hiya,
keith don’t think iv’e quite developed the geordie twang yet iv’e been here round about 36 years and love it but on occasions people ask me where i originate from so i mustn’t have mastered it yet, old norm has certainly copped for a bit of decent weather hope he’s having a good time, keith you mentioned my typing i’m afraid i can only manage one finger modern technology and me don’t go well together if i had to enter the 21st century i’d have to be dragged screaming, it’s my 73rd birthday tomorrow so between the north west and the north east my life has been spent halfy halfy in each area but am very happy where i live now,the family are taking me out for a surprise tomorrow i’m just wondering what it’s going to cost me iv’e a good chance of ending up skint, i usually do. see ya.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
Happy birthday I hope you’ve had a good day and it’s not cost you to much. the weather is beautifull, all those candles. you will have to watch they don’t set off the sprinkler system. talk about global warming…How was the surprise ? It wasn’t a one way ticket to the nursing home was it? Don’t get drinking to much tonight or you will never be able to get your legs wound up 
Have a nice night Harry.
Regards Keith.
hiya,
thanks for the happy birthday greeting keith, yep it’s been a good day my daughter and son in law and kids took me and my good lady to the museum in newcastle, (not as an exhibit) although i overheard my wife telling the grandkids that grandad was a little bit more ancient than the dinosaur fossilised remains we was looking at that time, funnily iv’e been planning a visit for a while so today was spot on, yes there was plenty of candles the factory had to work overtime to produce enough, and before i lit them i made a point of removing the batteries from the smoke alarms,regarding going for a drink i really wish i could haven’t got a lot of stomach capacity anymore and i really used to enjoy a pint or two but i get by without it,oh and today cost me nowt, and thats most unusual normally i get invited out and finish up giving the old debit card some stick, so a good day was had by all. PS hurry back norm your thread is going a bit off course and i’m no authority on M/E working being inexperienced in that domain but i do like other people reminiscing about their adventures in the sand, did have my chances, thought about it, still thinking.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
I’m glad you had a good day. Your right we have drifted off a bit, I hope Norm dosn’t tell us off. Anyway this might put us back on track a little.When we mentioned Jordy launguage it reminded me of our first trip to ME. We were waiting to put the truck on the train at Koln when three lads walked past and said something to me. I could not understand a word, so held my hands out and said “sorry no understand do you speak English”. Well they all burst out laughing and said we are bl…dy English.They were a great bunch of lads and we ran with them for a while.They were three lads in two trucks with one driver going to recover a truck in Turkey that had been abandoned. It was loaded with concentrated Coca Cola. Unforturnetly after all these years I cannot remember the firm. We did come across the truck in the ditch with half its load missing.It had gone when we went past on our next trip. Mayby it will jog someones memory.
Regards Keith.
hiya,
well keith, when i first moved to this part of the world my first encounter with the geordie lingo was an old guy in the local pub put his face about a foot away from mine and uttered the words, wah thoos a funny tarker hinnie ah divvant nah wee larnd yee ar te tark, won’t be written in true geordie dialect but if you read it as written it’s near enough as i remember, no problems with translation though my old lady speaks fluent geordie being 100% local, now my old mate lets get back on track and do a bit of sand wobbling or old norm will be sending my P45 through the post on account of me talking rubbish, over to you keith.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
I only did three trips out ME in 1976 so allthough even after 33 years I have a few memeries but no photos there are many out there with far more info for you. We never were the ones to go blabing in cafes, we like many true ME men keeped our heads down and got on with the job. Why only three trips I hear you say. Well it took us that long to realise that we were being ripped of, after all the only reason you would do that work was for the money.Don’t get me wrong I’am glad I did it but we found good well paid work to Europe and carried on doing that for a further 10 years. So come on you ex ME men lets have some memeries it’s only been Harry and me for to long and we need something for Norm to reed when he gets back…
Regards Keith.
Hello boys, I’m back, I got it on the grape vine, a old relic in Durham, is 73 today, happy birthday Harry, you two would have been susprised, to see a old fellow doing a two hundred yard dash, not once, not twice, but three times, with my youngest grandaughter age 4, against my daughter & grandaughter age 8, and I won twice, my daughter said poor nanny, left behind, I said what about me, having to run with my youngest grandaughter Katie, the last time we lost, because they sneaked a lead, but I said never mind to Katie, she said we beat you twice, nah, nah. Keith, I went on the train several times, about the third time, they checked my highth, why I asked, because some one on our firm, was sent with a high trailer, and took miles of electrical cable down, never did find out who it was?, Have been to munich, and to Lubjanna in Yugo, this was when we couldn’t get permits through Germany, only rail ones. Prinz line to Hamburg & Bremen, was my favourite, next time I will tell you about ST Pauls next to the docks in Hamburg. Sandman Norman
hiya,
nice to see you back norm hope everything went well, by the way young man my birthday was yesterday may the 24th empire day as was i think it’s commonwealth day now, nice to have you back on here i’m not qualified in the noble art of sand wobbling so i’m just a guest on your thread, going to bed now because at my age i need all the kip i can get,goodnight all.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Norm
I hadn’t got you down as the athletic type,where did you get all that energy from? It sounds as if you have had a good time.The little ones bring out the child in us all. Glad to have you back, Harry and me have been strugling to keep your thread going. We don’t seem to be able to get anyone else involved mayby you’ll have more look. 
That train was a pain it took you way out of the way if like us you were going comi block, but at least you got a rest on it and some nice scenary down the Rhine.
Regards Keith.
Hi Keith, I like to go in the fast lane of life, when I was 13, I done the 100yards in 11.5, then in the army, and I ran the mile, I came second, a long legged chap, puffing his cheeks out, went past me like I was standing still, his name was Gordon Pirrie, won medals for britain. Quite good at the 5 miles cross country. Glad I went all of the routes through europe to M/E, I must settle down after I get my eyes tested and get new spects, and get on with my book, then if I kick the bucket, future generations of my family, will have tales to tell about sandman norman, the loveable rogue, that had travelling in his blood, and read his book “Have Wheels Will Travel”, I am half way there, with a little effort, I will complete, and pay to get it published, pity I can not put everything in it, it would be a cracker, but people would suffer, and I would not do that just for money. SAndman Norman
hiya,
well lads the fastest running i do is in the car when i’m taking the kids back to their mam and dad when they’ve been drivng me crackers all day, relief but you know it’s going to be the same the next day and the day after that, all for nowt as well but i wouldn’t have it any other way i’d miss the little darlings if i didn’t see them regular, enough i hear you say, come on you sand wobblers lets have some tales of the ME workings beats my child minding tales into a cocked hat, as i’m totally inexperienced in that domain i can only read about it and think of things that might have been when i had the chance, ah well no chance now over to you guys.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, you want to hear a m/e tale, well after my accident in Turkey, I spent several weeks in Londra camping, sorting out my load with the customs, because, a crate got stolen, I was getting low on cash, so I telexed my manager for some extra funds, and also through the grape vine, was told, they might not pay my exspenses, so I soon put them right, and said if I did not get extra funds to sort the mess out, and get the load to Bagdad, and stop his silly notion, of not paying my due amounts, the company would lose a vast sum of money, because my triptic’s was lost in the crash, these covered you against claims, of all the countries you visited, hundreds of thousands of pounds was lodged at a bank to cover you, but you needed the paperwork returned to claim it back, so they would have to treat me with respect, and I would do my very best to find them. Well I asked for money to be sent to a bank in Istanbul, they sent two thousand pounds, to bloody Ankera, and M/E drivers know how far that is, several hundred miles away, I tried to book a flight, but I could not get one, the office told me, it was only a couple of inches on the map, I told them, yes it is only as far as scotland away from me. Next morning I left early with a driver who was going to Iran, and he dropped me as near to the bank as he could, after proof of my identity, I collected the cash. Then I got a taxi to the outskirts, and with my logbook and tacho disc, I soon got a truck to stop, I was chatting to this driver, and he told me he had been driving for nearly 24 hours, he had this mack, leather interior, he had fair slightly ginger hair, quite wirery, he said I could do with a good meal, but I dare not stop, for I know I would fall a sleep. Well you are doing me a favour, by taking me to Londra camping, why don’t you get in your bunk, I will drive, when I get there, you will be fresh, you can have a shower and a meal, and continue on your journey, and you will gain more time. After I pulled up at the camp, he was a new man, he left fed washed and fueled up, and said thanks norman, this trip, I will make good money, so will I mate, after I charge our manager for a return flight.
hiya,
tell you what norm iv’e got a corkscrew attached to my old womans wine rack and i’m convinced it’s a shade straighter than you, now you know why i couldn’t have been a sand wobbler i was always far too straight, i’m now pleased i didn’t take up the chance when younger i wouldn’t have been able to lay straight in bed and certainly would have got no sleep, but i’ll tell you what norm you showed initative there,so as well as being bent you can add you can add conman to your many titles, your’e nowt but an old rogue, (only joking) but you already knew that.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, Harry, Harry, how you could say I was bent, when all the tricks you got up too, I was only charging them, because they tried to stitch me up over my exspenses, and because I told them to send money to Istanbul bank, also I could have let the manager come over, and sort it out, he would have still been there now?. But I done all the donkey work, and got the load delivered, and he was talking to other drivers behind my back, without not knowing the facts, I made sure it cost him, and when I returned, I gave him hell, when the two, who was with me, told him how I saved the load from being impounded, he said he was sorry. Sandman Norman
hiya,
norm,norm,norm,i wouldn’t call you bent maliciously i wouldn’t dare you hard as nails sand wobblers might gang up on me and beat me up,that isn’t very difficult these days you could blow me over very easily,the trouble with me is getting back on my feet again, when reading your stories i don’t know how you had the patience sitting about waiting for clearances at different places it sounds like it took for ever sometimes,although iv’e died waiting at nottingham boots’s and liverpool docks on the odd occasion, haven’t we all? most brsers will have, horrible traffic, over to you dessert driver and norm.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, most of the M/E drivers, would tell you it was a hell of a way to earn money, and some times very dangerious, and sitting queueing at borders, could drive you mad, but you would bribe, joke, and laugh your way out of trouble, but a lot of drivers died, but if you were hooked, you just kept on doing another trip, thinking you were the best, and it would not happen to you. Some drivers worked for peanuts, and took terrible risks to make a living, if they survived, they died later, because they abused their body and health, with lack of sleep, too much drink & cigs, but they lived life on the edge, and it gave them a buzz. But I was a lucky one, working for a good firm, for good pay, and gave my family a good standard of living. The man I started this thread with, was a hard drinking, chain smoking, women loving, old cadging sod, ■■■■ of Barton transport, but you couldn’t help liking people like that. Sandman Norman
hiya,
norm you certainly earned your coin doing that job i don’t think i would have managed one trip, but not having tried i’ll never know, i have done a bit of sand wobbling on blackpool beach though, so have had the sand between my toes so to speak, enjoy yor retirement mate wish now i’d stuck a job long enough to have got a decent pension together but it wasn’t that easy each time i left the BRS (3 times) they paid me back what i’d paid in to their pension scheme enough for a good holiday on each occasion i’ll never learn, never mind i get by and enjoy life and there’s always the lottery or the premium bonds,dream on.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, was going to tell you about, when I just done a local to Ismir in Turkey, and met up with several of our drivers. Bagdad Bill (W. Thomas), Mr TIR (D. Stroud ), Honey monster ( T. Taylor) on the return trip at St. Paul District Hamburg, I parked in the Ferry yard, because I had picked up a load for Prinz line, the others parked on the market square, we went out, on a night on the town, a few were worse for wear. Next morning was a Sunday, so they had a lie in, when they got out of their cabs, they found that a market was set up, they had goods hang from their units & trailers, and couldn’t move, they had to wait for the next ferry, when I got back, the manager,said why didn’t the others catch the ferry, I replied, I think they got stuck, how come you made it, oh thats simple, better class of driver, but you never appreciate it!. Sandman Norman
hiya,
norm we haven’t upset dessert driver have we? he hasn’t posted for a while, if it’s pressure of work old lad chuck it, it’s possible to live on the breadline i do, old norm’s OK he’s loaded, frenchy and me think he’s the secret millionaire, i should have gone sand wobbling in my youth and become rich like norm, he does splash out on the odd occasion at least he did offer frenchy and me a pint yes one pint and two straws,we had to visit him first though watertight and ducks rear come to mind,it would only cost me 30 quids worth of diesel to call his bluff or should i walk 200 yards to my local and buy myself a full pint and no straw.norm like the tale about your pals getting hemmed in on the car park a similar thing happened to me in dundee back in the late 50s loaded spuds on the wagon and drag for an am delivery at manchester a full days run in those days so no rush to get away as we would be delivering the following day, got to the car park the old outfit was surrounded by cars and wouldn’t be clear enough to move until about 5.30 pm so went on the pop for the day and did a night trunk and was there as promised in time for the morning market, only trouble was had to spend the day tipping and loading,well knackered and i was 22 and had to just about carry the trailer lad home to his mam he was 16 i think but back up scotch the next day would be a bit more wary next time though, the gaffer did say we looked knackered i just told him them spuds are a killer.
thanks harry long retired.
Good one Harry, you could say you had your chips, got loads more, but I must save them for the book. Sandman Norman