26/02/15

Back to deliveries again today. Nothing particularly remarkable about any of them. The day was bright and only slightly windy. There must be a hint of spring in the air, the rooks are starting their annual nest repairs. See you tomorrow.

25/02/15

Seed dressing all day. Starting near Hunmanby then East Ayton for two customers and then finishing at Troutdale.  Reputable is a beautiful area near Hackness. Driving the little roads needs caution but the views, when I dare glance from the road, are stunning. 

24/02/15

Today has been unremarkable.  Regular deliveries to Carlton and area.  The only strange delivery was to Westow which was a little out of the ordinary but I have done the drop a couple of times though not for two years or so.  From Westow I went out through Kirkham and back to the A64, the roads are narrow and twisty but the views are great so long as it is driven with care it is well worth the trouble.  Then back on the road to Carlton store.  As I said there was nothing remarkable about the day and the only point of interest was the sighting of two buzzards, but even that isn't an uncommon sight now. It appears that I'm getting a change of truck though there is some doubt as to which yet.  But either of the choices will be more manoeuvrable than the one I'm driving at the moment.  Tomorrow I'm seed dressing again.  See you then.

23/02/15

Today has been sunny with enough wind to be irritating when I opened the sheets.  I had Carlton store and four drops spread between Cawood and Hive near Gilberdyke.  After that I had a collection of chicken grit from Saxilby.  This involved a run across the Humber bridge, I always enjoy a ride across the bridge, especially on a bright blustery day like today.  The collection is one I like, the yard is tidy and the loading quick and efficient.  The only problem is the A15 to Lincoln, it has too many speed cameras for my comfort.  I ran out of hours for the second time of the day on the way back, strange how I had to stop near a fish and chip shop.  They didn't take a card which limited my choice but the sausage, chips and curry sauce were very good.  I can recommend running out of driving time in the lay by at Deighton, I'll be doing it again, given half a chance.

The sheep got quite excited, for sheep, when I unloaded a tonne of sheep feed.  I think they expected me to feed them as well.

20/02/15

Once again I had a local store run followed by a full day.  Luckily our TC took one of the drops off by list, otherwise it would have been well after seven pm when I got back into the yard, possibly after eight pm.  As stated elsewhere I like to be back in the yard by five on Friday night, Monday to Thursday I don't mind what time I finish, I'll even work Saturday rather than finish after five on Friday.  I had one new drop today, two twenty five litre drums of oil to a sand and gravel company based on Pollington airfield.  There I met a short dumpy man with a clipboard who, when asked where to unload, said "I'm busy.  Wait in the queue."  He seemed of the opinion that I should wait to take off two tubs of oil while he loaded six artic loads of sand and gravel.  "Officious little git" is the phrase that comes to mind.  But I stayed calm and informed him that I was busy as well and if he didn't want the goods that was fine by me and I left with the oil.  Luckily for them I met a polite man with a forklift on my way out who decided to take my delivery  I don't think my employer would have thought it worth several hours of my time, on overtime rate, waiting to drop two tubs of oil, there wouldn't have been any profit left in the sale. Some people shouldn't be allowed out with a clipboard, it seems to have a poor effect on their egos.  See you Monday.

19/02/15

Our TC thought he had given me a hard day.  In a way he had, but nothing near as bad as last Friday.  No doubt he will make up for it tomorrow and Friday will be hellish again.  But today I was loaded all but one tonne the night before.  The only reason that I didn't get the last tonne was that it wasn't made until this morning and even our warehouse staff can't time travel.  I got out of the yard just after seven the only down side was that I had to go to the Gate Helmsley store to collect one bag of feed that we didn't have at base.  Though I had one drop that I had never done before and two that I have only been to a couple of times the day went very well, I even had time to stop for a lunch break.  My driving hours should be correct today.  I was back in the yard by half past three and managed to get loaded for tomorrows.  I know I will have another load tomorrow but with a little luck it won't be as bad as last Friday, but that's for tomorrow and in between now and then I'm going to get a good nights sleep.  See you tomorrow.

18/02/15

Seed dressing today.  Two customers, two and a half tonnes for the first and twelve tonnes for the second customer.  I had a little difficulty finding a level spot in the yard of the first customer, but with the aid of several pieces of wood under the wheels on the drivers side things got a little better.  The job went well with no further problems and I was packed up and away in just over an hour.  I have been to the second customer several times and the set up is always good.  I had the whole twelve tonnes through by one pm and even had time for a bacon roll from the van in the lay by at Knapton.  See you tomorrow.

17/02/15

Six thirty am and the sun is rising.  The picture was taken just after I had finished loading my first load of the day.  It's good to see daylight at that time in the morning, not only that but there was a Mistle thrush singing in the hedge, well singing is perhaps a little strong, shouting is a better term for the song of a Mistle thrush.  But for all that I like to hear them, they are the earliest bids to start singing.  On the way to Kiirkbymoorside store I drive along the side of the small river that runs through the village where I live.  For the second time in two weeks I saw a barn owl hunting the banks.  It's a delight to see a barn owl, their numbers were decimated by two sucessive severe winters, unlike tawny owls they refuse to eat road kill and find hunting very difficult when there is a substantial snow cover.  Many of these beautiful birds starved to death and their numbers are slow to recover from such a serious set back.  On the other hand I am seeing more kestrels along the road sides and in the surrounding fields than I have for many years.  I am also seeing an ever increasing number of buzzards on my travels, when I was a teenager the sight and or sound of a buzzard was a rarity to be remarked on.  The bad news on the wildlife front is the far too numerous pairs of magpies, the damage they reek amongst the smaller birds is huge and devastating.  If we want the recovery of song thrush numbers the magpies must be removed, every dead magpie is a good magpie.  Back to the driving.  The second load was to Carlton store followed by three small farm drops, all went well with nothing remarkable to report.  Then a collection from Howden Dyke and back to base.  I'm seed dressing tomorrow, I hope it's not raining.  See you tomorrow.

16/02/15

A drivers day off to go to the dentist.  Great!  Dentists terrify me but apparently this isn't the same for all drivers.  One of my colleagues says he has a habit of falling asleep in the dentists chair.  Me; I'm clinging to the sides of the chair and shivering with fear, as for going to sleep, it may be possible but they'd have to gas me first and then only if they fastened me in the chair first.  On top of this we were late.  My wife has an inability to set off on time to anything.  So not only was I on my way to the dentist but I was late and angry into the bargain. Not a good start.  After all that I found I needed a filling so I have to go back.  B****r, bleep.  So to give me a great day I'm going to the dentist first and then for a medical for my driving license, all on one day.  That's something to look forward to.  On the good side we drove into York and had lunch at Plunkets and came away in a much happier mood, the glass of white helped.  Next stop Oak furniture land where my wife attempted to purchase two bedside chests of drawers and a dressing table.  I say attempted because after about half an hour of dealing with a sales person who seemed to think his job description was to make every purchase as difficult and inconvenient as possible, we walked out.  It seemed that though they offer free delivery they go out of their way to make it impossible to have anything delivered free.  If we were willing to pay thirty nine pounds for delivery we could have had the products delivered.  When we asked if the delivery could be made after a certain date the gentleman went away to consult his boss.  Finally they decided this was possible but when my wife asked if she could have the arrangements confirmed in writing we were told that it wasn't possible.  Roughly translated I understood this to mean they would agree to delay the delivery and then ignore the instructions and deliver it when the bloody well wanted to.  They would then make another two attempts before forcing us to take delivery.  I don't know who runs their customer care department but perhaps they shouldn't.  I have twice ordered electrical goods from AO.com and found their delivery service excellent.  Oak furniture land take note.  See you tomorrow, I'm back at work.

134/02/15

The day  before Valentines day and Friday the thirteenth. I don't believe in the first and I don't normally have any trouble with the second.  After thirty six years my wife has given up on the hope of me giving in and buying either flowers or a card though she is ever hopeful.  Friday the thirteenth isn't usually a problem but today was the exception.  My first load was a full load to Kirkbymoorside store, not a problem in itself but considering my second load it was a problem.  As soon as I saw my tickets for the second load I informed out TC that it would be after six when I finished, I don't think he believed me.  And to make everything worse I had to collect some feed from the Gate Helmsley store for one of my drops, thereby delaying me even further, great!  By the time I got finished it was just after seven pm and I was in a right grump.  All I could say was thank goodness the day was over.  Nothing actually went wrong but nothing went right either.  The only good thing is that I'm not at work on Monday, the bad part of that is that I'm off work to go to the dentist.  The dentist terrifies me.  See you Tuesday..

12/02/15

Today has been what I could describe as a standard sort of day, neither exciting nor exceptional.  Carlton store and area followed by a collection from Walden Stubs.  This should have been followed by my last delivery to a farm on the outskirts of Tadcaster.  But my collection turned out to be sixteen pallets which meant that they had to be stacked in two's.  The damned thing wallowed like a drunk whale so I didn't fancy a drive round the small roads near Tadcaster trying to find a farm I've never been to before.  Added to this I expect to be passing the drop tomorrow and I wasn't anywhere near it today.  I got back to base in time to get unloaded and start loading for tomorrow.  First load in the morning is for Kirkbymoorside store but first I have to get one of the bulbs for a brake light replaced by our resident mechanical geniuses. See you tomorrow.

11/02/15

Escaped from my usual deliveries today, seed dressing again.  Four customers on three farms, two above Sutton Bank and one below.  Hence my route involved a drive down Sutton bank then a drive back up.  Coming back up was slow but we got up, eventually.  The first tow jobs went very well with no hitch, so well that I diverted about a mile down the A19 and had an excellent sausage sandwich from a a van parked in a lay by south of Thirsk.  All in all it was a good call, the quality was just as good as last time.  A sausage sandwich from a roadside van is usually risky, the quality of the sausages can very suspect but not in this case.  I was back on the road again within a half hour and at the customers farm within a half hour after that.  I know this customer well and find them very likeable people.  I was working out of half tonne bags rather than from the back of a trailer.  This is always slower but I had gained time earlier so that didn't matter.  All went well until the last bag but then it all went wrong.  The bag was in poor condition and the customer had bunged up some of the holes with some sort of small garment that he referred to as a clout.  In other words he didn't have any idea what he had stuffed in the hole.  Whatever it was came out and went straight up the auger.  The auger threw a hissy fit and stopped.  Because the bag was damaged it was impossible to tie off, great!  We finally ended up with the farmer blocking the hole with his hand while I emptied the auger intake then turned the auger backwards with a pair of mole grips before unwinding assorted detritus from the top.  The thing stuttered a little but finally burst into life before throwing out whatever had blocked it into the second auger.  The second auger let out a pained scream and stopped, oh well that's progress.  I opened the slide at the bottom of the auger and ran the grain out before hesitantly trying the switch.  It started and ran, it complained a bit but it ran.  I started the intake again, very slowly, and was able to continue.  All the while it was spitting out bits of whatever it was that it had chewed up.  I never did discover what it had eaten but I got the job finished and back to base by five.  One thing about seed dressing, I'm always ready for a shower at the end of the day.

Snow still lying where the shadows protect it from the sun, holding the memory of ice ages and the threat of its return.  See you tomorrow.

10/02/15

Tuesday and once again I started with a load for Malton store, a very slow way to start the day as I have said before,  So I will say no more on that subject, suffice to say the load was delivered and unloaded.  Back to base and collect my tickets for the next load which included a delivery to North Newbald, one to Gilberdyke and one to Carlton store and then the joker in the pack.  A dtop at Tadcaster before a collection from Penistone.  Now how the hell does that fit in?  Thank goodness we didn't have the product required for the last drop.  All went well but it was after half past five by the time I got back in.  I was left with the feeling that I had been rushing about all day to achieve very little.  It was just one of those days.

Thee snowdrops are well out.  Its always a pleasure to see these little flowers.

See you tomorrow.

09/02/15

A bright sunny day with a frost first thing which dissipated by about eight, except for the shaded areas.  I wasn't loaded so first job was to load for the day.  Only three drops to go on but still it was nearly a full load.  Before starting for my first drop I had to call into our Gate Helmsley store to collect two bags of horse feed that we didn't have in at base.. At last I could get going.  The first drop was at Bolton Percy and was the last part of an order that I had delivered on Friday, we were awaiting the final item.  The drop took me well off route, not happy, but there's a time to put up and shut up.  The second drop was Carlton store, followed by a farm drop at Newport.  All done by the time my break was due, it all toook longer than I would have liked but that's life.  Then I had to make a collection at Howden Dyke of nearly ten tonnes of fertilizer, not a bad place to collect from, the loading staff are good and the wait isn't usually too long, today was no exception.  The load was to be dropped with the customer, just South of Chop Gate.  The drive was a little slippery and I had to put my diff lock in three times to make it into the yard.  When I finally managed to get into the yard the unloading went well and I was back on the road just after four and back at base just after five.  But looking back on the day I'm dissatisfied, I don't seem to have achieved much for a such a long day.  I was listening to suggestions for the safety of cyclists on the roads of North Yorkshire on the radio.  The thing coming over loud and clear was the need for high visibility clothing and good lighting.  I saw a case in point today.  I came up behind a cyclist today, from the back he was all in grey and not easy to see.  It wasn't until I was along side him that I realised that he was wearing a high vis jacket.  The idiot had put a large rucksack over the high vis jacket.   I suspect it's something to do with all that lycra it must squeeze out all the brains.  See you tomorrow.

06/02/15

Malton store first. I hate this as a first drop, they don't open until eight and are only a quarter hour from base even in poor traffic conditions. It makes for a very poor start to the day and if, as there was today, I have a collection after the next load you are very likely to miss the last loading time. And, yes, I missed the last loading time for my collection. But on the good side I did make all the deliveries for my second load. We are going to my God son's wedding tomorrow near Leicester, driving again. See you Monday.

05/02/15

Not a very remarkable day and most of it passed without incident. The only highlight of the day occurred when a customer rejected fourteen wooden sheep bars because they were "all wet, look as if they'd been kept outside and didn't look pretty." She was surprised when told that they hadn't been treated with a preservative. She hadn't considered that sheep rub against them, a creosote coated sheep wouldn't be pleasant. For those who don't know a sheep bar is a cheap light section of wooden fence. They are tied together to make temporary pens, usually to hold a single ewe and it's new born lambs until the maternal bond is firmly established. Usually three days at the most. But the ones I off loaded weren't pretty enough. I didn't laugh, I happily reloaded them and went on my way. I did suggest that she may be happier with galvanised bars. See you tomorrow. 

04/02/15

A very uninspiring start to the day.  I took this picture just after six am whilst waiting to unload my collection from the previous day before re loading with today's load.  I dislike snow, it not only makes life difficult but our snow is usually wet, more slush than snow.  All in all it would be better if it didn't bother to arrive but it seems arrive occasionally despite my dislike.  It took a while but I did finally get in to load.  Carlton store and four other drops.  The last drop was at Gilberdyke and amazingly I also had a collection from the same place.  Usually I do the drop and one of the other drivers comes in for the collection.  I have no idea why its organised like this but that's the way it usually happens.  Loaded up and back on the road before mid day.  I had to stop for the compulsory three quarters of an hour on my way back so I didn't arrive back at base until after two pm.  On the good side I got loaded for the morning, hopefully the snow will have gone by then.  To turn to more cheerful matters I heard my first Mistle thrush of the year singing, if it can be called a song, this morning, spring is coming, it may be a faint hint but it is coming.  See you tomorrow.

03/02/15

First load was a full load to Helmsley store.  I had intended washing my truck before setting out this morning but the ground was covered with white stuff, yes snow.  That was enough to kill all enthusiasm for washing the truck at six in the morning.  Tickets confirmed and off I go, slowly and carefully.  The small roads hadn't been gritted and the going was slippery. I had no problems on the way though it took me a little longer than usual.  The load came off quickly enough and I was back on the road in good time.  The second load was only a small one, just about three tonnes for five drops.  The first and second drops were small, less than a quarter tonne, no problem.  The third drop was just over a tonne and usually isn't any problem, but today!  I had four attempts at getting into the drive and finally gave up when the whole truck was within the gate, at least twenty yards from where I wanted to be.  The entrance is up hill and it was covered with snow.  When I gave up and put on the brake the truck slid back about six feet back down the hill.  But it eventually stopped with room to unload.  The snow made it impossible to use my sack barrow so having no other option I started to carry.  Luckily the customer arrived and used her loader to carry the remainder of the bags into the shed.  Getting out was easy enough but since I had no option but to back out the customer stopped the traffic on the road.  I had to reverse about two hundred yards and round a corner before I reached a suitable place to turn.  Then off to Brugg over the Humber bridge, As I have mentioned before I like crossing the bridge, even though it is a bit of a white elephant it's still spectacular.  The drop in Brigg was a single tonne and all lifted off with a fork lift, easy.  Then back to the M180 for a run to Walden Stubbs to collect ten pallets of horse feed before my final drop at Carlton store.  Due to the fun in the snow I ran out of driving hours again and had to put in a break, very irritating when I wanted to be home.  See you tomorrow.

02/02/15

Carlton store and area first and only a few deliveries into the area with no collection.  All went well and I was back in the yard by just after one pm.  The second load was a full load of feed for Kirkbymoorside store.  All done with no problems and back in the yard in time to load the first load for tomorrow, leaving only the tickets to confirm.

It doesn't show well but there is some of the white stuff coming down to earth.  Yuk!  See you tomorrow.

30/01/15

The last working day of January, this year at least, and Friday as well.  Helmsley store first with a full load. No problems all tipped and back in good time.  Loaded the second load for Carlton store and area, a total of four drops and one collection.  The only problem was that due to the position of the last drop it made sense to complete the collection before completing the last drop.  Great plan, so long as I could fit the last drop into a small enough space to allow me to load the collection around it.  As it turned out, with a little shuffling and rearranging, I was able to manage it.  The collection fitted on, just.  When I arrived at the last drop the customer seemed a little worried that I wasn't coming.  I know it was a little late, but not that late.  The drop went well and I was back in the yard just before six pm, another long day but not too long. See you Monday.