31/7/14

The last day of July already and the year has only just started.  Where does time go?  I have been told many times that time passes quicker as you get older and now I am starting to understand.  Today I have been back to driving my usual area with the exception of one drop which was near Penistone which is well out of my normal area.  I was loaded the night before so I didn't need to start until half past six.  One farm drop, a drop at Carlton store, another farm drop then the drop at Penistone to a farm shop and finally two more farm drops.  All went well, even the drop at Penistone, I found it easily enough after a short phone call, I got the entrance first time, amazing.  My only problem today was that I managed to run out of hours before I completed the last drop.  I could have made it to the farm but I know the yard and there is nowhere I could have parked out of the way to get my break in and on top of that the road is narrow with nowhere to pull off.  So much to my annoyance I had to stop for my official break before completing the drop, bloody irritating, but that's the rules and there's no getting round them. I was too late back into the yard to get loaded for the morning but I did manage to get a position in the queue so I should get loaded in descent time.  I have seen my tickets for the morning the load is a little strange, one of the deliveries is out on a limb and as I have a collection to do at the end of the deliveries I have no choice but to do the drop first.  But that's for tomorrow and I'm not going to think about it any more tonight.  See you tomorrow.

30/07/14

Started seed dressing today, eight tonnes of barley at the first customer and three tonnes of barley at the second customer.  Since I had half a day to prepare the machine I didn't expect too many problems and thankfully the dresser didn't give me too many problems.  In fact the only real problem was the that the drive belt on the compressor needed tightening.  This should be a simple job but since the manufacturer of the compressor didn't to think anyone might need to tighten it they didn't bother to make it easy.  To tension the belt you really need to be a contortionist with three hands.  After some swearing, sweating and a little lost skin on my knuckles I managed it.  And as I said the machine worked well.  What got the day off to a bad start was our office, they managed one of their usual tricks and provided me with the account address in place of the delivery address so it wasn't until I found the place given as the delivery address that I realised what they had done.  With the realisation that I shouldn't be where I had been sent everything became clear and experience suggested where I should be, experience was right.  Sorry there aren't any pictures of the day, I'll try to do better next time.

28/07/14

Today has been another warm one.  I have only had one load, Carlton store, three farm drops and one house drop.  Two farm drops done before going into Carlton Store, both were drops I have done regularly and they presented no problems.  Neither drop was large and easily unloaded by hand, especially since I had help at both drops.  Pity I didn't get the help with the first drop last Friday, the whole day would have gone better, but that's a drivers life.  The first drop after Carlton store was a house drop that I have done once before, it was a ten foot wooden gate, gate fixings and a post, another easy drop.  The last drop was four pallets of bagged feed to a farm at Eastrington.  There was a man there with a forklift, what a day.  A collection of two twenty kilo bags, yes two twenty kilo bags.  When I got there I discovered that the order hadn't been placed, that's not unusual but there was also five tonnes booked out to our company for tomorrow.  Now there's a surprise.  I called base and agreed to collect the five tonnes as well as the two bags.  It doesn't always pay to think so its best to call back for instructions in cases like this it saves hassle in the long run.  On the way back I had to go round Hopgrove roundabout on the A64 two lanes on two lanes off but it goes down to one lane after about three hundred meters, what a mess at this time of year with all the holiday traffic.  There was the usual quota of ill mannered idiots ignoring the signs to go down to one lane and continuing to where the road narrows into one lane and then expecting to get let in by people who have driven with manners.  One particularly ill mannered woman tried to cut me up and when I ignored her and continued she apparently rung the office claiming I had cut her up.  Luckily I aren't known for being impatient or ill mannered.  I would like to wish her equal felicity in life.  When I got back to the yard and after unloading I parked up and spent the rest of the day preparing the seed dresser, I start seed dressing on Wednesday.  They say a change is as good as a rest, but what do they know.  I have a day off tomorrow, my wife and I are going to Ryedale show.  So I may see you tomorrow.

25/07/14

Today started with one of the worst drops that I have to do.  I thought that I had gotten away without having to do it as some of the order wasn't available at base so there was no point in taking part of the delivery.  It didn't work!  Our transport controller realised that I could pick up th missing items at either our Carlton store or our Malton store.  Damn!!  Since I was going to our Malton store first it and they had the product in stock I collected it from there.  The drop was fifty five by three posts, seventy two rails some wire and some staples.  The trouble with the drop is that its not possible to back my truck into the drive, or rather if I do back into the drive I will take out his sign post and put a wheel over the stones he has placed on the edge of the road.  (The stones on the edge of the road are of questionable legality.)  The long and the short of it is I have to carry all the wood in on my own, the only conciliation was that it wasn't a full pack of rails.

The wood was to be left at the side of the green shed, what fun in this heat. 

The offending sign which makes it impossible for me to back in, the road I am backing off is narrow meaning that I would drag my front step over the verge and risk knocking it off again.  I wouldn't be popular.

The rest of the day went well enough though it was one of those days where everything took longer than expected, probably because of having to carry the timber.  Well that's it for this week, see you Monday.

  

24/07/14

Another very hot day but at least there was a bit of wind blowing and with both windows open I sometimes got a bit of draft through the cam.  As you may have guessed i don't have air conditioning, mores the pity.  First load was a mixed load to Malton store, Carlton store and two farm deliveries.  I knew I wasn't on top form when I got up, the heat effects me. I didn't leave the correct pallets at Malton store and I didn't realise until I opened up at Carlton.  But while I was at Carlton I received the call, I had a second load to Malton store and had to collect all their rubbish and some feed, I still don't understand why I brought the feed back to base.  We had four tonnes of the same stuff in so we didn't need it for deliveries, who knows?  But by the
end of the day I had achieved all I was supposed to, everything ended up where it should.  The only real bad point of the day was delivering a lamb weigh and having to unload it with no help.  But I even managed that successfully as you can see.
See you tomorrow.

23/07/14

Wednesday the 23rd of July, it's hot and I'm wishing i wasn't wearing overalls.  Otherwise the day has been good but I'm glad to get home and have a beer.  Otherwise there's nothing to say about the day, sorry.  See you tomorrow.

22/07/14

What a beautiful start to the day, mostly bright sunshine giving way to a little fog near Selby.  It all shows promise if a hit day, hopefully a little less humid than yesterday. The day didn't get worse, first drop one bag of cat food for Carlton Store, second drop a farm drop in Thorne.  A good drop with a coffee and a slice of cake from the customers wife while I was unloaded, it pays to be nice and with these customers being nice is easy.  Then off to Howden Dyke for twelve bags of fert.  On the road again after about half an hour and managed to find a bacon sani for lunch.  First drop for the fert was a farm drop at Glaisdale.  I had a good ride over, I intended to stop and take a photo of Whitby from the moors that overlook the town, I forgot, sorry.  The view was great today and I'm sure you would have appreciated it, perhaps next time.  I was in luck at Glaisdale, the farmer was in.  Our office hadn't contacted him to let him know about the delivery, there's a surprise.  The yard is interesting, it isn't possible to get in with anything bigger than a car so you have to back up the road, you can't turn round past the farm, and tip on the road.  The second drop was another farm drop near Pickering, another easy drop with the customer waiting, great.  Back to the yard at around five, a busy day and not too difficult.  As an aside I spike to the driver who did the drop I was supposed to do yesterday, I'm glad I didn't.  It took him four shunts to get in, I wouldn't have managed it in my truck.  Very lucky indeed.  See you tomorrow, perhaps I'll remember the pictures.

21/07/14

First load today was a run about. The first two drops are usually included in the Gatehelmsley store area. They took me well out if my way, but I'm here to deliver goods to where I'm told and I try to do it with good grace.  The rest of the drops were in my usually area.  My collection was from Howden Dyke, which is a small dock and warehouse. It involved a fair wait so it was around two pm when I got out. While waiting I checked where the tonne of fert was to go. My estimation was that from there the delivery and return would take a minimum of four hours.  I suspect that the running cost of my truck is over twenty pounds per hour. Hence a minimum of eighty pounds to deliver the goods. I think it very unlikely there is a sufficient margin to cover the cost.  A call to base produced sense, I took it back to base for delivery as part of a load going in that direction.  Thank goodness.  See you tomorrow.

18/07/14

Busy, busy, busy.  First load to Gate Helmsley store, one cup of coffee, just had time.  Back to base and loaded for Carlton Store and an expanded area delivery, I put it on break whilst being loaded to save time.  Just got into Malton in a position where it was impossible to avoid the temporary traffic lights and I received a call from our transport manager"They forgot to give you Carlton's D&H.  Have you time to come back.
?"  Unfortunately I couldn't think of a reason why I didn't have time to come back quickly enough so back I went through three sets of temporary lights.  Great!  Once loaded with the extra pallet and another drop which was well out of my way I was back on the road again having wasted an hour.  And all this was on a Friday, the only day I like to be finished on time, damn it all.  No time for another coffee anywhere until I ran out of hours again at three pm near Gilberdyke with four drops and one collection left to do.  It was five pm by the time I passed what should have been my collection, I didn't even try, it'll have to wait for Monday.  I finally got back to base just after seven pm, having severely insulted the driver of a landrover discovery who was indicating prematurely on the A1079/A64 roundabout.  I was beyond caring by then so he had to break, perhaps he will indicate correctly next time.  See you Monday.

17/07/14

Compulsory break on the A168 at Dishforth. I didn't want to stop but I'm out of driving hours. I wasn't even coming here when I set out this morning, things change. I got sent to A1 feeds to collect ten tonnes of full fat soya meal. It's the opposite direction to the collection I had the paper work for. I arrived with no paper work and only my native charm to ensure I got loaded. It worked, they loaded me, amazing!  Time up I'm off back to base.

16/07/14

I forgot to mention the bug in yesterday's post. It was a small black beetle, possibly a pollen beetle. No I didn't splat it, honestly I didn't. For reasons known only it itself it landed on the windscreen at about eye level and there it clung, defying the wind and vibrations. It rode there, moving only occasionally as we travelled. It stayed with me all the way back to base at Amotherby. It must have travelled about forty miles in this fashion, clinging grimly to the glass. Back at base it flew off without so much as a thank you. Perhaps it didn't want to be in Amotherby. The only other remarkable thing about the day was that it's our wedding anniversary, thirty one years, isn't she lucky ;~) See you tomorrow.

15/07/14

Two loads and a broken step.  Th tickets I was handed from our transport manager added up to more weight than I'm allowed to carry so I split into two with our TC's approval.  Due to the fact that I couldn't get some of what I wanted to put on the first load as it wasn't made I loaded the second load first.  One farm drop, a drop at Carlton store and another farm drop then back to the yard.  Second load on and out again.  The first drop was five tonnes of feed in tote bags to Johnson and Jeff at Gilberdyke.  Second drop was a farm drop about two miles away.  All done OK and back to the yard where I loaded for morning, unfortunately I had to collect part of the load from our fuel department.  Coming out I had to make a long turn to avoid the gate and ran up what I though was long grass on the opposite side of the road.  No it wasn't long grass it was short grass on a soil bank.  Damn!   The bracket holding the step cracked off, I suspect it had been cracked before but it is still very embarrassing.  Damn Damn!!  I know I'm not the first to do it, in fact I've done it before but its still bad.  I wish they'd put swinging steps on our wagons.  See you tomorrow.

14/07/14

For a Monday today's deliveries didn't seem so bad, that is all except one, the last one! That one was a delivery to a house in Companthorpe it didn't sound good.  House deliveries usually turn out to be trouble, usually the householder requires heavy objects taken somewhere difficult if not physically impossible.  They always seem surprised when I point out that it isn't possible but I usually manage a good compromise that doesn't involve damage to my back.  But surprisingly things went much better than I expected, it was even possible to back down the drive at the side of the house so all I had to do was open the back door and slide the timber out.  What a relief to get the delivery completed without any problems.  Back to base to collect and deliver a load of feed to Malton store, then back to load for morning, all in all not a bad day. Even the weather has been kind, it didn't rain, not even when I got home.  See you tomorrow.

11/07/14

Had a lucky day today.  One of my colleagues was nearer my last drop than I would be and he had room to take the drop.  Firstly this saved me three quarters of an hour to make the drop and secondly I arrived at Cherry Tree Mill at Pollington in good time while there was only one truck in front of me, not only that  but they were waiting for fish and chips so they wanted me loaded and out of the way before the fish and chips arrived.  I was in and out in around half an hour.  If I had been delayed I could have ended up with a two hour wait.  I owe my colleague a favour for that one and I will repay it, eventually.  Yesterday I was in the lost world of Fishlakes, it seems trapped between waterways and motorways, there isn't an easy way in.  So far as I have seen there aren't any lakes there now.  It is a low lying area and I suspect it was a flood plain so there may have been one or more shallow lakes there before the flood banks were built.  Now its an area of fertile deep soil with hedges containing strong healthy oaks and gnarled ancient willows.  Once you manage to find the way in down the narrow roads its a pleasant area.  But if you try to follow directions given by a sat nav it will try to take you in over a bridge with a three and a half tonne weight limit, not good for an eighteen tonne truck.  Managed to get most of my load for Monday on but the mill had been broken down so some of the feed hasn't been made, Ill try again on Monday morning.  See you Monday.

10/07/14

I caught up with the van in the photo on the A1079/A64 roundabout. I would have thought if someone was going to use holly tree as a business name they would have used a photo of a holly tree, not an oak.

09/07/14

Today has been a good day, at work, that is. Carlton store and eight farm drops in the surrounding area. This doesn't sound much of a day but it took me all day. Though I will admit to taking an hour for lunch. I didn't see any rain and it was dry enough to cut my grass when I got home. The most remarkable thing was the sighting of, what I'm fairly sure, was a red kite near South Cave. This is the second time I have seen a similar Bird in the area this year, I hope to get a better look at some time in the future. See you tomorrow.

08/07/14

Today has been another unremarkable day so I won't bother anyone with boring details.

07/07/14

Today has been unremarkable. On my usual run of Carlton store and area. The only change was a new drop at Haxey near Doncaster. I found the drop OK, despite a unmarked diversion around a closed road.  I hate diversions that start you off on, what you hope, is a way around the problem only to find there are no more signs.  Poor traffic management is one of our regular problems. See you tomorrow.

04/07/14

Today started cooler, which was a relief after Thursday, which was far too humid for my comfort. I was on my usually run, Carlton store and area. Two farm drops at Aughton and Bubwith then a household drop near North Duffield, Carlton store, Thorne, Eastrington and finally Harswell with seven twenty litre tins of paint. The last was a very unusual order, I have never delivered so much paint in one drop. Then back to base and I managed to load most if Monday's load, I only need another half tonne if feed and I'm done, that's if they have made it by Monday. See you then.

03/07/14

A peaceful yard to stop for lunch.   Just ran out of hours again on my way back from Driby Top in North Lincolnshire, it's a good ride out for us, we don't often get so far from base. See you tomorrow.

01/07/14

I have nothing much to say about today. On the whole it was both unremarkable and uneventful. A bit boring really.

02/07/14

To the fool in the maroon Renault who overtook me in the A64 while I was indicating.  The yellow flashing light on the right hand side of a vehicle, when in use, is an indication of intent to turn right or move into the lane on the right. What it is not is an invitation to put your foot down and overtake.  The idiot was two truck lengths or more behind me and there was a truck pulling out of a pull off on the left. I indicated and started to pull over when the fool in the maroon Renault decided he couldn't wait for the short while it took me to pass the vehicle pulling out and had to be passed me. So I had a vehicle half way out of the pull off on my left and a brainless fool on my right.  Not good, since the impatient fool was very nearly pushed into the central barrier perhaps he or she has learned, but I doubt it.  Otherwise the day went we'll, one load to Carlton store and four drops and one load to Malton store and one farm drop.  See you tomorrow