Found this on the net,looks like its from a magazine or book ■■
DEANB:
Found this on the net,looks like its from a magazine or book ■■0
Mr Cooke when he was young innocent and handsome!! What went wrong??
Ken b
DEANB:
Found this on the net,looks like its from a magazine or book ■■0
Mr Cooke when he was young innocent and handsome!! What went wrong??
Ken b
You can see how much hard work has gone into making this wrens nest ? It was 3inch deep and made with moss , horse hair , and soft down It was abandoned by the bird some weeks ago , so reluctantly I fired the BBQ up and the eggs went the same way as 114 Mazola Mac on Tief mountain all those years ago ,J Davies and myself had also lovingly rebuilt this truck , only to be thoughtlessly waved out of Jedda on that red hot night to climb that mountain grossing 85+ton , Tony Tomkins did fantastic to get as far has he did almost to the top , and that jumped up idiot said he should have left him in Jail I thought that that peace of sh-t I had on my shoe had gone but it seems that he can’t resist making silly comments about my true stories that I experienced while working in S/A for Trans Arabia Ron ,
Ain’t it marvellous ? I remember that green velvet jumper that I had in Saudi On a trip to King Solomon’s mine the nights where cold in the mountains but still hot in the day , after repairing the trucks that had broke down it was still three days to get back , and having got back to Jeddah it felt great , food and watered , going into the office for money’s laid out there was always disbelief ? (As to where is the recite ) for the fuel and grub , as if it was nothing to go out and do whatever it took to get the trucks Rollin again , bloody hell it was only a couple of rats ? One minute you felt great for achieving the impossible out there on your own ? Then to get a kick in the bullocks when I asked for a couple of Bob, no wander my head went down ,? The trucks where driving on mirrors. In the desert heat it was tricky to keep out of trouble and not get Dehydrated ,for days on end , seeing one of our trucks out there was just brilliant reassuring that I could get a cup of tea and a bite to eat , this was how it was at Trans Arabia Managment they looked after there self , and made out that was the job , well I did well to get all of my breakdowns back safe and sound and rebuilding the two brand new Mac’s that had been senselessly over loaded and the engines destroyed, Even the Mac agency would not believe his excuses and they knew that the engines had been distroyed by over loading ,on mountain rds They could not belive his stupidity , and took ages to resolve this problem , so he blamed the drivers saying that they did not know how to use the engine brake , all the time it was the nonsensical heavy loads that would overrun any engine brake in the Asir mountains , our lads where the only reason that the top man did not end up in Jail , he would have had it had been in UK , and then he even destroyed 114 going up Tief with its 85+ ton off marble , and said he should have left Tony in jail , The ERF,s. Took the strain with brakes clutches hubs Diff’s and blow outs Trans Arabia was all about our lads , that skilfully kept out of the carnage that was all over Saudi I was told that my contract was up after 2 1/2 years and would not be renewed , ■■ This put me in a dificult position with the recession back home , but I found work in Saudi I did love my 6 1/2 years in KSA , keep on trucking Ron. 
Never mind the tumbleweed Ron what about the rocks played havoc with the tyres between them and the heat… Also we too used to get a chance to go and sit on the beach looking at the deep blue Red sea
backsplice:
Never mind the tumbleweed Ron what about the rocks played havoc with the tyres between them and the heat… Also we too used to get a chance to go and sit on the beach looking at the deep blue Red sea
Oh Dear, roast Brit! Beauty’s only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone…
I never did get sunburnt. I flew to Cyprus to meet Julie, my wife. At the hotel the guy in charge of the swimming pool said something like ‘you are very white, but in two weeks, you will go home brown!’ I replied, ‘I doubt it, I live in Saudi Arabia.’ He couldn’t believe it, but I didn’t go brown. I did build up resistance, among other things, slinging, shirtless, the Behring containers which came back on the train from Riyadh, so didn’t burn.
Adnan Kashoggi’s death reminded me that I once delivered a container to his house in Riyadh. I think it was furniture and I was given tea and cake by his housekeeper while the container was emptied. She was full of tales about him (I think she was Egyptian, but I may be wrong, certainly no veil or even head covering) I wish I could remember our conversation!
John
Glad you are back Backsplice and John, I think we where all adventurers , going where no White man had been before .( so to speak ) certainly with the loads that Trans Arabia hauled we really did go far out ,but we had Brit drivers that could get out of trouble and looked after each other as well as the trucks , after driving on the black stuff for days !! In the heat of Saudi Then the rough graded tracks for 100 or more klicks I can only praise our lads , keeping well apart from the grinding dust , what a job we all did for days on end it is worth reminding each other just how it was , we had no back up , to have a blow out was bad enough but to have a dead horse occasionally 100s miles from any where was a challenge to say the least Ron
I know this Mac is not Johnny Mathews ! But it reminds me of JM !!! He was sitting on the bonnet with his back against the screen , the sun had just gone down and he had the yellow park lights on , playing country & western on his 8 trac we where waiting to unload Benzagers container ship in Jeddah , I can see him now !! he had that cheeky grin on his face trying to impress the girls standing on the bridge in the very warm evening air , the port lights and the ships was a evening to remember ? he was a great kid RIP . Ron
If you wanted to phone home we went to the airport , there was a room with seats and phone booths , we waited in turn and the Saudi pointed a numbered phone which corespondent with the clock on his desk, and then shouted London ENGLAND !!! , as the clock ticked on we counted the rats disappearing !!! today I can’t believe the technology ? My sister in law made a statement she said (I KNOW I SAW IT ON THE PHONE ) how remarkable is that ? To have had that in Saudi ■■ It may have taken away the excitement of the job in hand . But would have saved lives I am sure , it would NOT have cut the job up !!! nobody wanted to stay out there and suffer the heat ,there was a truck stop in a fashion on the Red sands this side of Ryihad, but nothing on the mountain rd South to Khamis, I remember buying a water mellon from a Yemeni Barra boy , and. Spitting out the pips of this thirst quenching red and green ball it was truly delicious , we cooked our own grub everything was with sand , but the song by Slim Whitman COOL WATER says it all , all be it warm water . Ron
Jeddah to Riyhad is 1.1/2 days away with a loaded artic , and if you have a inner wheel blowout on a low loader with limited tackle in the desert you have to rely on someone to help with the repair ? So the driver has to get word back to Jeddah !! that he is in trouble this takes another two days , by (Wells Fargo) meanwhile , the driver is not in an A/ Con office ,he is in trouble just trying to sit it out in the heat until help arrives !!! For ( kb ) who makes the comment below is showing himself to be a man of little under standing , (instead of Piers Morgan intervewing killer women ) he should have a session with kb , Ron
Living in the East side of Saudi ,with my wife and two teenagers our address was a block of flats three stories up in Al Khobar overlooking the football stadium , that was just across the duel carriageway, it was incredible , we had a small balcony and watched the football ,with drinks ? from our vantage point it was better than the Royal box at Wimbledon !! The thousands of Arabs where all In white and in the floodlights it was an amazing sight , together with the green astro turf and the silk colours of the teems !! The rhythmic clapping and chanting !! Made it almost worthwhile to live in the heat of this oil rich state , Al,Khobar was the top city !!! But no sewage pipes just sess pits overflowing in the sand ,between the next block of flats , certainly the best to live in at this time it had all the high class shops and rich young Arabs driving there flash cars round and round the Safeway supper market car park , Ron
Meanwhile back to Trucking, I have just called in on Jona his labour of love is making progress , it’s looking really good with the JAKE BRAKE fitted, new clutch and Fuller box overhauled, the paint work is like glass , I know that it will be concourse one day , !!! Can’t WATE to hear it fire up, Ron
Chatting to Jona and his mate this morning , I happened to mention about the time I drove that artic with 70 ft H beams to Hereford on a 40ft with Goal post on the head board of the trailer, the beams where overhanging almost on the road at the back painted red and white with flags on , The front was the same distance over the cab , With No clutch the clutch arm had snapped , starting from Aldridge quite a feat in traffic, ( Marline the young lady boss said it had got to Go ) she was a Stunner !! Then Jona’s mate said (Marline ) Marline ) she use to live here , before she made it big in Steel , that started me telling the tail of my mate Jack Roberts ? He rented a tall building off S Jones in the yard !! And the flat roof was leaking ! So JR. Got the long ladders and climbed up repairing the roof with Tar ? Now a bloke named Harold who was always playing tricks on people could see Jack on the roof from his office over the truck garage in the top yard , HE phoned Jack , and watched him climb down the ladders and as he entered the door ! put the phone down !!! this went on and on for ages ? Jack was livid trying to find out who was calling he was working for himself and thought it was work ? So now Jack found out eventually who it was calling !!! Harold said who is young lady that calls in to see you she’s looks lovely (Jack said she is red hot ) I can fix you up if you like !! Harold said yes please he could not believe he had this chance to have a romance Marline she was beautiful !! So a meeting was arranged , they where to meet the back of some flats in Walsall !! Now as it happens Harold was right behind Marline as she drove down the Melish rd , and he could not take his eyes off her, as she looked in the mirror touching her face with white gloves brushing back her hair , ■■? Pulling up behind the flats he rushed round to greet this beautiful creature ■■? It was then when (JACK ) fell out of the car with his white gloves and a Wig on his head and lipstick on !! Cirill Wally was lying down in the NS of the car and crying with laughter ,it was the talk of S Jones for ever, Edward Jones had Jack in his office to hear the story first hand !!! Ron 
hi there is that marline who run pittssteel just down the rd from s jones in middlemore lane.
ergomatic man:
hi there is that marline who run pittssteel just down the rd from s jones in middlemore lane.
Ergomatic man !! Yes that’s was Marline she was a cracker , she came round to our house when I first started working for her , in her Jag , , She had on a fur coat and my daughter kept pulling the fur? it could well have been genuine mink ? Or may be rabbet ! She opened up her own steel stockholders in Aldridge and later her warehouse Swallow steel in Hensford she used to tell me where I was to deliver steel to giving me the instructions sitting at her desk , I was standing over her !!! Then she would say ? (Have you got that Ron ) she always had on low cut tops ,!! I said can you run through that again Marline . I did not quite understand what you said !!! I worked there for 2 -3 years ! any one carrying Picked & Oiled steel plate , they will tell you it’s slippery stuff , amongst a variety of all steel beams , plate , etc, Ron
ronhawk:
Chatting to Jona and his mate this morning , I happened to mention about the time I drove that artic with 70 ft H beams to Hereford on a 40ft with Goal post on the head board of the trailer, the beams where overhanging almost on the road at the back painted red and white with flags on , The front was the same distance over the cab , With No clutch the clutch arm had snapped , starting from Aldridge quite a feat in traffic, ( Marline the young lady boss said it had got to Go ) she was a Stunner !! Then Jona’s mate said (Marline ) Marline ) she use to live here , before she made it big in Steel , that started me telling the tail of my mate Jack Roberts ? He rented a tall building off S Jones in the yard !! And the flat roof was leaking ! So JR. Got the long ladders and climbed up repairing the roof with Tar ? Now a bloke named Harold who was always playing tricks on people could see Jack on the roof from his office over the truck garage in the top yard , HE phoned Jack , and watched him climb down the ladders and as he entered the door ! put the phone down !!! this went on and on for ages ? Jack was livid trying to find out who was calling he was working for himself and thought it was work ? So now Jack found out eventually who it was calling !!! Harold said who is young lady that calls in to see you she’s looks lovely (Jack said she is red hot ) I can fix you up if you like !! Harold said yes please he could not believe he had this chance to have a romance Marline she was beautiful !! So a meeting was arranged , they where to meet the back of some flats in Walsall !! Now as it happens Harold was right behind Marline as she drove down the Melish rd , and he could not take his eyes off her, as she looked in the mirror touching her face with white gloves brushing back her hair , ■■? Pulling up behind the flats he rushed round to greet this beautiful creature ■■? It was then when (JACK ) fell out of the car with his white gloves and a Wig on his head and lipstick on !! Cirill Wally was lying down in the NS of the car and crying with laughter ,it was the talk of S Jones for ever, Edward Jones had Jack in his office to hear the story first hand !!! Ron
Fantastic story Ron!!
Sent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
Hello Johnny , i appreciate your comments and feel the warmth, from across the English Chanel , Ron
I have been searching for a photo of the MK2 jag and the only one that I have found is this one, when on holiday with the wife and kids at Barmouth , the shot shows the fold down tables at the back of green leather upholstery. This was my pride and joy , I renewed all inner valve springs on this double over head camshaft ,( In situ ) and renewed main bearing and big end bearings all except the top shell bearing at N/o one because of the oil pump Drive , after first dropping the front suspension , " beautiful loved that car" it was great . And fast in its day ,Ron
