DON'T WEAR RINGS AT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK this is not a nice one but has to be done. To all who said it would never happen to them, i said that for along time until the Saturday i got to Spain. I parked up, did my papers etc etc etc. Had the truck running as it was 37c (about 96f), got out to go for a cold one but had a air leak between the truck and trl, it was one of the air pipes, so up i went and sorted it out, I then lost my footing, grabbed the nearest thing with my hand, slipped, then my ring got caught.



I was lucky as i grabbed with my left hand as well but the damage was already done on my right hand. I then went into the bar for some ice just to stop it swelling up more. The girl behind the bar saw it and said to come round the bar to wash it out and then she poured neat gin on it, i knew then there was a big problem as it did not hurt at all.



There was an English guy in there who spoke Spainsh; RAM was his name, he told me later on. So into a taxi we went to the A and E dept, but in this town it's just a small room so they sent me to one about 30kh away and RAM came with me. Just met the guy and he stayed with me all night till we got back at 3am. Now thats what you call the old way of driving in europe, the unspoken friendship of europian truck drivers. The doc said i was lucky i did not pull my finger off or pull the skin completely off like a condom. But then there was more problems as the ring was a steel one they had a big problem trying to cut it off, it took them about 4hrs to get it off, will not give you all the gory details on it. Had 4 stitches in it and had to go back on the Monday morning for a check up.




It was the first time ever i had to go to a hospital in europe and they where very good and professional. They got someone who spoke English as well, so that made me feel a little more at ease.

Had the stitches out and part of it opened up again.

Anyway on the Sunday morning around 10am the day after the accident, and only about 6 hrs sleep, RAM had said he would come to the pharmacywith me as they closed at midday and it was quite a walk from where we were parked, anyway got their and got the pills. We were away from the trucks till about 7pm that night. We walked, talked, seen this place, seen that place; he had the beer and me coffee or coke, looked in a lot of shops as well. I paid for dinner just to say thanks. Went back to the hospital again Monday morning just to check the nerves and for infection, they said they were happy with it so was told to get it checked out when back in the uk..

Well had a job to do............. so after leaving the hospital drove back to where i left the trl then on down to Barcalona; my truck is left hand drive and its fully automatic (good thing really). Did the drop off but it was a shit trying to back up with only one hand, well did it and then sat waiting for a reload. Boss called about 2hrs after and told me to head towards LERIDA, as there was a pick up in that area for the UK. So off i toddled towards Lerida, got the address of the place on route and after a 3hr drive i arrived around 19.00hrs, the loading time wasn't until 23.00hrs that night so waited, got it loaded then went to bed. Left there heading for Zaragoza, Pamplona then up to the border town IRUN thats on the west side of Spain, went up through the border into France to Bordeaux then Tours got here and called it a night so food and bed (see, no beer Caz). Wednesday morning up and on my way by 5am. The route today was Le Mans /Rouen/Abbevill to get to the Euroshuttle, no problem there, straight through customs and onto the train. Was parked up at Ashford truck stop by 5pm in the UK.

Thursday up to London for the delivery by 730 am and then back to Caz's as got a doc's appointment in the afternoon. So there it is till the next post ..

Keep it sunny side up till then.

NO SPAIN !!! THEN SPAIN

Hi all; This is a follow on blog from "Doing Nothing". Ok, Here's my follow on, still waiting to load for Spain.........(what did not happen, so spent the night parked on the loading bay there, not too bad as i had the internet.)

The next day (Thursday) went into the office for coffee and was told the load for spain was not going to happen, so as some of you are very familiar with......... change of plan, hey ho shit happens. New plan, load one for Finland (I was up for that) So loaded at the same place and was ready to rock and roll. Called the boss to confirm my load and was told to bring it to the company in Rotterdam, a 2.5hr drive. So back at the yard was told it was to be tranship into a container so got on with that, then the container had to go to Antwerpen did that. Dropped that their, then back to Rotterdam, parked close to where the old yard was and gave a mate a call as saw his truck was their and went for a drink at his place. The next day all i had to do was drop the rental chassis back, then to the yard so was parked back at the company buy 8.30 friday morning waited for the boss to get in and was told i was going home in the company car but had to wait for one more uk driver. Sat there doing sweet FA.......... about 11oclock the boss came in and said the load for Spain was back on (shit, f--k, bollocks) ok then of i went back to Maastrict in Holland to load for Barcelona. Caz not a happy bunny, i told her i was coming home for the weekend and now had to tell her i was not. So got loaded and then headed south for Luxumburg, got down to Djon for the night so that was Friday done & dusted. Time for beer and sleep. Saturday i was up and on my way by 8am as i liked to be parked up in Spain early that night .





This is an old photo, don't know why its here buts it's in the small village where i dropped the week before looks wierd on a roundabout .

This was going through Liege in Belguim, and coming down to the new tunnel through the town, speed limit was 60khs for trucks and 0nly 4mts in height

This was outside the fire station in maastrict, it looked cool when i took it but now i don't know .

This is Lyon in France there is two ways around here, you can go round via the motorway or like me the old way, through the centre of Lyon, sometimes it's quicker going this way. Here are some photo's, this is the road that runs along the river in the centre .

it looks good to me

This is coming out on the south side still by the river

The next ones are alot further south of Lyon, near Narbonne in the south of France.

These photo's are of the mediterranean.

This was a used plane place so if you would like a second hand plane it's just off the motorway at Narbonne .

Take your pick.

Ok heading for the border, not far from Spain now just over the hill.

The border for Spain.

As it says... SPAIN here we are

I parked up not far from here it's called LA JONQUERA it's the old custom place, but not many photo's of this. Will tell all in my next post, sorry but it's not a nice one so will do that on it's own as the photos are not nice ... ok keep it sunny side up till then (now Caz's turn)

PHOTOS OF FINLAND

Hi to you all, sorry it's been a bit of time but here are some photos of the trip to Hamina in Finland like i said i would do. This one is the cabin i had to myself on the boat out there .

This is coming into the port of Helsinki .

Out on the road heading to Hamina 200ks to go

Still heading to Hamina

Hamina is only 48khs from the Russian border and then about 100khs to ST Petersburg. Nearly got there again. One day i will get there .

OK got to Hamina this is the gate into the port but the delivery for me is just on my left of the photo.

OK i am parked getting unloaded and there were about 100 car transporters parked up here all around the warehouse. This is only some of them plus there were a lot of fridge tlrs parked about as well, so the recession is hitting hard up here as well.

OK we did the drop and headed back to the port of Helsinki for the night boat, going back this time it was a different shipping company, we had to wait till later that day to board. OK the next photos are of the TV in the cabin, the map shows you where you are on the way back as the sailing is 27hrs. On the boat there is not much to do, this time we are heading to Rostock in Germany, the red dot is the boat, the blue is the water. The first photo is about 3hrs outside of Helsinki.

This is near Sweden

Then on the way to Rostock which is a further 8 hrs or so to the left of the picture

This is back in the yard Sunday morning. Picking up papers out of the container for the next trl, it was 9 am nice and sunny, but bed time for me. The tlr i took to Finland.

The trl i took to France. Sunday night was a wet one when i got up .

Some of the fleet parked up Sunday morning

We share the yard with some other company's as well.

OK keep it sunny side up till next one ..

DOING NOTHING

Hi all yesterday spent all day on the Internet just surfing. as there was a problem with the Spanish customer don't now what the problem was but did not load. So looking like having a 24hr+ off as still waiting for the girls in the office to get in today to see if we can load today hope so.
It`s looking like i will be in Spain this weekend, delivery will be for Monday as i don't think there will be some one there on Saturday ha ho shit happens .
OK keep it sunny side up till the next one

AFTER MESSING ABOUT ON THE WATER

Hi to you all. As from now on i am writing this but then it will be edited by my sweet sexy lovely caz before it is posted, just so you lot can read it. Ok i left you lot when i was on the boat. It was late getting in to Rostock on Saturday night, got off at 2330hrs it was a good trip back to the yard and it took 9hrs so got back there by 0900hrs Sunday morning bloody bollockeds. So dropped and swapped the trl which was going to France, then had a beer and went to bed as had to leave that night for dijon in France.

Ok 1830hrs was on me and time to set sail so down to brussels then in to luxenburg had a break and lots of coffee, got to 30mns from drop off point by 0330hrs and called it a day.

Monday at 1230hrs it was time to move on, got to delivery point and was told to park on the bay and within 50mns i was empty. Sent a msg in and waited for 1hr had nothing back so called the boss he told me to head for Maastricht in Holland for reload in the morning, got there that night at 2300hrs. So beer and bedtime.

Tuesday into the company at 0800hrs and was told I had to wait, but not for long, loaded and on my way by 1000hrs to a place in France again called Toul it was only a 4.5hrs drive. I dropped that load and was then told to reload back in Maastricht, so got back here last night and now just waiting for the load, so on their internet in there office at the mo waiting for the load to be okayed. This load is for delivery on Friday in Barcelona Spain. Then reloading down there for the UK thats what i have be told so far but if they don't get there finger out very soon Friday am is not going to happen.

I have some photos of the trip to Finland, but have not sorted them out yet, will do that soon for you all to see. Ok then its Caz's turn now to be teacher and sort this out so you can read it ..



keep it sunny side up till next time

BACK TO WORK AGAIN

OK back to work .... on Tuesday last caz and me had to go out and I left the works phone at home, when i got back there was about 6 missed calls from the boss. As i said on the last post i was to call in on that Tuesday night to see what the plan was .So called in to see what the plan was, that was about 4pm and was told i was booked on the late boat from Harwich that night so it was a case of .....OK, shit, f--k .Did not have anything ready so as i went shopping Caz did what was left off my ironing for me and then packed all my stuff in the company car .That was done and i had about 1hr left before i had to leave .It's not good when i have to go back to work as i do not know when i will be back again .Got to Harwich in time for the boat to Holland. It was a night sailing, and for the first time i did not ask the boss if it was booked on the truck side so went there as normal and yes you got it, he booked it on the car side, so that mean't no free food on the boat this time but as it was sailing at 2345hrs i had something to eat before leaving Caz's place .The boat got in at 0730hrs, so off to the company to see what the full plan is. The plan was to pick up a container from one of the ports in Rotterdam and take it to Hamina in Finland. Hamina is about 48km from the Russian boarder. Russia is one place i would really like to take a truck to just to say i have done it. Anyway getting a head a bit now, there was going to be one more container going as well so there was two of us .The job is one off ours in which we sub out in the UK. Its loaded in Telford at EPSOM UK to EPSOM Moscow. Now normally we would drop them in the port at Tilbury for the weekend boat to Hamina, but for some reason or another the suby's did not make it, or More like it Epsom did not get them loaded in time so they had a big bill for that job as we had to get them there by Friday....Well, picked up the containers and then headed for the port nr Lubeck which is north from Hamburg in Germany for the night boat, well its actually a night and day boat and after a 27hr sailing we arrived in Helsinki. Off the boat in Helsinki at 0700hrs local time (2hrs in front of UK.) It was only 200kms to the drop off point and the same back. So had all day to do it as we where coming back that night. At the mo we are sailing back, got on here last night (Friday.) The boat left at 2100hrs, local time. (And Mike if your reading this there is free Internet on here as well ! one for the list i joke a bit far for your guys.) We are due into Rostock Germany this time and will be there about 2130hrs tonight, (Saturday) then its all out to get to the the company as have to leave the company on Sunday at 1800hrs. Got to have my rest when i get there before leaving for a place nr Dijon in France for a delivery on Monday afternoon. But as some of you will know at 2200hrs in Germany on a Saturday night, trucks cannot drive till 2200hrs on a Sunday night and the boss is paying all, so if we get stopped that's OK with me. So for now that's it. From my sailing along with nothing else but sea all around, keep it Sunny side up till the next time ...