on the way back in” and never have to hear from them again that night was a God send.
We complain about the job but aren’t we all living our dream? Our dream of being able to dictate our own working day up to a point? Could you go back to working in a factory where your day is timed and directed by a klaxon? Could you go back to working in an office where you boss is constantly monitoring your every move? I sure as zb can’t.
Those silly little slogans, scrawled on the sides of Scania’s, who’s to say that driver isn’t living his dream. His dream of being free on the road.
malcolmgbell:
Juddian:
No i haven’t got a message scrawled on the back of the cab, nor do i have the bhp or engine cylinder configuration stencilled on the fuel tank, however i have been known to keep me alloy wheels and fuel tank polished from time to time.But aside from that, lets get real, for most of us there’s a reason or several reasons we drive lorries.
me?
- it’s what i always wanted to do, though with constant dumbing down of the job requirements it’s true to say it doesn’t give the same job satisfaction any more.
- i hate being inside, can’t do office politics, miserable buggers get me down, don’t want to have to be around the same people all the time, love being out and about with a certain amount of job freedom (while that slender margin of freedom is being eroded).
So i’m a working class geezer, i go to work early most mornings, prepare then drive me lorry to wherever, tip me load, return to base, and bugger off home early afternoon most days, i look after me kit so might have washed down before i left might wash it down after i get back, might or might not have to load for a night man if the lorry’s going out, thats it basically, short hours short working weeks due to shift pattern, and paid rather well for that easy life.
Now where the hell else can i find a job with a 43 hour week that pays this well for basically doing bugger all other than delivering product?
Best of it all is in our game, the older you are and more experience you have (and a provable work record to confirm), the more desirable you are to the better employers out there, what other industry could i possibly work in where i get all that and not be chucked on the scrap heap at 55 or replaced by a younger willing or better looking or more snazzy young donkey with ■■■ appeal.So yes, maybe in some ways i am living the dream, as are many other drivers, the reality that is of normal working class geezers.
Would i want to be rich, well in all honesty no, had my circs been different i wouldn’t have met the good lady, to whom money social standing materialism or the accoutrements of wealth and privilege mean nothing.
We have a nice home and a life that we enjoy, doing the things we want to.Lorry driving has had its ups and downs, but i struggle to think of anything else i’d rather have done, overall i’m living my realistic dream.
ill second that
and ill third that !!
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.
What’s not to like about that situation?
Happy enough with your job vs living the dream.
I would like to live in the Caribbean and have a nice motor yacht to float around in. It wouldn’t hurt to have a Ducati and a Porsche too. And Kelly Brook sat on my face regularly wouldn’t go amiss. That for me would be ’ living the dream '.
Driving a truck around to pay the bills isn’t really living any dream really is it?
If driving a truck around the UK is anyone on here’s ACTUAL dream, then you have cracked it.
Captain Caveman 76:
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.What’s not to like about that situation?
Your job satisfaction description also applies to me yeh, …but as I said that wasn’t my point in the o/p, and even though it applies to me I would never describe my situation as ‘Living the dream’.
My point being that those who think it is ‘Living the dream’ are easily bloody pleased. 
eagerbeaver:
Happy enough with your job vs living the dream.I would like to live in the Caribbean and have a nice motor yacht to float around in. It wouldn’t hurt to have a Ducati and a Porsche too. And Kelly Brook sat on my face regularly wouldn’t go amiss. That for me would be ’ living the dream '.
Driving a truck around to pay the bills isn’t really living any dream really is it?
If driving a truck around the UK is anyone on here’s ACTUAL dream, then you have cracked it.
Thank Christ for that, a man who understands what I was getting at, and is on the same wavelength as me.
(but maybe not Kelly Brook as first choice. )
Lot of people who win the lottery go for that lifestyle and end up hating it. Most end up with serious problems or just go back working to keep busy. There must be quite a bit of job satisfaction in trucking as all the old timers would of packed it in ages ago, I’ve seen people in their 70s/80s still trucking and most are very well off.
robroy:
Captain Caveman 76:
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.What’s not to like about that situation?
Your job satisfaction description also applies to me yeh, …but as I said that wasn’t my point in the o/p, and even though it applies to me I would never describe my situation as ‘Living the dream’.
My point being that those who think it is ‘Living the dream’ are easily bloody pleased.
I get what you’re saying, but IMO people aspirations are unrealistic. We’re constantly bombarded with the lifestyles of these so called celebrities, we’re fed the dream of winning the lottery or becoming a footballer/pop star. It isn’t going to happen and wishing your life away is a sorry way to live it.
I came into this world with nothing, I’ll leave it with nothing. I just try and make the best of the stuff in between!
Captain Caveman 76:
robroy:
Captain Caveman 76:
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.What’s not to like about that situation?
Your job satisfaction description also applies to me yeh, …but as I said that wasn’t my point in the o/p, and even though it applies to me I would never describe my situation as ‘Living the dream’.
My point being that those who think it is ‘Living the dream’ are easily bloody pleased.
I get what you’re saying, but IMO people aspirations are unrealistic. We’re constantly bombarded with the lifestyles of these so called celebrities, we’re fed the dream of winning the lottery or becoming a footballer/pop star. It isn’t going to happen and wishing your life away is a sorry way to live it.
I came into this world with nothing, I’ll leave it with nothing. I just try and make the best of the stuff in between!
^^^ amen to that.
Some of us are satisfied with what we have in our lives, some as you rightly allude to are mixed up not knowing if they’re us, the normal working class, or bloody celebrities, and i offer in evidence ordinary working people spending £20k+ on a wedding, that £20+k should have gone into their first home setting themselves up instead of a glorified ■■■■ up.
My old Geordie mate had the right comment for this, he always said the trouble with them is they don’t know which pot to ■■■■ in.
robroy:
Last couple of weeks I have seen this a few times, written on the back cab panels of trucks. ‘‘Living the dream’’I mean, each to his own and all that, and whatever floats your boat or turns you on, …but 'Living the dream?
Driving a [zb] truck?Call me old old fashioned here, but my idea of ‘Living the dream’ would be a Simon Cowell type lifestyle, Aston Martin in the garage, millions in the bank, lying on a beach in Mauritius being served cold beer by a couple of ■■■■■■■ Holly Willoughby lookalikes.
Driving a V8 Scania down the M6 pulling a tipper trailer, as an alternative? Let me think about that one for a fraction of a second.
Some drivers have no [zb] imagination.
I think it’s meant as a joke We see the same comment referring to coming over here and driving, it’s more like a nightmare than a dream
Captain Caveman 76:
robroy:
Captain Caveman 76:
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.What’s not to like about that situation?
Your job satisfaction description also applies to me yeh, …but as I said that wasn’t my point in the o/p, and even though it applies to me I would never describe my situation as ‘Living the dream’.
My point being that those who think it is ‘Living the dream’ are easily bloody pleased.
I get what you’re saying, but IMO people aspirations are unrealistic. We’re constantly bombarded with the lifestyles of these so called celebrities, we’re fed the dream of winning the lottery or becoming a footballer/pop star. It isn’t going to happen and wishing your life away is a sorry way to live it.
I came into this world with nothing, I’ll leave it with nothing. I just try and make the best of the stuff in between!
I know what you mean, but I have never been one to settle, and always had an ambitious nature.
I started this job with a view to having my own trucks.
I achieved that but it went ■■■■ up, and I ended up on my arse after about 10 yrs of it, (mostly not ALL my own fault as it turned out) but hey, thats life aint it, so I didn’t go into drama queen mode just dusted myself down and got on with it.
My ambition dwindled after that, but it did not knock my aspirations, and tbh the Carribean beach scenario that EagerB describes appeals more to me than sat behind the wheel of a 44 tonner.
As for ‘wishing my life away’ I’m not sure if that is how I would describe it by any means.
Juddian:
Captain Caveman 76:
robroy:
Captain Caveman 76:
I earn enough money to buy what I want, I have enough free time to do what I want. My job doesn’t stress me out and when I go home I forget all about it.What’s not to like about that situation?
Your job satisfaction description also applies to me yeh, …but as I said that wasn’t my point in the o/p, and even though it applies to me I would never describe my situation as ‘Living the dream’.
My point being that those who think it is ‘Living the dream’ are easily bloody pleased.
I get what you’re saying, but IMO people aspirations are unrealistic. We’re constantly bombarded with the lifestyles of these so called celebrities, we’re fed the dream of winning the lottery or becoming a footballer/pop star. It isn’t going to happen and wishing your life away is a sorry way to live it.
I came into this world with nothing, I’ll leave it with nothing. I just try and make the best of the stuff in between!
^^^ amen to that.
Some of us are satisfied with what we have in our lives, some as you rightly allude to are mixed up not knowing if they’re us, the normal working class, or bloody celebrities, and i offer in evidence ordinary working people spending £20k+ on a wedding, that £20+k should have gone into their first home setting themselves up instead of a glorified ■■■■ up.
My old Geordie mate had the right comment for this, he always said the trouble with them is they don’t know which pot to ■■■■ in.
Just because I would like a better life style and dream of it, I am still a realist Juddian at the end of the day.
I did not experience bankruptcy without learning to keep my feet on the ground when push comes to shove.
I brought my kids up the same way, my eldest daughter got married about 4 yrs ago, all her mates had lavish do.s that you describe, my lass came to me and said ‘There’s no way Dad I am going to waste your money and my mine on an over the top ridiculous wedding’.
It was not a cut rate cheap jack bash by any means,
we all had a good day, and she had plenty cash left for her house deposit as you said.
My other 3 are of the same mindset, good working class work ethics, all in good jobs and their feet firmly on the ground, … and as their Dad I am proud of all of them and the way they see things in a realistic manner…a lot like myself.
So I think you have maybe picked me up wrong there Juddian, I probably have some unrealistic unobtainable dreams yeh , but I certainly know which side my bread is buttered mate… 
Muckaway:
“Living the dream” is as retarded as having “Super” written on a Scania tipper.
Says the ■■■■■■ who had frilly curtains in a day cab 