hiya,
Dave, Leighton Rhys was still alive when last in Ynysybwl, we have friends of many years standing who live there, the pub i was in was actually Mr Rhys’s local but he was’nt in there that weekend he was still doing the darts circuit then.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi boys
John, Norm, Cologne to Lubijana IIRC.I know it took you miles out of your way,and you got a nights sleep on it. The views down the Rhine were nice though.It was the only way we could get permits to cross Germany, and no chance of Austrian permits.Sorry John cannot remember the rate only that we were far better off loading back from europe to uk than dragging a load all the way back.And after finding work to Swiss for very similer money it made no sence to go any further.
Regards Keith.
Dave, do as you like, everybody else, carrys on in that way ha ha ha.
Keith, I was always telling or manager that, get a back load from Prinz line, and you got a free ferry, and 400/500 quid, and he was accepting £600 plus from Turky, and the dutch & germans were getting £200/300 more, using more deisel, and transit fee’s, and all you got was hassel. Sandman Norman
Thanks Norman, but my nerve’s have got quite baa d with all the hostilities going on 
afterall I live on the border and have been told of the battles between King Offa of Mercia and the Welsh,trying to keep them in. Keep the tale’s a coming. I enjoy them all, its all good fun and interesting,especially now we are heading for darker nights.
Cheers Dave.
Colonel, John I am not nit picking, just telling it as I know, Train from koln to Jubljana, or Cologne to Lubijana, or you could go to Munich ( Munchen), then change train, and continue to Yugo, I used these trains three times, I just thought,you would like know, tell Rita, or he might think I will be writing a fictitious book ha ha ha. Sandman Norman
Norman,To use that route you would have needed what was known as a Llubliana tilt with the cut off corners on the roof to get throught the tunnels. I could not see any advantage in doing that, but each to their own.
At the time dessertdriver went to Iran the Koln train went to Ludwigsberg, it was much later that the service was extended to Munich, which made it difficult to do the same transit times.
Colonel, yes John, you are correct, I got given that route due to shortage of German permits, also someone else who carried for us, had a tall trailer, and yugo railway was not very happy, clonk clonk, we were checked for highth after that. Sandman Norman
Dave the Renegade:
Hi Fella’s,
Just been all over the welsh hills,lot of woolybacks but no sight of any arabian mercenaries. Very wet conditions,probably to much peat for their liking,no sand or cement.Will go to Heysham in the morning and cast my eye’s towards the IOM.
Hope Chris will keep a look out from this end.
Cheers Dave ex uk driver,sheep herder and village idiot.
Eyup Dave,I’ll give you a wave from here:-
No Arabians,Bedouins,Kurds or sand or cement on the IOM hills this morning either.P***** down all day,in fact it was so bad Noah called in Douglas this morning.
Cheers,Chris,ex UK driver,Woodhead sheep knocker - over (only on nights) and shunter - well nobody’s perfect!
Chris Webb:
Dave the Renegade:
Hi Fella’s,
Just been all over the welsh hills,lot of woolybacks but no sight of any arabian mercenaries. Very wet conditions,probably to much peat for their liking,no sand or cement.Will go to Heysham in the morning and cast my eye’s towards the IOM.
Hope Chris will keep a look out from this end.
Cheers Dave ex uk driver,sheep herder and village idiot.Eyup Dave,I’ll give you a wave from here:-
No Arabians,Bedouins,Kurds or sand or cement on the IOM hills this morning either.P***** down all day,in fact it was so bad Noah called in Douglas this morning.
Cheers,Chris,ex UK driver,Woodhead sheep knocker - over (only on nights) and shunter - well nobody’s perfect!
Same this way Chris,don’t think there would be to many BBQ’s this way today,sounds pretty useless for the week,Harry and Norm will have a lot of sheeting to do,especially if you send them on multidrops.
Cheers Dave.
Hi boys
Sorry John you are right Koln to Ludwigsberg i,ve just looked it up on the map.allthough we did have a lubijana trailer for the last two trips.
Regards Keith
hiya,
Gentlemen i think we can all stand down now all quiet on the western front Keith switch the Scania off, Chris put the fieldglasses away, Dave come in from the cold and brush up on your Welsh and i’ll put the bulletproof vest back in the mothballs peace prevails.
thanks harry long retired.
Keith, one time I went, zeebrugger, Germany, Austria, and I was about 60/70kms from Yugo, when I was pulled up by the police, and taken into a layby, this was about 12 noon on a Saturday, and was told I must no move, until Monday night at midnight, as I was weekended, and the next day was a bank holiday, I was cursing my luck, but walked down to a gasthaus, we could see across the fields, on my way, I met a Greek driver, doing the same as me, he shook his head, English no, we entered and sat down, and I ordered two beers, in German, he looked at me, and said you speak German, I also, then we began to talk to each other,it was the best thing that happened to me, for while we were eating, he told me he had been doing continental & M/E work for over ten years, and early in the morning, he was making a dash to the border, was I game to go with him, his name I could tell you, whether I can spell it, I will try, Demitrious, hope you understand . Well he woke me at 2.00am, we started up as quiet as we could be, keeping our rev’s as low as possible, then he flew, and soon we was in yugo, through the customs, and we could drive as we liked, I went all the way with him, into Greece, we parted company, I turned towards Thesselonika, he went straight on towards Athen’s, I met up with him again, when I had trouble on the Turk side of the border with Iran, with a Tonka truck driver, who was in his cab a sleep, and he knocked his handbrake, and rolled back into my lorry, I was trying to find out if he was going to pay for the damage, when he spit in my face, so I gave him a left hook, and while he was on the ground,a kick up the backside, and he went scrambling off, but returned with three others, I had my back to my cab, a bar in one hand and hammer in the other, making my stand, when my greek friend appeared with two other greek truckers, and stood by my side, and beckoned the turks to make their play, but the police arrived, one of the greeks spoke turkish, for he lived on the borderof turkey and greece, and was married to one of them, I was told they was checking the Tonka wagon, it would take two hours, I nodded and went with the greeks and over Tahir in the night, they assured me they had done this many times, and once over,after a while they pulled into a garage, and I said goodbye and thanked them for their support, and did not stop until Ankera, parked up washed had something to eat, and slept for over 12 hours, yes Rita, I was scared, not of them face to face, but you know if you are as experient as Colonel John has told me, what they used to do with truckers, you should know?
hiya,
Norm, how did you do it, i’m afraid i’d be with the one trip johnny’s, i would get lost if i’d turned left instead of right at Oswaldtwistle traffic lights.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
Ive just come in from the cold,put the home guard coat on the hook,but kept the rifle with fixed bayonet handy.Will keep taking a bit of shooting practice with my old diana air pistol just in case.
My military experience is that I once worked on a RAF camp for a builder and got a rollicking from a Squadron Leader,for spinning a dumper in front of the HQ. bit dumb,my defence 17 and thick,nothings changed really.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Dave get in touch with old old Norm he’s a former army marksman he’ll keep you right, i’m ex army too but could’nt hit a barn door if i was leaning against it, army drivers weapons in my time was the old ww2 sten gun accurate at up to two feet and that aint no fairy tale, they cost 2 bob to make during the war years that’s a fact too.
thanks harry long retired.
Norman
Sry Mate your full of sht how did you do your carnet on the Austrian border into yugo when you did your so called runner,did you have a fridge or fresh fruit because its the only way you would have got through,pls no more stories got beaten up again once more me sides are splitting your worse than the Wing Commander was .
Roger Haywood
hiya,
Dave, Keith get the armament out again battle lines drawn again,start the Scania Keith lets get the hell outta here.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi boys
Scania in workshop Harry having metal grills fitted to lights and windows incase they start throwing things out of their prams. 
I’ll try and hurry the fitters
Regards Keith
hiya,
Keith just cover the lenses the rest of the Scania is built like a battle tank, just make sure you degrease the fifth wheel cos if i’m going to be rear gunner i don’t want my clothes covered in graphite grease, then we’ll dash over the border into Welsh Wales and Dave will hide us in the back of beyond until peace returns a good idea would be to fit a cow catcher on the front just in case they use their prams to do a roadblock, dont want the paint on your motor scratched,
thanks harry long retired.
Roger, you can doubt, you can mock, but you can never change what is true, the greek and I did our paperwork with no trouble, and it was quick at that time in the morning, Comming in to austria, would have been a problem, but getting out, was not, and the greek told me it would be so. People used to ridicule the ones who said the world was round, but it was proved to be correct, you seem to criticize everything that you never did, so in your eye’s it could not happen?. Roger I am glad I did not know you, or heard of you, or even met you, but then you might have been a reasonable man, I hope so, for what you write, it shows you have turned into a criticizing, embittered, type of old man, who gets pleasure out of trying to put down a fellow trucker, I hope it makes you happy, I will put the honesty of my words in court, even in the highest one in heaven, could you ■■, or will you ever get anywhere near that place. So if you cannot be fair minded, and conduct yourself in a decent manner, like the Colonel, bye, bye its been good to know you, Rita that is a lie. Sandman Norman