30/04/14

No it's not snow, it's dust, possibly from fertiliser.  I wonder how long it will last, I'm sure it's corrosive.  So far today has been easy, to easy, things will go wrong shortly. No I'm not a pessimist, just over fifty. Two farm drops, a fertiliser collection and delivery to Newland. Then a mill collection from Goole then back to base with the load. Not sure what's next that's why I think things may go wrong. See you tomorrow, off perhaps later today.

29/04/14

Busy day but at least I managed to complete the tickets I had been given.  Our transport coordinator seems to take delight in asking the impossible. First load was a full load of feed to the Kirkbymoorside store. Second load was Carlton store and three farm drops them a collection from Gilberdyke. I managed to get done and back into the yard by half past five, amazing! See you tomorrow.

28/04/14

Monday and I didn't feel like getting up and going to work.  This isn't usual for me as I normally enjoy my job and don't mind getting up at ten to five but today was different, perhaps because I didn't sleep very well and woke several times in the night.  But I did get to work for six but possibly didn't wake up until seven.  The load was a full one, mostly for Carlton store with two house drops, one farm drop and a stable drop.  I managed to get out of the yard just after eight, considering the load that wasn't bad.  The drop at Carlton store was easy enough as usual and included time for a coffee.  The next two drops were household drops and both went well enough.  Then things went wrong or more correctly not wrong just very slow.  I went to Goole docks to collect six half tonne bags of fertilizer.  Everything ground to a halt for two hours.  As you can see form the picture below it isn't a particularly interesting place to spend a couple of hours, thank goodness for Kindle on my phone.

The fert drop completed I set off for the next farm drop at Everthorpe, a good drop, it came off with a loader.  The last drop was a stable drop that I haven't done often, its nearly impossible to get close to the door to the feed room with my truck so I didn't even try.  As usual with stable drops everyone suddenly had a horse that badly needed a pat so I was on my own.  Though to be truthful it was probably quicker that way. So ends another day just over an hour away from base and its five pm, great.  See you tomorrow.

24/25//04/14

I don't intend to say much about either Thursday of Friday, neither day was good and I didn't manage to complete the collections on either day.  By Friday night I had had enough of the week.  The only interesting thing about either day was my sighting a roe deer on both days.

23/04/24

First load was a full load to Kirkbymoorside store.  I was parked up with my sheets open by the time they opened the door.  There were two problems, firstly a constant stream of customers who managed to park alongside the truck making unloading impossible.  Secondly another of our trucks turned up with a load of feed and since his was the easier tip he unloaded first.  But everything came off soon enough and I was back to base by about half past nine.  The second load was Carlton store, four farm drops, one house drop, a mill drop at Gilberdyke and a collection for return of an over order from a customer.  All went well, I even managed to keep the half tonne bags upright and they were the last drop, that is amazing.  Back to base by six pm and ready to load in the morning.  I didn't bother to collect or look at my tickets for the morning, that excitement can wait until tomorrow.  See you then.

The picture below shows one of my regular drops.  There is a pallet on the very edge of the road and that is where the feed is unloaded.  I have been making this drop for over three years and I have never met the customer once.  I presume it is in the correct place as I have never had any feedback.  Perhaps they are vampires and shun daylight!

22/04/14

Back to work after a four day weekend for Easter.  The weekend passed quicker than I would have thought possible.;  The trouble with a four day weekend is that it doesn't seem long enough but a normal weekend always seems OK, very strange.  Today was easy enough, the outgoing load was only two drops, it should have been four but there seems to be a shortage of timber and two of the drops included rails and or posts of a size we didn't have in.  The first farm drop was at a small village near Newbald and was four foot square lamb creep feeder.  I have been to this farm before and though the entrance is a little tight for my truck it isn't too bad and when you get in the yard there is plenty of room to turn round.  The second drop was a four hundred and fifty gallon round cattle drinking trough, but this drop was at Wragby near Pontefract.  The drop was one I have done several times but it is on the Westerly limit of our area.  The trough, though large, isn't heavy and is easy to offload especially if you don't have anything else on.  Then it was back to Howden Dyke to collect five tonnes of ammonium nitrate in half tonne bags for delivery to a farm at High Catton.  Again this was an easy drop, the customer was in the yard and had his loader to hand.  Back at base I collected the tickets for a delivery of feed to Malton store.  When I got there I thought I was in for a problem, the forklift repair company were there working on the forklift.  Thankfully the engineer was just putting the finishing touches to the repairs as I walked in.  I was back in out yard by half past four and parked in pole position for loading in the morning.  I haven't seen my tickets for the morning yet but let's hope they aren't bad.  See you tomorrow.

17/04/14

First load was a full load for Malton store, I was loaded and out of the yard just after half past seven only to remember I couldn't get into the store until eight and the journey would only take ten minutes from base.  Another wait!  Luckily I arrived just as the staff arrived and they actually let me in early, by the time they were ready to unload me I had got the loose items off the truck and even managed to get the curtain on the drivers side past the damaged part of the rail.  Better still there was even a coffee waiting for me inside.  Offloaded easily enough and back to base for my second load in good time.  Second load was Carlton store, one household drop then a collection of the silage wrap I hadn't been able to collect the day before, drop two pallets at a farm then back to base with the rest.  The household drop was a little strange, the house had no name on it and there was no one in except the dog.  The only reason I think the drop was at the correct house was that a man in a van who pulled out of a drive two houses away told me it was the correct house, maybe it was maybe it wasn't who knows.  Anyway they will come back and find a neat pile of fencing materials in their drive.  I do wish people would make sure there is a name or number on their property, they may know they reside there but confused delivery drivers haven't a clue.  Its even worse when you come to the entrance to a farm track, the buildings may be out of sight, the map says its there and the sat nav says its there at the end of the track but the only visible sign of habitation is a bin at the end of the drive.  At times like this a driver needs faith and luck otherwise he or she may find themselves backing out of a track leading nowhere.  It has happened.  Bank holiday tomorrow and Monday so we get a four day weekend.  See you on Tuesday, have a good Easter.

16/04/14

The day started well.  Loaded quickly enough and onto the road, three farm drops, Carlton Store and another farm drop.  All went well and I was on the docks at Goole by one pm.  I had to collect ten tonnes of fertilizer and deliver it to a farm at Thorganby which would leave me with plenty of time to  get back to Carlton store to collect a load of silage wrap to take back to base.  But I was at Goole docks in plenty of time, no problem.  But it was after three pm when I finally got away from the docks, wonderful.  I sat for two hours in the sunshine waiting, not moving.  Why I don't know so far as I could see there was no reason for the delay, there were two trucks in front of me, I'm not sure when they arrived but they didn't move or load for two hours either.  What fun!

As you can see from the pictures below Goole docks aren't particularly picturesque, not a place I would choose to spend a couple of hours on a glorious April day.

15/04/14

Poor start to the day.  No tickets left out for me so once I had unloaded the clutter  I'd brought back from Kirkbymoorside store yesterday all I could do was fuel up, fill in my paperwork and drink coffee until our transport coordinator arrived in.  Pity about that wasn't it.  Still I finally got my tickets and joined the queue again.  I had one drop to a house I had never heard of in North Duffield and two farm drops.  Then a collection from Old Goole, one tonne of fish oil, I didn't even know fish needed oiling.  Then a collection of two tonnes of seed corn from Little Airmyn, great!  And just to top off the load I had to collect five tonnes of fertilizer that had been left at Carlton store and deliver it to Raskelf.  Collecting the fish oil had an amusing incident, when I went into the office they asked for a collection reference number, I looked and the nice lady in the office looked but my paperwork was devoid of such a number.  I called base and explained that I needed the number and was told he would ring me back.  While I was standing in the office entrance the office phone rang, yes it was our mill man asking for a reference number for the collection of fish oil.  The nice lady in the office smiled, slightly apolitically and read out the number over the phone, then wrote in on my paperwork.  We waited and sure enough out transport coordinator called me back with the number which I also wrote on the paper.  I was then allowed to collect the said fish oil, I did find the whole thing very amusing as an exercise in stupidity.  Fish oil finally loaded and off to little Airmyn where the office staff are not nearly as nice and collected the seed.  Away to Carlton store, collected the fertilizer and duly delivered it to the customer farm with no more silly incidents. See you tomorrow.

14/04/14

Easy day for Monday, Carlton store and one drop then a drop at Brigg and a collection off fertilizer from Grimsby. It's not often that I go tho Grimsby but it ought too be a regular collection. I got there just as the loading crew were about to go for lunch, they had just got out of the yard when they saw me coming. They turned round and loaded me before lunch, brilliant! :-) Full marks for Grimsby, I'll go there again. Back to Howden to drop the fertilizer then back to base. Last load was a full load to Kirkbymoorside store and a five pm finish.  Saw the first swallow of the year.

11/04/14

First load a single drop at the Helmsley store, easy enough and soon completed, then back to base.  Second load wasn't a full load and compromised three farm drops to the Carlton area, then the sting in the tail.  A collection of fertilizer from Goole docks and a farm delivery.  This dock is nothing near as bad as Dawsons at Teesside but they work to a time scale and in a way that I have never been able to fathom.  The only way to deal with the place is to join the queue, even if there isn't another truck there you still join the queue and wait.  Eventually someone in a loader will come and tell you where to park while he loads you.  All the time you are waiting there are several other loaders whizzing about the yard seemingly busy.  Patience is needed and coffee is essential but at least I have never been left in doubt where to queue.  Got loaded after about an hour and one flask of coffee and off to the drop, still carrying the last tonne of hen food for the third farm drop.  The farm was on the side of the A614 just out of Howden.  The road is dangerous people drive far too fast and take little notice of what others are doing so I was cautious, especially as I wasn't exactly certain where the entrance was.  I approached where I thought it was put my indicator on and started to brake then glanced back in the mirror to check for idiots.  Sure enough they were there, two motorcyclists decided to overtake me as I was slowing down one saw me and hesitated the other carried on.  The second rider clipped the handlebars of the biker who had hesitated and flipped him off his bike, I saw him cartwheel towards the road verge.  I stopped and went to see what state he was in, luckily he was OK his bike was in working order with a broken indicator and a bit of trim.  I'm sure they would both have dearly loved to blame me for their accident but since it had all happened behind me and neither had come into contact with any part of the truck they were unable to even though they seemed to be claiming that I had suddenly come to a complete stop.  If either had half a brain they would have realised that if I had been stopped the biker who came off would have slammed himself into the rear of the truck.  Hopefully two idiots will have learned not to ride so close to anyone again but I doubt it, the ego defence mechanism is a very powerful force.  I am sure that by now it will all be my fault.  See you Monday.  

10/04/14

Busy day, first load to Carlton store and four farm drops, sounds easy enough.  The catch was the second load was seven drops in the Carlton/Goole area and then a collection from Gilberdyke and I had to be onsite for the collection by half past four.  This would have been possible except that most of the drops had to come off by hand, starting with two tonnes of bagged feed.  I completed my last drop by four forty eight so unless my truck could double as a time machine, not possible.  I couldn't work the time travel controls so I thought it best to give up and go back to base.

09/04/14

Good day today, mostly sunshine though it wasn't very warm.  Loaded for Carlton store and four farm drops.  Foggathorpe with sixteen trays of cat food, Newport with four bags of dry cat food, the cats of Yorkshire really are being looked after.  Fifteen bags of pig creep feed to West Haddersley, one of my favourite drops then six bags of Cattle minerals to Thrope Willoughby, though I wasn't able to leave the minerals as I had loaded sheep minerals instead of cattle, careless of me.  Dropped the rest of the load at Carlton store, had a coffee before going on to Little Airmyn to collect six tonnes of barley seed and a quarter tonne of oat seed.  Only part of the load was for delivery today, eight half tonne bags to Shipton by Benningbrough, then three quarters of a tonne to Helperby.  Luckily there was someone available to unload me at both drops so I was back on my way quickly enough.  Went back to base from Thirsk which involved driving up Sutton Bank.  Its a steep climb and caravans are banned from the route, strange how often they don't believe it until they get to the foot of the hill.  Sure enough there was a caravan man trying to turn round and the foot of the hill.  I won't try it in my truck if I'm fully loaded, I've done it once and it was an only just.  If I had one of the new trucks I wouldn't worry they have at least another hundred horse power on mine.  See you tomorrow.

08/04/14

Had to find my truck when I arrived at work, it was due for a service yesterday and I was off for the day, supposedly to take my son and his girl friend to Manchester airport, but that's another story.  The first load was a full load to Kirkbymoorside store, when I finally found my truck everything else was easy.  Second load was to Carlton store and three small drops, all went well.  Then a collection from Howden Dyke, five tonnes of dical, whatever that is.  Howden Dyke is an easily accessible port and usually a good load. I don't mind collecting from there at all.  I was in and out quickly enough though the man who loaded me did have to take a photo of the load once it was loaded.  I thought this a little strange as it wasn't that exciting but he explained that they had had a complaint about damaged bags and it turned out the load had been transshipped to another truck and the bags had been damaged in transfer. Though the claimant didn't at first admit that the damage wasn't the fault of the loader on the dock so every load gets photographed now.  Back to base a little before five and got in the queue for morning.  Nothing else to report about today except it wasn't raining.  See you tomorrow.  

04/04/14

Not much to say about Friday, it went past quickly enough and I even got finished by five.  Though I was diverted to our Malton store before I had even got out of the yard.  Seems someone hadn't turned in and I had just got my first load on when I received a call that I had to load for Malton,as I didn't want to take off the load I had just put on I found another truck, loaded that and took it.  Load delivered and back to my truck, I didn't like the other one.  The only good thing was that I managed to get a coffee at Malton store and another at Carlton store so at least I kept awake.  After my last drop I had a collection from Cherry Tree Mill.  For once there was only one truck in front of me.  Going to this mill is a lottery, there is sometimes a big queue I have had to wait over two hours to load.  However this time it was quick and I was on my way before I had chance to open my flask.  Back at base I even had time to get the load off, which was good as I'm off on Monday and the truck is in for a service, hopefully they'll sort out my curtain on the drivers side its sticking half way open, very irritating.  See you on Tuesday.

03/04/14

A busy day again.  Started with a small load, not even five tonnes, and it still took all day.  First drop was some fencing timber to an ex farm house, easy enough even if it was a tight back in off a small road.  Second drop four twenty kilo bags of wild bird feed to a private house, instead of a tight back in it was a tight back out.  Third drop was horse feed to another ex farm house, only fourteen bags but it was a long carry in.  Horsey people just seem to love hard work, they could let someone else do it all day!  The fourth drop was to have been a tonne of feed to a farm but it had to wait until after one pm.  So away to Thorne and delivered three tonnes of cattle feed to another farm.  Then back to Goole to collect eight tonnes of fertiliser from the docks for delivery and so back to deliver the last tonne of feed.  Then to Eggbrough to deliver the first lot of fert, no problem.  Off to the last drop with the fert but collected two tonnes of carrots from our Carlton store on the way.  Last drop at Foggathrope then back to base for six thirty, as I said a busy day.  If driver of the pickup who passed me while I was indicating right is able to read and reads this.  DON'T DO IT AGAIN, YOU COULD GET YOURSELF KILLED, FOOL.One other thing of interest today I came across an artic that seemed to have had a king pin failure, the tanker had dropped off the tractor unit, buckled the legs and hit the floor.  Luckily no one was hurt.  See you tomorrow.

02/04/14

The day sounded easy at first and then I woke up.  First load, a full load to the Gate Helmsley store, easy enough but the load was a bit of a jigsaw, four pallets of sundries several gates and two full packs of fence posts, some jump rails, fencing wire, horse mats and all topped off with some mineral blocks.  The whole thing took nearly two hours to put together.  Thankfully it came off easy enough when I got to the store.  Back to base, next load three farm drops and some feed to Gate Helmsley.  This load didn't take as much collecting up and I was on my way.  The only fly in the ointment was the collection from Driby Top, at least two hours drive from my last drop and a two hour drive back.  The collection is a good one, the mill is well organised and always a pleasure to collect from.  The drive would have been good but for the fog I entered once I got off the M180 and didn't leave until I got back to Malton.  Finished at half past seven, I told you I'd pay for the lie in on Tuesday didn't I.  If the driver of the white van who sounded his horn as I turned onto the A18 just outside Louth was, as I suspect, complaining about my speed he should consider three things.  First my speed limit is forty miles per hour.  Second in case he didn't notice we passed through two speed traps, one stationary camera and one van mounted, if he weren't following me he would have had a ticket.  Thirdly and most importantly because of the fog the visibility was approximately one hundred and fifty meters and even if the white van man does get irritated I will drive at a speed that allows me to stop within the distance I can see for.  My message to him is "don't drive like an idiot, you and others will live longer."
See you tomorrow.

01/04/14

It''s April fools day in the UK, I don't know if this tradition is observed anywhere else but it still is in the UK.  As far as I know no one played any tricks on me this morning but who knows what may come to light yet.  I was loaded the night before and the first drop was to out Helmsley store, the stores don't open until eight so I got an extra hour in bed.  Not that it mattered you can bet I will pay for it later in the week.  Drop done easily enough and back to base to load again for Carlton and area, sounded easy enough but was it? First drop was a farm drop at North Newbald, this isn't usually classed as Carlton area but it is April the first.  Two and a half tonnes in twenty five kilo bags to come off by hand.  Second drop should have been at Sykehouse but I couldn't get in contact with the customer so I went to Carlton store first.  Sure enough just as I parked in Carlton the customer called my phone, she could accept delivery, so back I went.  Drop done then to Little Airmyn, Woodhead Seeds, and as you know I don't appreciate collecting from there.  But surprise, surprise, the collection was quick and I was back to Carlton almost before I knew it, as if.  Well Back at Carlton I loaded with four pallets of flat packed chicken huts, no it wasn't an April fools joke, I really did.  And to this was added four pallets of silage wrap and back I went to base.  Half past five when I got back, I told you the lie in wouldn't pay.  See you tomorrow.  No pictures today sorry.