The excitement and apprehension at getting your first job driving to the middle east.
The cramming your cab with everything you think you may need for your trip, and always forgetting something, however trivial, but very important if you haven’t got it with you.
Shopping in a supermarket, somewhere near the port,for as much food as you can possibly think that you’ll need on your epic journey.
The awe and panic at the port, waiting on the stairs at Dover to get sealed up for the first time, the mounds of paperwork to hand over to get checked and stamped…then the relief at finally boarding the ferry after having to reverse on a boat that must have been in use since Dunkirk, (that’s what the ‘Schiaffino’ felt like!)
Disembarking on mainland Europe and saying to yourself repeatedly “I must drive on the right! I must drive on the right!” Not believing that there would come a time when you’d just do it as second nature!
Fantastic stopping places like Geiselwind, the Log Cabin, Hotel Wien, National, Windmill, Londra,(where many a day got cancelled due to Efes Control!) Aksaray, Carisio, Freds at Coslada, Claudes, the Albion in Dover , Tillys, Sunbilla and many more places where you could get good beer and fantastic food…and 9 times out of 10 fantastic company!!
Super bunch of fellow drivers, all across the continent, Europe and the Middle East, men who would always stop to help if you had a problem, nothing was too much trouble, nobody got left stranded, total strangers became your best friends, and of course, you repaid them by doing the same for others.
All in all, a unbelievably fantastic way to spend 35 years or more of you working life, no one understood what you’d done or where you’d been except your fellow drivers.
You didn’t really appreciate what you were part of, never thought that way of life would end, never thought that 15 years after packing it you’d still miss it like mad, wishing you could just go on one more trip!
But you know that it’ll never happen again, first the Middle East work disappeared then even the European, you are now controlled by satellites and mobile phones, everything is timed to the last minute almost, no time to actually enjoy the job.
You didn’t really appreciate what you were part of, never thought that way of life would end, never thought that 15 years after packing it you’d still miss it like mad, wishing you could just go on one more trip!
But you know that it’ll never happen again, first the Middle East work disappeared then even the European, you are now controlled by satellites and mobile phones, everything is timed to the last minute almost, no time to actually enjoy the job.
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How many ex European or Middle East drivers do you imagine there still are and possibly reading this and saying a heartfelt Amen to your last sentiment ?
Miss it to bits!
I always say that at the time we were in our late 20’s or 30’s, thought we would live for ever and so would the job.
But it was a window in time, a chapter of transport history that will NEVER be repeated as it was then.
Sadly, of all us young lions, we’re getting thin on the ground now, many old friends have left us and we few that are left have memories that are as vivid now as they were at the time.
I myself feel priveledged to have made so many good friends and shared some cracking times.
