hiya,
Norm nice to see your repaired and back in commission both D D and myself were getting worried about you, but imagine unloading all them germs on your old lady hope you give her chest a good rub with Vic it’s the least you can do.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Norm
Welcome back. Harry and I were starting to get worried. I started making enquires about flowers but have you seen the price of them, I surpose it’s been a long time since I bought some. The missis has given up waiting for hers.Anyway I was thinking about a wip around but theres a ressesion on so that would’nt have amounted to much.Just as well your getting better. 
Yes always trying to save on fuel The second two trips out ME we had a new tilt with a 500 gallan belly tank but it wasen’t till after that we found out that Chapman and Ball were charging us extra to use it, the robbin s.ds. After when we carried on doing europe we had tanks on the sides of three of our trailers and for the next ten years hardly ever brought fuel in the UK.
Glad your getting better regards to your missis.
Keith.
hiya,
keith did you not get fed up slopping all that diesel around? one tank to another although with the stuff at the price norm states i suppose it was quite lucrative especially if you was an o/d, bet the customer was charged uk fuel prices though when pricing his load A to B, me i only ever fuelled up depot to depot or agency card, i was spoiled.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi
No Harry never got fed up, it was the thought of how much we were saving that kept us doing it. The cheapest we came accros was in Iran 2 pence a gallon. Cheaper than red over here. But in europe, when we were doing that, it was about 15 /20 pence cheaper than Uk depending on which country we filled up in. It only took a few moments to transfer, just presurised the tank and out the fuel would come.None of that sucking pipes and fuel in the mouth.Offcouse we used to pass on the saving to the customer 
Harry, Keith, I always put on factura’s the price that was on the pump, not the price I could negosiate with DM’S, that way I could say it was legal, because, it was frowned upon to change money or goods, or deal on the blackmarket, but I would suggest that 99 per cent if not 100, of Tir drivers had this little bonus, but it was possible if you was caught in the commy block changing money illegally, you could end up in prison. But on that job life was a gamble, so what the heck, why not make a little profit, while you can, these little perks made the job more interesting. Sandman Norman
this was at gaydon at the weekend one of bartons scammells
hiya,
d d pleased you passed the savings you you made on all that cheap fuel to the customer, i personally wouldn’t have been able to sleep if having not done so, you do sleep well i trust? norman on the other hand sounds a right old rogue what with rolling about with dodgy trailers for cash in hand and chargeing full price for diesel which he had been just about given, he must be an insomniac and he tries to tell us he’s holier than thou, bah humbug,why i assocciate with him i’ll never know, if my old lady ever found out she’d stop me coming out to play, glad now i remained a uk landlubber, just a mo while i get a mirror me halo’s slipped.
thanks harry long retired.
Thank you Carl, that was a shot from the past, seeing that photo, the last time I drove a scammel, was in the army, in 1956/7, and you Harry, having a halo, piffle, more like a fork, them they use in hades, from the tales you have been telling me over these several months, you make a corkscrew look straight, but me honest norm, you berate me, because, I do not let a business oppertunity pass me by, how could you Harry, my heart bleeds with the dagger you have thrusted into me, with these unfound comments about my ability to save money for myself and my family, by god I am good harry, everyone will believe you are the villian, ha ha ha . Sandman Norman
hiya,
nice to have you back norm, and whats more i’m going to treat you with much more respect from now on, i know i was only a lowly old UK tramper and should treat you wealthy former M/E men with the respect you truly deserve, if i can see in the mirror for the tears of laughter filling my eyes i’ll grab the halo i have but don’t deserve and put it in the bin and from now on will tug my forelocks before i address you, and will do this until i win the lottery and if it’s a rollover i may be just as wealthy as you and can be a member of millionaires row, and what a right load of drivel, i’m going to bed before the men in white coats make the scene, good night all.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, my old fruit,I would have deemed it a honour to run with you on the M/E, because you have the same sense of humour as me, and there is no need to bow and scrape to me, a poor peasant from the old part of Northampton, I was in the right place at the right time, and made the most out of it. By the way, D/D keith, has sneaked off somewhere, everytime I go past his photo, I think he is a stocky lad, me thinks he needed a little more of the ropeing and sheeting, and a lot more of the handballing, ie bricks, concrete blocks, cement, just to tone him up, ha ha ha. Now I have done a little stirring, I will say goodbye. Sandman Norman
Hi boys
I’m still here, been busy taking my son around universties ready for next year. It would be no good you oldies going, too many young fillies for you lot. You two are as bad as one another both stirrers. Norm less of the stocky its pure muscle. I’ve done a bit of brick hand ball. 20 ton at a time, rustic brick from Ireland it the early seventies. 4 bricks at a time, taking it in turn to throw or catch. A pair of gloves per load. Somtimes used leather pads that hooked over the thomb in stead of gloves.
Got to get a early night tonight trying to keep up with these youngsters is tiring
Regards Keith.
hiya,
definitely dropping out of these discussions what with norm calling me names now DD saying i can’t look at the fillies, tell you what make sure there’s no gaps when you screw the lid down if there is i’ll still ogle the birds, DD i’m 73 not dead, and norm it would be no good trying to take me sand wobbling, not now anyway i get lost going to the corner shop, but i’ve still got a pulse and a heartbeat so i reckon i’m still alive and kicking.
thanks harry long retired.
Keith, When I was on bricks, I would unload a 10,000 bricks in 1970, there was a brick shortage, and I would pull up to a site, and no one was about, just about to get a redirection, this bloke came with a landrover & trailer, with the signs to put up, where is everyone, I said, I will find out he said, well everyone had gone home because it was pouring down with rain, how much will you charge to unload yourself, I said £5 per thousand, that is a bit dear, well you do it in the rain, he nodded Ok, and gave me the money, and I went at full pelt for almost four hours, and when I had built up one side, I turned the lorry, and was picking 20 at a time, to speed it up, it is a art, to not hold the bricks too long, pick, swing, and stack, the boss would moan that I took too long, but I would reply, if you get poor help, it is almost like doing it yourself. We would make pads out of old innertube, cut apiece a foot long, and make a slit in it, to fit over your wrist, and cover your palm, they was better than gloves, you ask the old Italians who worked at the brickworks. This made me tough and fit, to do my M/E work in 1975, althouugh I put in for it in 1974, and went on a course to keep the marathons going. Sandman Norman
hiya,
never did many bricks norm ,the odd backload but most firms i did for wouldn’t touch them, land tiles were the same the contractor who was putting them in the ground always thought that when the driver pulled up he had another labourer for the day,but the old red and rust had depot’s who did lots of that sort of stuff so it was inevitable you got the odd load, but for the most part tried to avoid the horrible traffic, wasn’t lazy norm just didn’t like work,i was a bit too early in my driving life never got pallets and if i did it was to tranship onto my own pallets (handball by another name)i wasn’t cut out to be a driver i was more cut out to be a ■■■■■■■ could have done that ok and wouldn’t have needed to retire, ah well in another life maybe.
thanks harry long retired.
Well lads another little tale, me and Colin wright, were on a local to Turkey,going to Izmir, and we went the way of Felixstowe to Zeebrugger, while travelling through Belgium, we met up with Bob Howes a ex- BRS mechanic, with his young 20 year old girl friend Pat, who was a very attractive brunett, we was entering into czcechoslovakia, and we stopped in this small town on the market place, and I was told by colin, it was Bobs birthday, so we agreed to treat Bob & Pat to a meal in a restaurant. After I had found one, I went and booked a table for four, and asked in German, if he would take deutch marks, he nodded with a smile on his face. We entered the dim lit place, ordered our meals, then ordered three large beers, Pat what would you like, martini she said, then she wanted a dry one, well we was talking, so I said tell him, so he replied drei, and she said yes, well after about six or seven rounds, Pat got rather fruity, put her arm around me, and said can you take me to the toilet, why not ask your boyfriend, oh he don’t know which is which, so I took her, later she was staggering back to the marathons, she got in, and lying face down, looked out of the drivers side, said who’s first, Bob pushed her back in, andsaid goodnight, next day I sussed out why she got drunk so quick, when she said dry, the owner thought she ment drei, which is three in German, she had been drinking triples everytime we had a beer. Sandman Norman
hiya, well norm so thats the secret of getting the drawers off is it? no wonder i was no good at that sort of thing, triple martini’s, most i would go to was a half of bitter it that didn’t work it was wait till i got home it cost nowt there.
thanks harry long retired.
hiya
,
Harry, if your knew how much we paid for the meal and drinks, you would say thats your kind of place, it was 20 DM each= £5, if we was not paying in Dm, it would have cost us 10 times more, and this was for the four of us, Colin say that is great, I will let you make all the deals, when I run with you. Pat & Bob got married, but sadly split up after a few years, she would be 53 years old now, but she was a cracker, and would beat Keith’s students any day, might put her photo in my book, low top red blouse, black shorts, long legs up to her pert bottom, and a face like Elizabeth Taylor, one time when with terry taylor, bill thomas, and keith shirley, Bob drew the short straw, and had to go back to Ismir to get paperwork signed, and Pat did not want to go, but stay by the beach a Kavala, once again she had a few drinks, and got fruity with Bagdad Bill, so Honeymonster= Terry taylor roped her in the cab, he put so many dollies and hitches and other knots, it took him nearly a hour to get her out in the mornings. all true Sandman Norman
hiya,
norm, i 'll have you know i’ve led a sheltered life, air raid, bus even tram in my case, and here’s you trying your damndest to get me excited are you sure the story you’re writing isn’t hard ■■■■ and paying a fiver for a meal, norm i hope you realise thats 25 bob apiece, if there was nowt doing for a bag of chips or a tub of jellied eels i wouldn’t want to know, and the recipitent of my proposed intentions could have even been a young version of elisabeth taylor,i have’nt a clue how you remained so wealthy spending money at that rate of knots i definitely was grafting for the wrong outfits.
thanks harry long retired,
Harry, you only went for handball jobs, not the pay, the most I did, was the bricks, and I made that pay, when I done it on my own, I made as much in 4hours, as I did in wages & bonus for the whole week, and still was £15 better off, the boss used to say you have earned no bonus this week, I said perhaps I will be lucky next week, because I had £ 50 in my pocket for unloading on my own in the rain, bonus was about £4/5, he looked puzzeled, that I did not mind. One week I took a load to cannock, the site forman told me when I turned up, he had been waiting for commons, for weeks,due to shortage of them, but he didn’t want them, because he had used faceing bricks for the footings, I will sign your delivery note, but you must take them away, take them to the tip, I have no room for them here. Off I go, to a cafe, have my breakfast, and use the phone, I had selected a builders merchant nearbye, and asked them on the phone, if they had any commons bricks, they said no, can I speak to the boss, he replied I am the boss, I own the firm, good do you want to buy some, how many, 10,000, yes how much, well if you unload me under 1hour, you can have them for £15 per thousand, if not £20, I want cash. Well I was there in 5 minutes, he had twenty people unloading, I was done in under a hour with £150 in my hand, the site boss had paid for the bricks, I had got paid to get rid of them for him, that was worth to me 4 weeks pay, and I got my bonus that week, because I delivered quick. Motto do not let a bussiness oppertunity pass you bye, and never look a gifthorse in the mouth. Sandman Norman
hiya, never came across many gifthorses norm, came across many racehorses though but i think they they only had three legs, lost a few bob on them , i wish now i’d been a roadsweeper, knowing my luck though i’d spot a wage packet in the gutter and get bowled over with a bloody eight wheeler and drawbar when picking it up and the driver would be loaded with bricks with a bit of fiddle involved based in northhampton. thanks harry long retired.