Many years ago I worked at Manchester airport.
That was a 24 7 365 days a year.
Xmas was volunteers.
And every year was same people who worked. I never did.
But if others want to upto them.
If you want Xmas and all bank holidays off then give up trucking get an office job. Unless you work for a good firm
edd1974:
If you want Xmas and all bank holidays off then give up trucking get an office job. Unless you work for a good firm
Yeh?..You can still be a trucker, and get them off by booking them in early enough even if you work for a crap firm…I’m living proof. 
As for the previous good firms I’ve been on when kids were little, I told them at interview level that I’d tramp anywhere, any time, and for as long away as they wanted, as long as they allowed me to take my kids with me in the summer, and I had a decent holiday at Christmas.
It was always my main priority to fit in my tramping job with seeing as much of my kids as I could, when they were little, didn’t work out most of the time, but always did at Christmas.
No mention of you drivers who are working.
EDTRUCK:
I know this makes me a hard nosed b**trd boss, but I have got 6 of my drivers working over Xmas -actually from Xmas eve 4pm through to about 2pm on Boxing Day as we will be moving two concrete bridges from a site in Southern France into Italy.Who else is working over these days?
Small crumb of comfort is that there will be some of their wives/kids coming along in our ■■■■■■ vehicles and I have arranged for a few beers and food on Boxing Day night!!
must be paying well to be out uk over xmas or they based not to far away
I once drove from Novgorod to Moscow on Christmas Day. It felt a bit strange writing 25/12 on the tachograph card.
I didn’t get paid any extra for it, but I had volunteered to do it and it was just a normal weekday in Russia anyway, they do their Christmas on January 6th. This was before my children were born, and now they are adults I’d probably do it again given the chance.
Truth be told, tomorrow won’t be a “special day” for me, I’m planning to do a short trip to Rose Narrowboats to chuck my rubbish in the skip and empty my chemical toilet down their Elsan drain, then if the weather is favourable I will sand down and paint my roof hatch. For lunch I will probably have a ham and tomato sandwich and a bag of Marmite crisps.
You push the boat out, you will probably be happier than so many others. Families getting together who cant stand the sight of each other. No wonder that the suicide rate goes up at this time of year.
edd1974:
If you want Xmas and all bank holidays off then give up trucking get an office job. Unless you work for a good firm
That’s nonsense, you just need to use some gumption and seek out firms that don’t have customers which require loads moving at these times (because they are shut). Safe bets are generally anything revolving around building products, manufacturing, scrap & muck shifting. Small container outfits are a shout as well, even some food service outfits that cater for schools.
rob22888:
edd1974:
If you want Xmas and all bank holidays off then give up trucking get an office job. Unless you work for a good firmThat’s nonsense, you just need to use some gumption and seek out firms that don’t have customers which require loads moving at these times (because they are shut). Safe bets are generally anything revolving around building products, manufacturing, scrap & muck shifting. Small container outfits are a shout as well, even some food service outfits that cater for schools.
In 28 years we had 27 where we shut on the 24th, though 75% of the drivers finished 23rd and came back day after New Year. Only had one year where 6 drivers came in between xmas and new year.
Harry Monk:
Truth be told, tomorrow won’t be a “special day” for me, I’m planning to do a short trip to Rose Narrowboats to chuck my rubbish in the skip and empty my chemical toilet down their Elsan drain, then if the weather is favourable I will sand down and paint my roof hatch. For lunch I will probably have a ham and tomato sandwich and a bag of Marmite crisps.
I was going to be on my lonesome on xmas day but one of the other boaters invited me and a few others for a Xmas buffet and a pootle to a local.pub.
Shame you aren’t nearer, ie less than 2vweeks, you could have come for a pootle with us!
albion:
Harry Monk:
Truth be told, tomorrow won’t be a “special day” for me, I’m planning to do a short trip to Rose Narrowboats to chuck my rubbish in the skip and empty my chemical toilet down their Elsan drain, then if the weather is favourable I will sand down and paint my roof hatch. For lunch I will probably have a ham and tomato sandwich and a bag of Marmite crisps.I was going to be on my lonesome on xmas day but one of the other boaters invited me and a few others for a Xmas buffet and a pootle to a local.pub.
Shame you aren’t nearer, ie less than 2vweeks, you could have come for a pootle with us!
Ah well, maybe we will meet up in the Summer somewhere on the cut, although I’m probably looking at a run down to London and a trip along the Thames next…
Harry Monk:
albion:
Harry Monk:
Truth be told, tomorrow won’t be a “special day” for me, I’m planning to do a short trip to Rose Narrowboats to chuck my rubbish in the skip and empty my chemical toilet down their Elsan drain, then if the weather is favourable I will sand down and paint my roof hatch. For lunch I will probably have a ham and tomato sandwich and a bag of Marmite crisps.I was going to be on my lonesome on xmas day but one of the other boaters invited me and a few others for a Xmas buffet and a pootle to a local.pub.
Shame you aren’t nearer, ie less than 2vweeks, you could have come for a pootle with us!
Ah well, maybe we will meet up in the Summer somewhere on the cut, although I’m probably looking at a run down to London and a trip along the Thames next…
Ooo, are you going to do the tidal section? Rough plan is peak first, macclesfield in Spring and then Llangollen in autumn. Return to base over summer when its busy and too hot for the dogs.
If you ever are around Tattenhall you are welcome to call by.
albion:
Ooo, are you going to do the tidal section?
Ye, Limehouse to Teddington. It’s a fantastic trip, if rather ■■■■-clenchingly scary in a narrowboat. 
Llangollen is lovely too. Aim to arrive at the weekend rather than midweek though so you don’t get held up at the locks by the holiday boats.
Harry Monk:
albion:
Ooo, are you going to do the tidal section?Ye, Limehouse to Teddington. It’s a fantastic trip, if rather ■■■■-clenchingly scary in a narrowboat.
Llangollen is lovely too. Aim to arrive at the weekend rather than midweek though so you don’t get held up at the locks by the holiday boats.
I watched Minimal List on youtube do that section and it looked an amazing trip to do.
Harry Monk:
I once drove from Novgorod to Moscow on Christmas Day. It felt a bit strange writing 25/12 on the tachograph card.I didn’t get paid any extra for it, but I had volunteered to do it and it was just a normal weekday in Russia anyway, they do their Christmas on January 6th. This was before my children were born, and now they are adults I’d probably do it again given the chance.
Truth be told, tomorrow won’t be a “special day” for me, I’m planning to do a short trip to Rose Narrowboats to chuck my rubbish in the skip and empty my chemical toilet down their Elsan drain, then if the weather is favourable I will sand down and paint my roof hatch. For lunch I will probably have a ham and tomato sandwich and a bag of Marmite crisps.
Christmas eve on 6th and Christmas day on 7th.
Sent from my HUAWEI LYO-L01 using Tapatalk
Harry Monk:
albion:
Ooo, are you going to do the tidal section?Ye, Limehouse to Teddington. It’s a fantastic trip, if rather ■■■■-clenchingly scary in a narrowboat.
Llangollen is lovely too. Aim to arrive at the weekend rather than midweek though so you don’t get held up at the locks by the holiday boats.
I hope that’s euro 6 
ezydriver:
I hope that’s euro 6
At the moment we’re exempt from that malarkey which is just as well for me with my smoky old 1960s BMC 1.5 diesel engine… we don’t know if this will remain the case though.
When I started at 19 wae the local highways in the late 70s I always volunteered for Christmas day (we worked a three shift system over winter) to let the married men spend time at home wae their families . Now come Hogmanay I wanted that time of,party time !!!, but it usually snowed them days,roads needed gritted, hoppers needed filled so many times staggering home early hours o the 1st i would get lifted of the streets to work to load wagons ,sleeping it off between loads over a loaders steering wheel.cant see that happening nowadays
Having had to work many, many Christmas Days in the nineteen years of my previous permanent job, I can safely say I hated it. The fact that I was a lone worker, started at 0600 and finished at 1800 made it even worse because I would be alone in a control room and my family would be forced to celebrate without me. And all because something “might happen”. It never did, but it “might”. And if by some stretch of the imagination it did then I was to deal with it myself. The bosses were non-contactable for that day, they were released from call-out. In fact, they turned their phones off except for the two or three times they would randomly phone in to make sure we were still there, hadn’t tried to sneak home.
And that’s my point-bosses very rarely have anything to do with a department on Christmas Day, they leave it all to the poor sods having to do it because “that’s THEIR job”. Why not take over for just that one day and let the people below them go home…?
It’s OK, I don’t expect an answer. And even if you do give one it’ll probably be a “why should I” or “if you don’t like it go somewhere else…” which is easy to say when you’re not desperate for work.
Except for emergency services or armed forces, or for religious belief, there really is no excuse to make people work on the one day of the year that should be for family. God knows, it doesn’t last forever and every one could potentially be a last in some way or another. .
Hollow Eyes:
Having had to work many, many Christmas Days in the nineteen years of my previous permanent job, I can safely say I hated it. The fact that I was a lone worker, started at 0600 and finished at 1800 made it even worse because I would be alone in a control room and my family would be forced to celebrate without me. And all because something “might happen”. It never did, but it “might”. And if by some stretch of the imagination it did then I was to deal with it myself. The bosses were non-contactable for that day, they were released from call-out. In fact, they turned their phones off except for the two or three times they would randomly phone in to make sure we were still there, hadn’t tried to sneak home.And that’s my point-bosses very rarely have anything to do with a department on Christmas Day, they leave it all to the poor sods having to do it because “that’s THEIR job”. Why not take over for just that one day and let the people below them go home…?
It’s OK, I don’t expect an answer. And even if you do give one it’ll probably be a “why should I” or “if you don’t like it go somewhere else…” which is easy to say when you’re not desperate for work.
Except for emergency services or armed forces, or for religious belief, there really is no excuse to make people work on the one day of the year that should be for family. God knows, it doesn’t last forever and every one could potentially be a last in some way or another. .
That was my point, it’s only ‘The done thing’ because like everything else…‘they’ devised it that way, but they ain’t prepared to do it themselves.
Well all I can say is that once again there has been another spectacular f**k up from the French authorities!!
The permits have basic errors in them, so they have to be corrected and we will have to travel with the loaded bridge units at midnight tomorrow!!
At least the food and beers seem popular!!
And yes this boss has put his hand in his pocket- hotel rooms for families last night and flights home for two of the wives tomorrow morning!!
So in answer to the last comment, not all bosses are afraid of working over Xmas!