To a Pal I found on the other side of the World .our thoughts go out to you from the old country , hope that all turns out good sincere best wishes to my mate Backsplice’s wife and family , Ron
I was reminded in a FB conversation about the power station being built at Taif, from someone whose company had a base there. Peter Jonker Johnson, I think I only visited it once, somewhere around 1980. Can’t remember what I was delivering. When I arrived, the guy who took the documents had make up on! After I tipped, he offered me a room for the night! I declined, saying ‘err…I have to get back to Dammam!’
The comment from Peter Jonker Johnson was ‘Yeah, they were all bent there’. glad I didn’t take him up on that!
John.
John West:
I was reminded in a FB conversation about the power station being built at Taif, from someone whose company had a base there. Peter Jonker Johnson, I think I only visited it once, somewhere around 1980. Can’t remember what I was delivering. When I arrived, the guy who took the documents had make up on! After I tipped, he offered me a room for the night! I declined, saying ‘err…I have to get back to Dammam!’The comment from Peter Jonker Johnson was ‘Yeah, they were all bent there’. glad I didn’t take him up on that!
John.
Sure it wasn’t the nut house - their was a psychiatric hospital for male and female - apparently the females used to run around naked!!
BST regards
Ken b
Getting back to .117 if there is no connection with T/A ? The new owner has just bought a tin of paint ! Strange how some folk latch on ,TC gave that truck some stick !! I can still smell the rubber .Ron
ronhawk:
Getting back to .117 if there is no connection with T/A ? The new owner has just bought a tin of paint ! Strange how some folk latch on ,TC gave that truck some stick !! I can still smell the rubber .Ron
Morning Ron - looks as though the guy who has bought it is a ERF enthusiast - it looks as though he has a working fleet of them along with other vehicles so probably it will be preserved and will appear again at some time. Must admit I never really got over enthusiastic about it as it’s a copy not the original - I take your point about a pot of paint. Is Tony Cope still around ? Shame about Jona he seemed a great guy, but I cannot ever recollect meeting him.
Hope you are keeping well and out of harms way under the current situation - strange times. Keep off that ladder and climbing trees.
Cheers
Ken
Well that’s good to know , 117 will keep the spirit alive , its always good to see the ERF’s , I will never forget TC coming down that mountain with at least 55 ton trying to overcome the Jake brake ■■ He did not realise how close he came to obliteration , the only weakness on the ERF adversely saved his life !! " Dif locked up in Broken peaces , it might not seem much to Joe Blogs ■■ But the steep decent with sheer drops at every turn and spectacular scenery on that mountain for 1.1/2 hrs the wheight is try’s to jack knife the unit ,slideing with to much lock , together with other suicide drivers , " he was lucky lucky " it was late afternoon when TC pulled in red hot and the truck was shimmering “That was incredible ,” Tony Cope l believe he is Still upright , Ron
ronhawk:
Well that’s good to know , 117 will keep the spirit alive , its always good to see the ERF’s , I will never forget TC coming down that mountain with a 55 ton trying to overcome the Jake brake ■■ He did not realise how close he came to abliveration , the only weakness on the ERF saved his life !! " Dif locked up in Broken peaces , it was late afternoon red hot and the truck was shimmering “That was incredible ,” l believe he is Still upright , Ron
Great picture - the memories live on. Not sure what’s happened to TA! All gone quiet since the Saudis cancelled a huge amount of expat visas.
Cheers
Ken
I spent 4 days in Tief cop shop … it was,nt as scary as I thought …luckily the captain there had been trained at the Mets collage Hendon so I really was,nt put in the calaboose
and was fed with the police it was the first days of Ramadan so it was a communal feast at night …no forks though■■? and I,m here to tell the tail
Mah Salahm
backsplice:
I spent 4 days in Tief cop shop … it was,nt as scary as I thought …luckily the captain there had been trained at the Mets collage Hendon so I really was,nt put in the calaboose
and was fed with the police it was the first days of Ramadan so it was a communal feast at night …no forks though■■? and I,m here to tell the tailMah Salahm
Hi
Why were you being held? We had a driver held their but got him out same day.
Ken b
ronhawk:
Intriguing Backsplice ? Tell us more !! Ron
Did you ever locked up Ron?
I didn’t - just got you all out!!
Was surprised Cope e never got licked up for the way he look a lump of wood to the car driver up Mecca Road!! I was more that full on as I remember.
Ken
Yes is the answer to your question , it was in Alkhobar ? The police where stopping everyone ■■? I was driving a Pontiac Le Mans , producing my driving licence ! I thought I am OK ? Now this is the licence I had with T/A , they looked at it and took me to the calaboosh on the the Dammam rd . The nick was packed full of brown people and I thought what am I going to do !! nobody spoke English it was of cause red hot .eventually I got to speak to there top officer he explained that the licence was out of date ? He release me and the long walk back to car was exhausting , . But I remember the jails in Jeddah packed to the rafters with prisoners with there hands tied to a metal bar running over there heads it was medieval I mean at least 100 it was frightening , I have since found out that there was a Que on while we where in Jeddah and all of these people where for the Chop !!! it was all kept very quiet but this is a fact , we also had one of our managers as you know in jail at the same time Ron
ronhawk:
Yes is the answer to your question , it was in Alkhobar ? The police where stopping everyone ■■? I was driving a Pontiac Le Mans , producing my driving licence ! I thought I am OK ? Now this is the licence I had with T/A , they looked at it and took me to the calaboosh on the the Dammam rd . The nick was packed full of brown people and I thought what am I going to do !! nobody spoke English it was of cause red hot .eventually I got to speak to there top officer he explained that the licence was out of date ? He release me and the long walk back to car was exhausting , . But I remember the jails in Jeddah packed to the rafters with prisoners with there hands tied to a metal bar running over there heads it was medieval I mean at least 100 it was frightening , I have since found out that there was a cue on while we where in Jeddah and all of these people where for the Chop !!! it was all kept very quiet but this is a fact , Ron
Interesting - how did you get to see the inside of the jails in Jeddah? Their were two types of jails - the tragic jails which were horrific, filthy and as you say very hot - the central prison where longer term prisoners were kept - they were quite well organised with large rooms of open bared cells with about 30people in, each cell had a foreman who controlled all within the cell - Charlie Fussell spent a month in one over that horrible traffic accident by T/A villa - don’t forget they didn’t feed you inside - food had to be taken in on a daily basis and it was shared amongst the occupiers of each cell.
Death row - unusual as they normally dealt with them on a weekly basis with really bad cases being beheaded the following day.
Could do with some tough justice today to halt some of the crime as our justice system is toothless.
I gave a friend whose a JP and listen to him - he’s not in the real world and really has no worldly life experience.
Interesting
Ken
Bloody hell give me time to proof read what I have just wrote !!! We all keep our distance in this corona world !! The same aplies to this thread , give me space in case of amendments .Har Har . I took Charlie some food in that hell hole , it was and still is to this day an unbelievable horrible country ! If you get into trouble ,lets wait for Backsplice to wake up , Ron
ronhawk:
Bloody hell give me time to proof read what I have just wrote !!! We all keep our distance in this corona world !! The same aplies to this thread , give me space in case of amendments .Har Har . I took Charlie some food in that hell hole , it was and still is to this day an unbelievable horrible country ! If you get into trouble ,lets wait for Backsplice to wake up , Ron
Ron - do you want me to breath on you!
Interestingly I got into a conversation with a second cousin new wife who live in Dubai - she had been offered a job in Riyadh - you can imagine what I had to say - oh no no she replied it not like that anymore - yes I thought - no chance, anyway I made some research on You Tube - amazed - further research reviled the huge increase in Saudi nationals all under 26 - massive. Apparently Jeddah,Dammam and Riyadh have changed unbelievably - have a look on line - interestingly - some great videos of the south.
Cheers
Ken
Well I hope you have all saluted the workers by standing outside and clapping , our street had a good turn out , there is a nurse Stephany who was on duty !! who lives opposite , the NHS are on the front line risking there lives for us all .thanks to you all involved in this troubled time , we don’t need stupid remarks like the one in the above blog , Ron
Thanks boys I am awake …well if you want the story …here goes …Me and another Saramat ( My mate) were heading home from Riyahd I was leading and we were cruising about 90 KPH (Fleetwood Mac Blaring) he was about 500 mtrs behind in front of me was a Datsun pick up with a camel in the back and an old Bedowin driving !!!.. anyway he must have been dozing and wandering all over the road I put the boot (flip flop) down up to 110 Kph trying to pass but everytime I tried he swerved so fell back and thought just stay where I was at 90 …then he swerved in front of an on coming pickup who in turn swerved to avoid him shot up on to the sand cat the side of the road and ricocheted off that right under my trailer bounced of that on to the verge …it all happened in an instance …anyway my maate pulled up behind me 300 mtrs past where it happened the first thing he said was geeziz " Rob he,ll be brown bread he came flying through his windscreen like a ragdoll "… a bit of commotion followed but while trying to pull on a shirt and get aa grip on it a pickup stopped and the driver said he was police from the next village (not that far ) and sitting between them was this bloke (European ) covered in blood …Please you tell him not my fault …which I tried to explain anyway they told me carting off to hospital which I think was Taif …I said thank God your not a Saudi it seemed that that was that but not long after another pickup arrived more police not in uniform but in the long grey shirts and I was taken to a village copshop (breeze block hut !!!) then taken by another to Taif …it was the first day of Ramadan so fortunatelyfor me the captain in charge then could spak good English and when I explained the situation he told me I would be kept in the office where he was even had a bed till it could be sorted out …no Calaboose anyway I ended up there for 4 days 3 nights not much kip but at least I was included with the local constabulary at meal times and made very welcome at the table (big rug on the floor) chicken and rice washed down with liptons chi what more could you want I ask you after several phone calls to Jeddah and you know what the phone service was like there I could get the "fixer " there till the 4th day … I got back to Jeddah had a shower and a good feed and a good nights kip next morning got down to the office and promptly told them to shove their job right up to the top lace hole …and get me my plane ticket home ■■? I cooled down however and got promoted to traffic office cushy number that and I liked it but the big boss came back after being away for a while and shunted me back into No 73 he said I had all the right credentials in my passport for being out on the road…and I disd the rest of my stint and went home just on Christmas …and pulled the pin …the finish of a great adventure in the heat and dust and flies of the great KSA…all in all loved it really… PS Ron Love the shed ■■?
I forgot to mention that the injured Bloke was a German engineer from some construction site and he was "Snatched " from hospital by his Company and flown out toot sweet
hope he,s ok these days … 43 years later ■■?
Mah Salahm
Great story Backsplice , enjoyed reading it over again , takes us right back to the good old days , Ron
backsplice:
I forgot to mention that the injured Bloke was a German engineer from some construction site and he was "Snatched " from hospital by his Company and flown out toot sweet
hope he,s ok these days … 43 years later ■■?Mah Salahm
Well Backslice you were lucky on a number of fronts - I take it the Arab driver with the camel who was problematic high as a kite on gat or whatever it as called got away shot free? Typical
You were lucky to come across a police officer that not only spoke English but was trained in Hendon which must have at least out some common sense in his head.
We were lucky at TA that we were not involved in any mayor crashes with people being hurt etc although we did have 3 other quite serious incidents. You may remember another transport company MATS with a fleet of Volvos - their GM brought a drivers body parts home in a suitcase after a serious accident and he had kept the parts in his freezer!!
Did you come across 2 guys 1. Herbert 2.James Walton
Whereabouts do you live in Australia - we really enjoyed our visit to your country and New Zealand - we will return when this current crisis is over.
Cheers
Ken b