just wondering if anyone got stuck out on the rd away from home at xams in the truck due to various reasons
Haven’t done an Xmas away yet, I say yet because there is a chance it could happen this week, but I have been away on New Years Eve before now. Last time I was on the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead as the bells were sounding and there were 28 trucks in total on the crossing, 27 Irish drivers and me.
We have had drivers were I work away over Xmas as well.
not me, I been talk to couple of Willi Betz drivers, I ask them, " do you will go to home for christmas?" but they told me, maybe or not ? depend the Betz office and they wait for hear next destination. Most Betz lorries will be parking in christmas day!!! sad for them 
but they need money!!! i cant blame them!!! 
I spent one Christmas Eve parked in a petrol station at Novgorod and drove from there to Moscow on Christmas Day.
Felt strange writing the date on the tacho.
December 25th is a normal working day in Russia (they celebrate on January 6th) so the day was rather surreal.
It slowly dawned on me that it would be better to be at home, sprawled on the settee, stuffed with turkey and clutching a large glass of something.
Vince
I do Greece all the time, i got offered a trip to tip Athens just after Xmas, 27th or 28th, but turned it down, maybe if the weather was nice id have thought about it a bit longer, wouldnt have minded that much if i HAD to go, but wouldnt have been too happy about New Years Eve away. no wife easy life 
so its entirely my own choosing. After nothing but tipping Athens and loading Italy for the last 11 months i may have considered being out for Xmas in a different country as long as i could have got home for New Years Eve. Thats the big one as far as im concerned.
He offered me a Greece, leaving last monday but I said “Naaah. Too close to Christmas”. I`ve got kids now.
Christian and Gordon went and have already been delayed and and are only starting to load in Italy on monday, several collections, when they were meant to be there friday.
So it`s getting a little close for comfort. Is the tunnel running on Christmas Day, does anybody know?
Vince
Tunnel is running on the 25th Vince.
Thanks Neil.
Not like the old days then. No speed limiter and 45 minutes to drive 60 miles to catch the last boat home on Christmas Eve…
Vince
I understand truckers working Crimbo day get a free Crimbo dinner at the Redbeck ?
I’ve never been away at Christmas,but in the day’s when I drove for Van Maanen in Holland they were always looking for volunteers to go out on a trip over Christmas.Usually they found part time retired drivers who would take the wife with them to Italy or Greece.
Last year I loaded in Tongeren on New Year’s Eve for Gothenburg and saw the New Year in in Puttgarden just as I came off the boat.
I sat there with all the ship’s horns going off thinking “What the hell am I doing here?” To make matters worse,it’s my birthday on New Year’s Day too!
And it was COLD!! -22c!!! 
Keith
Not like the old days then. No speed limiter and 45 minutes to drive 60 miles to catch the last boat home on Christmas Eve…
And here was me thinking you’d always been perfect
Pat
Pat how could you possibly have thought that Vince is perfect (even though he might like us to think so).
Being perfect does not mean stuffing it down our throats at every opportunity that he has been to Russia one could be forgiven for beginning to think that he is the only one .
Vince:
Thanks Neil.Not like the old days then. No speed limiter and 45 minutes to drive 60 miles to catch the last boat home on Christmas Eve…
Not me Vince, I don’t rush anywhere, heading home or heading out, if it looks like I’ll miss the boat I’ll miss it, there is always another one.
Grim Reaper:
Pat how could you possibly have thought that Vince is perfect (even though he might like us to think so).
Being perfect does not mean stuffing it down our throats at every opportunity that he has been to Russia one could be forgiven for beginning to think that he is the only one
Handbags, ladies
I thought they were supposed to be men Rob 
Pat
Handbags, Sabres, Cutlasses, Pistols who cares.
Pat some of us may look like men but you may not always see our true feelings or emotions.
Some of us like to make ourselves out to be something that we are not.
Some are shy and reserved (like my good self)
but if there is any handbag swinging going on then I am sure that Vince (poor darling) will be in the middle of it
Grim Reaper:
Handbags, Sabres, Cutlasses, Pistols who cares.
I don’t think whatever crime Vince is meant to have committed warrants pistols 
I’ve found Vince to be of great help of late with suggestions and answers to my posts on another forum.
Pat:
And here was me thinking you’d always been perfect
Pat
Hello Pat.
You are DEFINATELY confusing me with someone else!
Wire in, fuse out, 85mph on a Mickey Mouse French permit and running on “cherry”, done it all.
I applaud the legislation and enforcement which ended this stuff.
I never wanted to do it but “I get a dozen blokes in here every day asking for your job Mister” was big incentivisation back in the early nineties.
Good old Maggie! Not like that anymore. We ain`t “ten-a-penny” any more.
Pat, our only disagreement is about the Working Time Directive and we should continue to discuss it. Believe me, I can`t wait to join the PDA because you do so much other stuff which is so good.
It`s just the WTD thing. Why would I pay somebody to oppose it on my behalf■■?
“When supply of a commodity is reduced, but demand for the commodity remains constant, the value of the commodity increases. The Law of Supply and Demand”
Hey. You must admit it`s starting to look like I was right all along…
All the best Pat. I have enormous respect for you. Let`s end by agreeing on one thing. Many drivers on both of our forums refer to eastern European drivers in a very perjorative sense.
“Our industry is under pressure due to developments in eastern Europe” is fine.
“Smelly Romanians stealing our jobs” is not.
Im not saying this refers to any specific posting on either the PDAs forum or ours. It occurs in various forms on both of them. We have to stop it.
Vince
Well, I’ve never done that Vince, despite the first firm I ever worked for taking centre stage again in CM this week, I understand, and having less than a quarter of their drivers at work at the moment due to an enforced holiday 
When I worked there, we had no basic, just a pecentage, but still there was a few of us that never run bent
WTD Vince, I don’t know where you get the idea that the PDA doesn’t support it.
We are actually in the process of having a Poll of our Members to see what our stance should be with the majority of votes clinching it, whatever way.
My own personal feeling is that we should have an opt out clause but it is only my personal opinion, and I’m quite capable of putting that aside and fighting for what the majority of the members want…it comes with the job of Trustee
One thing is certain Vince…if you dont join, then you don’t get a vote to make your opinion heard
As for your comments about the Eastern Europeans I totally agree with you and hope I never see the last statement in print again.
At the end of the day ‘a Driver is a Driver the world over’ and deserves respect and support for the job they /we do.
Happy Christmas Vince…enjoy your twins
Pat
Gawd Pat that man can creep when he wants to
have you got something on him then ?