At Christmas, the carers from the home dropped me off at Cannock for the site Xmas do. Very helpful folks these carers. In I went, and finding a spare seat, sat down next to a very pleasant young man, with a lovely smile and a twinkle in his eye, who helped me stow the zimmer away under the seat out of the way. After he had bought a me a rose from a passing flower seller, which I thought was a nice gesture towards an old lady, the young man then introduced himself and the following conversation ensued:
Rikki…Hello, my name is Rikki, I’m with Trucknet.
Me…Hi I’m Old Bird, nice to meet you Rikki
Rikki…Ohhh Old Bird…I’ve heard of you…have you visited my site yet?
Me…Which is your site?
Rikki…Trucknet.
Me…Oh yes, I’ve seen that but I don’t like it.
Rikki…Why don’t you like it?
Me…It’s too Americanized and hippyish.
At this point, the young man looked quite hurt, and I felt quite awful for calling his site. By the end of the conversation, I was still insisting that the site was too ‘American’ and I didn’t understand a word people were posting. Rikki was insisting it wasn’t. At the end of the night, having got myself nicely legless, due to Rikki’s generosity at the bar, and totally unable to control the zimmer, I went home still of the opinion that I didn’t like ‘American’ truck sites.
It wasn’t till a friend of mine was trawling though the sites on his computer, and he got onto Trucknet, that I realized that my Trucknet and Rikki’s Trucknet were not the same site. I had joined Trucknet, as I promised Rikki I would…but it was the USA site I’d joined…
So…Rikki…your site isn’t ‘Americanized’ and ‘hippyish’. I was in the wrong place. I’m sorry I called your site chuck and I’ll buy you a pint to apologize when I see you again.
Old Bird ■■■