The first 3 days

[mick57]

After a good day on Wednesday, yesterday i wondered why i wanted to do this job, got stuck in a traffic jam on the A1 meaning i was on hour late for my pick up, first drop was ok was there the day before , second drop was in Stanley, Co Durham, followed all the directions found an industrial estate with the right name but no firm with the name on my paperwork so went back looking for it got very lost but found it in the end, right next door to the first one i found (no one said there were 2 estates with the same name & no signs to the one i wanted) started to undo the curtains when a gust of wind blew the curtain resulting in a smack on the nose by a flying clip (damm that hurt), had a pick up in Northallerton right poky hole with not nearly enough room to turn in so had several etempts reversing got it in the end, took ages getting loaded & did not get back till 8 o clock last night (why do i do this).
Up at 4o clock this morning for a 7 o clock drop in Leeds, found it eventually (with some help from a very nice binman ) ,back to Wetherby to load for Scunthorpe, found it quite quickly, 20 mins late getting there had to wait in a queue to be unloaded ( more of that damm reversing) then back to base.
But i got the grin factor back today driving back from Scunthorpe
All in all not a bad time not sure about next week will wait & see what it brings.
Going to check out getting TomTom Go this weekend to save all that getting lost.
Now to answer some of your questions.
Tonyw
Goldenfry & Safepack are opposite each other, from the A1 north or south bound follow the signs for the racecourse at the roundabout in front of the racecourse go right to Wetherby, over the big bridge 2nd right, straight up to the end turn right Goldenfry on the right Safepack on the left (ark at me 3 days trucking & giving directions

Convy
Not got my own truck yet but they run DAF CFs of varying ages in blue or cream with T J Smith Logistics on them if you see one i’m the one with long hair.

Liberace
Yes now i DO ask & i DO GET OUT & LOOK, as for the other one .

Right now i am eating a curry like it was going out of fashion (starving) then shower & out for some much needed beer.

If it was me you were cursing anywere i can only apologise, only been doing the job 3 days, but still have one on Monday (i hope)

Regards to you all

Mick

[convoy]

Hi mick,

Interesting read and all sounds fun. I am glad
you are enjoying it and hope next week is
just as good .

[daxi]

Why not buy a couple of Philips maps, they are an A - Z of a county, so one for each county you visit regularly at £10 each is a lot cheaper than a tom tom.
The art of good reversing is getting where you need to be without damaging the vehicle & without hitting anyone or anything, so it seems like you’ve done OK there, don’t let needing a couple of shunts dishearten you, if it’s tight I always take an extra shunt to make sure I can see properly down both sides before reversing in.

[knight]

Mick I got a whack on the back of the head from one of those clips tonight, the wind today has made loading and driving interesting.
One point you said you finished at eight and started at four that means you only had eight hours daily rest when the minimum is nine. Unless of course I misunderstood you and you meant you got home at eight. In which case ignore me.
If I was still multi dropping instead of trunking I would go for the Tom Tom cause looking for places can be a real pain some times.
The old grin factor makes worth while. I fel like an idiot sometimes just driving

and looking like a cheshire cat.

[mick57]

Actually started at 5.30 knight, just got out of a nice warm bed a 4o clock

[conor]

daxi:
Why not buy a couple of Philips maps, they are an A - Z of a county, so one for each county you visit regularly at £10 each is a lot cheaper than a tom tom.

A couple of Philips maps? 12 years of driving and buying maps for everywhere and I had a massive box full which didn’t come close to covering the UK and cost me around £600.

[marcustandy]

conor:
A couple of Philips maps? 12 years of driving and buying maps for everywhere and I had a massive box full which didn’t come close to covering the UK and cost me around £600.

I’m with you on this one Conor. Having your own truck isn’t too bad as you can put them away but when on the agency work, my ‘day-bag’ weighs a flippin’ ton (or should that be tonne, nowadays??!!).

Not to mention things change too quickly; I moved to Germany, came home for a visit and the M1 had changed going past Leeds (instead of finishing in it!) and that wasn’t shown on my map. Decent mapping software should offer downloadable updates. In the long run, the TomTom should be cheaper.

[wheel_nut]

If you see a bloke called Les Weatherill in Goldenfry,

ask him. He knows everything that there is to know about: Well I will think of something

I think his lad Craig runs a couple of trucks from there too.

They are or were mates with John Smith