I always thought that that sort of arrangement would drastically shorten the lives of sheets. I understand the reasons why but have always managed to avoid it in my transport life.
Like the DAF though, my first real sleeper, that model. The nearest I got beforehand to not being draped over a bonnet was the rabbit hutch Atki that I was presented with at Econofreight. Thus I thought I was in heaven with a double bunked DAF, especially as the top bunk could be dropped right down to give more headroom.
Eddie Heaton:
I’m guessing that Kev could have been loading out of the old BICC plant off Spinning Jenny st. in Leigh, close to the David Brown plant, although I would have thought that both places had been long gone by 1996.
The former Leigh Casino a few hundred yards away on Lord st. used to have grab a granny nights and the café that Kev recalls may well have been the New Island café near the lights at Lowton. It’s just a guess mind, and I could well be wrong on all three counts, but it’s the only place near Wigan that produced cable that I’m aware of. You could try typing Spinning Jenny Way into Google street view, but it bears little resemblance to how it used to look in former days.
Definitely the island cafe at the lights, I had a few nights out there in the mid 70s it was always full of taffys parked up there especially on a Thursday night for the grab a grannie in Lowton labour club.
What we all dreamed of, tramping, a lovely neat square load to rope and sheet.
Once we’d travelled up on the forks and then risked life and limb to spread them that is.
One of my long gone Marra’s John Irving who had been Harry Fearon’s ( H & M E Fearon) right hand man so when Harry decided to take over at Workington Dock John bought the haulage interests of Harry and changed the name to John Irving Ltd but he did keep the colour scheme basically the same as H & M E . Cheers Bewick.
Dennis
Roped railway lines the HSE are on their way boy are you in trouble[emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]
Jeremy
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Never had a problem in those days with either roping or chaining 40ft rail and just for the record that was a load I roped at Workington and brought down to Milnthorpe. but I agree with you “Badger” some of the “■■■■” heads today wouldn’t know how to rope a load of rail safely so yes they would probably throw some off ! I never had any time for the HSE /Elf & Safety Walla’s as they were just starting to flap their wings a bit before I retired so I could run rings around them just by countering with common sense ! Sadly common sense has disappeared from todays transport industry as the “jobs worth” tossers are now in charge ! Glad I’m no longer involved ! Cheers Dennis.
Eddie Heaton:
If there’s any manderous thing that you couldn’t do better than anyone else , you’ll be sure to let us know won’t you Dennis ?
Well Eddie you’ve definitely stumped me with the word " manderous" as I have trawled through my Collins Dictionary but to no avail ! I recall back in the day many many years past our English teacher Jack Craggs used to encourage the Form to learn a new word every day which he assured us would help us to understand the English language much better. Obviously that encouragement fell on deaf ears as far as I was concerned but it’s reckoned you are never too old to learn a new word even if it is not in the dictionary so thanks. Cheers Dennis.
Eddie Heaton:
If there’s any manderous thing that you couldn’t do better than anyone else , you’ll be sure to let us know won’t you Dennis ?
Well Eddie you’ve definitely stumped me with the word " manderous" as I have trawled through my Collins Dictionary but to no avail ! I recall back in the day many many years past our English teacher Jack Craggs used to encourage the Form to learn a new word every day which he assured us would help us to understand the English language much better. Obviously that encouragement fell on deaf ears as far as I was concerned but it’s reckoned you are never too old to learn a new word even if it is not in the dictionary so thanks. Cheers Dennis.
Eddie Heaton:
If there’s any manderous thing that you couldn’t do better than anyone else , you’ll be sure to let us know won’t you Dennis ?
Well Eddie you’ve definitely stumped me with the word " manderous" as I have trawled through my Collins Dictionary but to no avail ! I recall back in the day many many years past our English teacher Jack Craggs used to encourage the Form to learn a new word every day which he assured us would help us to understand the English language much better. Obviously that encouragement fell on deaf ears as far as I was concerned but it’s reckoned you are never too old to learn a new word even if it is not in the dictionary so thanks. Cheers Dennis.
I couldn’t find it in the Macquarie or Oxford either.
We may never know if you’ve been complimented or denigrated.
I’m not entirely certain if the word manderous is a universally recognised word to be honest , and I’m not sure if manderous is the correct spelling of the word either but back in 1966 , I worked for Sir Alfred McAlpine in Codrington quarry during the construction of the Hambrook to Tormarton section of the M4 motorway , and stayed in digs at the premises of a dear old west country lady in the village of Wickwar .
My precious landlady at that time used to use the word frequently , as in “ get off yer arse and chuck a shovelful of coke in that stove , or have I godda do every bloody manderous thing around this place ? “ … or similar .
I feel sure that’s where I picked the word up … so perhaps manderous is one of those words that rarely migrate beyond the confines of a particular locality … or perhaps it’s a word that’s just peculiar to Gloucestershire.
Or could it be possible that the word manderous may have managed to avoid scrutiny by the OED whilst still remaining in constant daily usage among various enclaves within the Southwest of England ,… as we are all well aware that many areas of this country use words that are alien to neighboring regions , none of which appear , nor are they ever likely to appear in any dictionary .
For instance , in Wigan , not unlike most areas in this country , we tend to use certain words or phrases that would be understood only with great difficulty in let’s say , nearby Preston .
So for the time being at least , the word manderous appears doomed to remain an enigma , and as I have been notably unsuccessful in my attempts to contact Doctor Samuel Johnson , my only hope now is that whispering smith may get involved in the debate , and if the word is actually of west country origin , then he could well be the man able to throw a little light on the subject .
Or on second thoughts , perhaps my dear old , possibly long deceased , but definitely never to be forgotten landlady was mis-pronouncing ( or I was mis-hearing ) the word meandrous , a word which CAN be found in the dictionary .
Yeah ! … the meaning of the word appears to match the sentiment , so on reflection , I think I’ll go with that one , so you may all feel free stand down now … crisis over .
Or even from the French demanderais, which is a future tense of the word ‘to ask’, and perhaps it had been misheard, and/or, morphed from that, and perhaps your landlady was moaning that nothing was ever done without being asked for. Returning soldiers brought many French words and phrases back from the 1st World War such as toodleoo (fr. a tout a l’heure) both of which mean ‘see you later’. There are many others often mispronounced, misspelled, and even had altered meanings over the years. The latter are called faux amis in French, which means false friends, and plague the life out of foreign residents like me because we have to be constantly on our guard to avoid using them wrongly.
A prime offender is the word ‘sensible’. Several hundred years ago it didn’t mean what it means today. Then, as in French now, it meant/means ‘sensitive’. Check out Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ if you don’t believe me )
English has changed and evolved, French hasn’t. We can thank, or otherwise, the Academie Francaise for that, which to this day works hard to retain the ‘purity’ of the French language.
Spardo:
Or even from the French demanderais, which is a future tense of the word ‘to ask’, and perhaps it had been misheard, and/or, morphed from that, and perhaps your landlady was moaning that nothing was ever done without being asked for. Returning soldiers brought many French words and phrases back from the 1st World War such as toodleoo (fr. a tout a l’heure) both of which mean ‘see you later’. There are many others often mispronounced, misspelled, and even had altered meanings over the years. The latter are called faux amis in French, which means false friends, and plague the life out of foreign residents like me because we have to be constantly on our guard to avoid using them wrongly.
A prime offender is the word ‘sensible’. Several hundred years ago it didn’t mean what it means today. Then, as in French now, it meant/means ‘sensitive’. Check out Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ if you don’t believe me )
English has changed and evolved, French hasn’t. We can thank, or otherwise, the Academie Francaise for that, which to this day works hard to retain the ‘purity’ of the French language.
Wow this is better than any English class i had at school,
Jeremy
so thanks. Cheers Dennis.
)
