30/11/16

Yet again another beautiful day at work, that is the day, not the work.  The work wasn't bad but the day made it all worthwhile.  The work wasn't particularly arduous but it would have been much easier if I had been given all my delivery tickets last night, it would have saved me the second trip out.  Perhaps I would have been given all the tickets if there hadn't been a mistake on one of my first tickets.  My second load would have been easier and quicker if someone in the office had made the effort to give me the correct post code for a delivery that I hadn't done previously.  It would have saved me having to find a decent connection for my phone before searching for the address on Royal Mail.com.  Thank goodness that I am able to access their service while out on the road, I wouldn't have been able to make the delivery without it as I was only given a landline number and there was no one answering when I called.  It all adds interest to the days work and I/'m sure that adding interest is the aim of the office staff who regularly don't complete the delivery addresses correctly.  They really do make the day more fun, if much longer.  But, speaking to others in my profession, I have come to realise that this sort of problem is endemic and not limited to the company I have the pleasure of working for.
See you tomorrow.

29/11/16

Another beautiful early winter day, frost and blue sky all day.  The only down side is the low sun which dazzled me most of the day but I'll live with that for the pleasure of the day.  I was thinking about my school days today.  I hated school and far from being the best days of my life they were the worst.  I think it all started with Mrs Ansell, my first teacher at Holme on Spalding Moor County Primary School.  I may not have been a particularly nice child, I have no idea, but that was no reason for the disgusting woman to behave the way she did. I often felt physically ill to the point of having stomach ache at the thought of going to schoo. I don't think my view of the woman is distorted by time, there were others, both older and younger than me, who she disliked and decided to bully.  One of my Mother's friends occasionally stood in as a supply teacher, she told my mother that I shook when it was my turn to come out and read to her.  The damned Mrs Ansell had be so terrified that I was unable to read words that I knew well. I remember her accosting me in the dinner queue for no reason that I can remember and nipping my arm as hard as she could, I was a little older by then and didn't give her the satisfaction of showing that I felt anything at all.  Due to my experience I made a point of meeting the first couple of teachers of both my children. I had no intention of letting them suffer the same sort of bullying from a teacher that I suffered.  I am not able to quantify the damage the disgusting woman was allowed to do to my education but I can say she delayed my reading considerably. She certainly helped develop and hone my total hatred of school which lasted for the whole of my schooling.  She is dead now and with a bit of luck is rotting in hell, a place she worked hard to earn. That last comment may sound a bit harsh but I mean it, the woman was disgusting. People say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead but I see no reason to lie about someones character because they are dead and gone, it doesn't make them any better for the lie.
See you tomorrow.

I am not normally a bitter person but in this case I will make an eexception.

28/11/16

Monday again and thank goodness Monday has come round again.  If it didn't come round every seven days it would probably mean that the world had ended without me knowing.  That would not be good, nor for anyone, so here's to Mondays we should cherish them and be thankful.  Today started with frost, always a good sign at this time of year, and it didn't disappoint today, the whole day has been beautiful. Apparently some of the bird life local to out Carlton Store seemed to think so.  As I was opening the sheets to tip my first load I heard a mistle thrush singing.  Well singing is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, shouting is more like it.  But disregarding the quality of its song the bird was enthusiastic and at least the sound was better than my singing so I'd best stop criticising the bird, it was doing its best and I was pleased to hear it.  Mistle thrushes often start singing at this time of year , possibly because they usually start to nest very early in the year.  They are also vicious enough and tough enough to fight off magpies.  Well done mistle thrushes may your beaks be sharp and your pecks debilitating.  I hate magpies, if you hadn't guessed.  As for the work, it went well enough and even though I had two loads I was back in the yard by five at night.  Roll on the new year and lighter nights.  In a perfect world I would have left the country for somewhere with more daylight at the beginning of November and I wouldn't come back until February.  See you tomorrow.

24/11/16

At least it didn't rain today, well not much. I was pondering life as I was driving.  When I was young, well younger than I am now, a lot younger.  I thought that most things were permanent, unchanging and stable.  How wrong I was, I now realise that nothing is stable and unchanging, nothing at all except for change itself.  The only long term stability is change, change is constant there is only change.  Change is the only constant in the world.  Even love changes form as it develops deepening  and maturing with time but always changing.  On that note, see you tomorrow.

14/11/16

A November Monday again, and another gone.  I don't like November as I have said before but I still have to live through it.  I'm not usually a miserable old git but everyone has a bad time now and again.  The sooner we are past the shortest day the better, I think it's daylight that I miss.  Today has gone well enough considering.  I had no problems with any of the drops and found more than my share of customers with loaders.  I have nothing particularly interesting to report about today.  I saw a buzzard and that was the most note worthy sighting of the day.  See you tomorrow.

11/11/16

Why don't they listen? Friday night is the only night I like to finish by 5pm so what happens? I don't get back to the yard until nearly six!  I don't care what time I finish the rest of the week and I will work Saturday if needed, all with (nearly) no complaint but let me finish by five on Friday. Surely that's not too difficult or too much to ask!
Enough grumbling for now it's Sunday night and I've only just got round to writing about Friday.see you tomorrow.

10/11/16

The world has survived its first whole day with Trump as president elect.  Will this last?
See you tomorrow.

09/11/16

So the world has a new American President.  A friend often reminds me of what he says is an old Chinese curse, which I think goes like this, "May you live in interesting times" .  I am sure Mr Trump will ensure that we do just that.  Time will tell! That's all I'm going to say on the matter for now.  Back in the UK the weather has been the typical November type, wet and cold bordering on snow.  Not very pleasant to be out and about on the road in but I have no choice so that's what I've been doing today.  I have been South of Lincoln on the A15 today, I've never been there before so the drive out added to the interest and I nearly forgot the weather.  From where I was I had little choice but to drive through Lincoln, another new experience.  The big church on the hill in the middle of Lincoln is an impressive stack of stone, what a statement of power the building is.  The drive through went well enough and I found my destination first time which was quite amazing.  Especially so as my sat nav and my phone map didn't agree on where my destination was.  Luckily I had taken the time to research the location before starting out so I wasn't mislead by my sat nave.  I have no idea if this collection is going to be a regular part of my run, time will tell.
See you tomorrow.

08/11/16

Today has been frustrating. Nothing has gone wrong but the whole day has been more complicated than it should have been and all through no fault of mine, for a change. But that's enough of that I have no intention of grumbling at this time of night and besides that it's boring for my readers. Tonight my wife and I shared the last Jumbo apple of the year. One apple between two doesn't a oh d much I know. And I'm not on a diet. The apple weighed one Pound five and a half ounces, yes you read that weight correctly. This year was the first time I have allowed these trees to crop and they lived up to the name of Jumbo. They are a dual use apple but are sweet enough to eat when fully ripe.
See you tomorrow.

07/11/16

We had a very peaceful weekend, it was wet and cold, typical November weather for us.  So we didn't go far or do much and we both enjoyed it.  But back to earth with a bump, its Monday.  No I don't hate Mondays; after all we couldn't get to Friday if we didn't have Monday.  But today my truck was in for a service and I had the dubious pleasure of driving our 05 DAF, nor a very nice experience.  I got well down the A64 before I remembered the fuel gauge didn't work so I spent the whole of the day slightly worried that I was about to run out of fuel.  I didn't.  The thing has an alternator warning light on all the time, the driver is supposed to ignore this apparently.  To top it all off the thing jumps out of third gear if you can persuade it to get into third gear that is.  All in all it was an unpleasant drive but I got though the day with nothing more than irritation.  I got my truck back when I got back into the yard.  Relief doesn't describe the feeling adequately.   But apart from the truck problems the day went well enough.
See you tomorrow.

04/11/16

It's Friday, the day, here comes the weekend.  Not that I'm doing anything particularly exciting this weekend, cleaning the loft and starting putting up the frame work for some espalier apple trees is about as good as it will get.  Perhaps it's an age thing, but there again I never did like late nights in noisy surroundings.  I think I was born old and I'm happy with it.
Back to today.  The weather has been our typical November weather, dull, overcast, slightly windy with the occasional bit of moisture for good measure.  The deliveries went well and though I expected a six pm finish I was pleasantly surprised to be back in the yard for five.so all in all a very good day.
See you Monday

03/11/16

How has it got to November? The year has only just started and it's nearly at its end, I haven't achieved much of what I'd planned for the year, or at least I don't think I have.  But perhaps it's just that I can't remember what I had planned for the year.  I think I must be getting old.  Seriously though, this year has passed with amazing speed, yes I know it's not over yet and a lot can happen in the time that's left, but still where has it gone.
Today hasn't been particularly interesting or particularly boring.  The driving has been good and the customers who needed it have all had fork lifts available, easy day!  It's now that time of year when I don't see home or my orchard during the week as it's dark when I leave and dark when I return, not fun.  As for my orchard, after the disaster of losing nine young apple trees to the wet conditions in spring things have gone well enough.  I have just put a land drain through the effected area so even if we get conditions as bad as last year I shouldn't lose any more trees.  I am re planting the lost trees this winter and replacing the old hedge that I removed last year with a line of espalier apple trees.
See you tomorrow.

02/11/16

Amazing, I don't know whats going on in the world.  A supermarket, Tesco, to be precise, have managed to supply me with good quality mature Stilton cheese for three weeks in a row.  I have been buying what supermarkets pass off as mature Stilton from English supermarkets for years and usually end up with something which, though blue, has less taste than cardboard.  But for three weeks in a row I have received excellent quality mature Stilton from Tesco.  Well done Tesco.
Seed dressing seems to have come to an end for the season and I'm back driving again.
See you tomorrow. Perhaps.