truckyboy:
You forgot the boiler suits and bib n brace…lol but always a polished pair of boots…then there was the scraping of your shins as they ran across the wheel trip during wet weather and whilst on that subject, in winter dragging ropes through the wet slush, and rolling up frozen sheets, where even today your fingers tips split in cold weather due to this practice…okay i`ll carry on, night out money was paid before you went, and there was enough to pay for a few beers and some fish and chips before going to your digs where we slept sometiumes 4/5 to a room, in bug infested pits with matresses made of straw or horsehair…ah the good ol days !!
I ain’t as ancient as you truckyboy , no bib and brace and polished boots for me, my generation was checked lumberjack shirt and Cowboy boots, and a padded sleevless body warmer, all the fashion after the Convoy movie, oh and the obligatory mullet and tache Only stayed in digs a couple of times, where I put the bed legs in my cowboy boots to stop them getting nicked.
No frilly curtains then (that I know you are fond of) but it was the law that you must have flags of Euro countries and Bandag stickers blocking your view in the windscreen and a Michelin man on each mirror alongside your ‘twintruckers’ cb aerial.
ha ha NO all that modern equipment wasnt around in the old days but we still had guinness labels for tax discs. it was great when we switched from a Maudsley or an AEC to a thames trader, even better when the Ford D series came along, and thank god for the first sleeper cab…the TK Bedford
truckyboy:
ha ha NO all that modern equipment wasnt around in the old days but we still had guinness labels for tax discs. it was great when we switched from a Maudsley or an AEC to a thames trader, even better when the Ford D series came along, and thank god for the first sleeper cab…the TK Bedford
Yeh I had a TK ‘sleeper’ it was great in the summer the cab was that narrow you could sleep with your feet out of the passenger side window, or even better sleep under the sheet in a tent styley
One of the Fodens that I drove was an S21 or Mickey Mouse fiberglass cab with no headlining just a nice speckeld grey&white paint job. Not really a problem till it came to a frosty morning and the condensation as it got colder then froze we are talking inside the roof!!!. So off you go and about a quarter of an hour later there is just enough heat of the Gardner to begin the defrost.
So there you are for about an hour trying to dry the drips dropping down your neck. Then I read about todays drivers complaining about the Air Con etc not working and I think WIMPS.
Tideswells now that brings back memories about 49/50 I was a wee boy and used to see them as I walked to school they were in at Tarff Creamery near Twynholm with the barrels. Eddie.
Hiya As said it wasn’t that long ago was it…i used to stay in dig near wood lane god it was home
from home ok 2 in a room but it was clean and warm. there was a place nr Teweksbury that was
a busy place but clean. was it the shrang gree lar or simular.at least we spoke to each other and
not crap like you hear today we was all on one level no bull s…
John
It was very hard swinging that starting handle as well, especially in the winter but at least the fire under the sump kept us a bit warm…ha ha even more difficult when it pressured back and caught you one in the boat race…lmao…
robroy:
Does anybody remember the morning chorus on lorry parks (in the days when parking was actually provided for you) of Gardener engines in ERFs Atkis and Fodens taking about 3 to 4 minutes for the starter motor to turn the engine over, followed by the thick blanket of fog caused by the exhaust fumes, that always managed to get in your cab.
You had to get out of your bed then to avoid being gassed by carbon monoxide, I say ‘bed’ I mean the board across the seats with a bit of foam mattress , but could not set off until you scraped the ice off the INSIDE of the windscreen Good days but wouldn’t want to go back to all that, even though it WAS a better job then in most other ways, and the only ‘Agencies’ in transport then was what you used to get diesel, and nothing to do with any parasitical activities towards drivers.
Spot on robroy…Your post brings back old memories about the good old days,and they were. lol
robroy:
Does anybody remember the morning chorus on lorry parks (in the days when parking was actually provided for you) of Gardener engines in ERFs Atkis and Fodens taking about 3 to 4 minutes for the starter motor to turn the engine over, followed by the thick blanket of fog caused by the exhaust fumes, that always managed to get in your cab.
You had to get out of your bed then to avoid being gassed by carbon monoxide, I say ‘bed’ I mean the board across the seats with a bit of foam mattress , but could not set off until you scraped the ice off the INSIDE of the windscreen Good days but wouldn’t want to go back to all that, even though it WAS a better job then in most other ways, and the only ‘Agencies’ in transport then was what you used to get diesel, and nothing to do with any parasitical activities towards drivers.
Spot on robroy…Your post brings back old memories about the good old days,and they were. lol
regards dave.
The ■■■■■■■ lorries started immediately ,I remember the f88 & f10s putting a strain on the national grid before smoking the lorry park out !
, no bib and brace and polished boots for me, my generation was checked lumberjack shirt and Cowboy boots, and a padded sleevless body warmer, all the fashion after the Convoy movie, oh and the obligatory mullet and tache 
Only stayed in digs a couple of times, where I put the bed legs in my cowboy boots to stop them getting nicked.