7th - 11th August 2006

Monday 7th August 2006
0530 Start. The truck had been loaded over the weekend by the boss, following Fridays latish arrival back from the Isle of Wight. The enormous mound of materials that was dotted about the yard on Friday had somehow been rammed on and strapped down. We’d both had our doubts that it would fit, but some doubling up of bits and bobs had achieved the improbable. After a quick cuppa whilst checking everything was secure I headed for the gate at about 0550 the gate to the premises can only be opened by remote before 0700 and I couldn’t find mine. I had just used it to get the car in, so I ran back about 200yds to the car to grab it. Searched the car, not there. Ran back to the gate and grabbed the office keys, searched the office, yard, car again but still no remote. Back to the gate and start turfing kit out of the cab. Found the remote where it had slipped next to the seat. Gate open at 0605 and out through the lanes towards Waltham Cross and J25 M25. Made good progress to up M1 / M45 to Coventry arriving on site just after 0800. Squeezed into the site and had to carefully take the load off bit by bit to avoid damaging anything, first priority was to clear the beaver tail, so the ramps could be dropped and the drill rig tracked off the back. By the time I had finished unloading the crew had already drilled the first pile and were checking for water ingress. A well earned cuppa from the client on site (a rare thing) and I was back across Coventry headed for the M40. From the M40 across to Oxford, passed an OshKosh tank transporter going the other way, those things are massive. Shame I’ve never seen one loaded yet. Through Oxford and out to the Stanford in the Vale near Faringdon to collect some brand new stillages from Pump Parts. Had my break there looking at a enormous concrete pump, mounted on an 8 wheeler Scania. Forgot to take any pictures though. Back to Oxford round the ring road and get stuck in a jam just short of the Headington roundabout, a cycle was laying in the carriageway, and the police were diverting traffic around it through a right turn lane, stopping oncoming traffic and presumably preserving the scene suggesting a grisly accident. Always a sobering thought, I returned to the yard and unloaded the stillages. Finished at 1630

Tuesday 8th August 2006

0715 Start. An easy on the cards today, away down to Kennington on the edge of Ashford in Kent to collect a couple of stillages of deck stands and a few lengths of steel from a small site, where they are extending a house. A quick blast up the M20 and across the A229 to the Medway City Estate in Rochester to collect some pallets of deck stands from our yard there. A nice easy run back to the yard to tip off. Where is all the traffic today I wonder? Back at the yard, time for a vehicle change for a quick run to Dalston Lane in Hackney. The site is right on the kink between Graham Road and the bridge, this makes it a pig of a place to get to as the A10 has a 7.5t bridge from the north, Dalston Road has a 25t bridge just by the site, and you can’t get round the corner from Graham Road. Still no problem today as I’ve only got a few boxes to deliver to the CFA rig and can use whatever route I want, thanks to……………

...........................................................a Transit Connect.

Came back via Leyton, pleased to not get stopped by the police doing vehicle stops along Lea Bridge Road, especially when I get back to the yard and notice that one of the van tyres will need to be replaced before very long. When I left the yard and followed my route through to Waltham Cross, I took a right at a junction and nearly crashed into a car coming the other way as I cut across his lane, I had never driven this way in anything other than the truck and followed the same course across the junction. Ooops. Back at the yard the truck had been loaded with some steel rebar for tomorrow, so I left at 1630 unable to get any overtime today. Still it will keep the bean counters happy.

Wednesday 9th August 2006

0600 Start. Oh joy another IOW trip, hoping it will be better than last weeks I start the slog down the M25 /A3 to Portsmouth arriving just before 0900 for the 0930 sailing to Fishbourne. In to the terminal to collect tickets and a DG form for the return, and soon the incoming boat has docked and unloaded and is ready to start loading. As usual the white trash gets loaded first, and I end up somewhere in the middle.

White trash

Still it’s not far from the terminal at Fishbourne to the site at Binstead and I am on site about 1015 it’s a tight squeeze to reverse around the protruding scaffolding but just about do-able. The rig is packed ready for transport and we start the loading by craning on the augers and toolbox before dropping the ramps and loading the beast on. Once its on I notice on the makers plate that is actually 13.5t rather than the 12.8t that I had been told, should be OK today, but with the extra augers that I brought out for another smaller rig last week it was probably very close to the 32t max. Once on a chained we load the concrete pump, bund and diesel drum by digger rather than use the winch which ended up going wrong last week. All packed up by 1130 I decide to head straight for the ferry, possible to even catch the 1200 back to Portsmouth. Back at the ferry I get the DG form stamped and told that they cannot put me on the 1200 as they alreasy have DG waiting. This turns out to be Vito service van for a refridgeration company probably with one gas bottle on board. Never mind I’ll wait for my booked 1230 sailing instead. Whilst parked in the DG bay the St.Clare leaves on the 1200, I’m not too bothered as although the other boats are smaller it has come and gone before on them, the bigger boat just having better outside seating. Whilst looking out over the water, I can hear a metallic clinking from the other side of the vehicle. I race around expecting to find someone fiddling with the chains, to find the loaders checking the height with their gauge. They tell me its too high, so I drop the air but they aren’t having it. Look I say its been over before on the smaller boats it’s OK. They then tell me that although the 4 smaller boats look the same, they are all different height and the St. Catherine which has just docked is the smallest, also a no-no is the St.Helen. To add insult to injury the rig driver has just loaded his van on leaving me high and dry. Luckily next along is St.Cecilia on the 1300 which I can just scrape through. Last one on again, which places me right at the front of the vessel pointing backwards. Why do they load their DG on the front? Is it so they can keep an eye on it? Surely if there was a fire it’d be better off at the back. Straight off the ferry and an uneventful run back to the yard leaving everything loaded for the morning. Finished at 1700

It won't fit on this one.

Can't be that deep can it? He's just made it across. Maybe I'll try that.

Perhaps not, maybe they were aerated blocks to give him some buoyancy.

Good old England again, getting fed up with all this continental work they keep giving me.

When my load, it rocks about in the ruts worse than the ferry.

Thursday 10th August 2006

0700 Start. Short hop this morning to St.Albans, a quick cuppa with the rig driver who has arrived and we set off in convoy as he doesn’t know where the site is. Somehow he disappears after the A1081/A414 roundabout and I spend about 5 minutes waiting in a layby just past the fire station. Back on track we find our site, an empty plot in a 1960’s housing estate. It has all the hallmarks of being ONE OF THEM jobs where as soon as you stop you are in the way, but in fact no-one came and moaned which was a bonus. Unfortunately there was only a small mini digger on site, so we were unable to lift the concrete pump off, and its too heavy to roll down the ramps of its own accord. In the end we secured it with a chain to the digger bucket, lowered the ramps and run a small skip loader against the pump to take the weight before gradually letting it down. A good bit of lateral thinking, this sort of challenge is one of the reasons I enjoy my job. It was a case of having to get it off safely and engineering the best way to do it. All unloaded I head out of St.Albans towards the M25. I come to some roadworks with temp. traffic lights just beyond the high street, thanks to the traffic queuing from the high street junction the traffic is queuing through the road works, and I sit through three green phases of the lights unable to move. The most irritating thing that the bus drivers were the worst culprits for entering the single lane section seeing that it was not clear the other side. I’d probably be sitting there now, but in the end I had to what they did, push forward on the green and once they had all cleared go through on their green sequence. Things like this piss me off as I had to do what they had been doing and got dirty looks for doing it. Onto the M25 and up the M40 into a traffic jam just past J3. The signs are telling us that there are delays between J3-J5. Well you don’t say, YES I KNOW THERE ARE DELAYS as I am bloody well stuck in them for about an hour and a half. A Sprinter van has gone over and looks a bit of a mess, there are collision investigators on scene and I wonder if this is another nasty accident. Into Oxford, it’s a simple collection of sand and cement left over from the job we finished last week. 8 pallets later I’m out and back on the motorways, get to the M25 around J17 ish and the signs are displaying Fog, despite it being around 1500 and bright and sunny. Tipped off, loaded some rebar and left for home at 1715

Friday 11th August 2006

0645 Start. Another easy day today, makes a change after the last couple of weeks. A blast up the motoways to Mondays Coventry job to drop off two bundles of steel and a sack full of bits, not worth getting the crane out as we can hoof the steel off the side. Seems extravagant running out with such a small amount, but it has got to be there so they can be ready for a concrete pour on Monday. If it got delayed the site would stop and start costing ££££. Back down the A45 I stopped at the old weighbridge layby at the start of the M45 for a bite and a cuppa. It seemed a bit pricey compared to some (although I rarely stop at them) but was good grub and the placed was rammed full of motors. Back at the bottom of the M1 I decided to take the M10 across and grab some fuel and the Shell garage at the end. Only its moved, they seem to have moved it closer to the M25 J21 than I remember. Still I found it eventually and was surprised that DERV was only 96.9p / L seemed quite cheap by todays standards. Back across the A1081 to the M25 I decided that as I wasn’t in a hurry I’d check out the route from Potters Bar to Cuffley to Waltham Cross, to see if there were any restrictions that would stop me using it. At the Waltham Cross the (B) road is dual carriageway and I have wondered for some time if it might be a useful way to avoid the M25 on a bad day. The road is OK, nothing I can’t get through, but a bit long winded so I probably won’t bother with it. It does make me wonder why that dual carriageway is there on the last stretch, it’d make a decent A road, let alone a B road. It also made me wonder why they never continued the M10 to the M25 and cut the corner like the M26 does in Kent. Back at the yard, there was nothing much to do apart from clean out the cab, sort the equipment in the toolboxes. No plans had been fixed for Monday, so I left the keys and had an early day leaving about 1600. No overtime again today, except for the painting that Mrs 8 Wheels had lined up for me at home.

This week has been about as quiet as it gets, all in all a reasonable week. Just seems a bit light as not much overtime.

Total distance 1683km

Wonderful why can't all roads look like this?

31st July - 4th August 2006

Monday 31st July.All loaded and ready for an 0700 start, first off up the M11 / A11 and round to middle of nowhere just past Bury St. Eds. Luckily this week the journey is only about an hour and a half, not the six it took last week when they closed the road. One pallet of slabs off the side at the site, and back around the A14/A12 on route to Kent. Quick cuppa with my mum in Colchester and then down to Whitstable to drop 4 stillages and some ply at a small site. Get to the Dartford tolls and there is an artic TWT Logistics / Transport (should have been TW@T) attempting to use the autotoll, he crunched his nearside mirror and got caught by a traffic officer. Laughing so much, I almost drove straight into the barrier which the DART tag was a bit slow to lift today.

It was a bit of a pain to get everything in, missing the car, tree etc but still managed to leave it nice and tidy.

Run down empty to Chattenden, nr Rochester to collect 1 pallet from a site that we are running. Meet our 7.5t driver coming out with a small drilling rig destined for our yard in Harlow, told him to take it off and load it on mine as it is going out tomorrow and he is well chuffed as he can go back to his yard about 5 minutes away. All loaded up, back to the yard via Wickford to collect some steel also for tomorrow. 1800 end.

Tuesday 1st August

3.30am It's cold and wet and I want to be in bed, still off I trundle through the lanes towards Waltham Cross where I can pick up the M25. Almost through the lanes and discover ROAD CLOSED AHEAD ACCESS ONLY, DIVERSION. The car in front goes straight through and I think maybe it's not properly closed and follow. It was closed. Now got to try and attempt an 18 point turn in a field entrance in the dark and rain. Turned round I follow the diversion nervously but puts me on to the A10 at Broxbourne. Now running a bit late I am pushing hard to get to Portsmouth to make the 0630 ferry to the IOW. Made Pompey OK and am on site back at Totland job at 0800, only a little drilll rig, some augers and hoses today so I keep out of the site and track it off the back. Except it slid straight down the ramps non stop. No harm done though. Bloke on site now on phone, someone has suggested that I run over to site at Ryde, collect steel and bring it back. I just want to be off island ASAP. Change of plan, continue as per original instructions, which was drop one bundle of steel at Yarmouth a short distance from the Lymington ferry.

This was the Totland site, all the black pallets and ply were those that I dropped last week. Here, there & everywhere because I couldn't get around the corner at the bottom.

Back at Yarmouth I decided to try and get off island ASAP so tried my luck on the Lymington ferry. Whilst parked up noticed an old dog Iveco 13t R360 SLY parked up, this was an old stinker that I used to sometimes drive at DBC Chelmsford, before they got rid of it about a year ago. No driver about so wasn't able to get more info.

Guess which I prefer to drive?

On the Lymington ferry straight away, and sailing off before the phone could ring with something else to do. As a rule I don't bother with this sailing as the ferry is tiny and if you're not booked can involve a lengthy delay. However today it was just fine.

Hmmmmmm, now where did I leave it?

An uneventful run back through the New Forest and up the motorways to our yard at Harlow. Offloaded the pallet from yesterday, and headed off home at 1430

Wednesday 2nd August

0700 Quick blast down to Chelmsford (having just come from home there) to collect some 6m x 450mm CFA augers that have been refurbised at welders yard. As I've got my camera, grabbed a couple of pictures whilst there. The first is a White Road Commander 2, the second an old Volvo, dunno what. It is a left hooker and I was surprised to see it is a rigid, always had assumed it to be another artic. He used to have a 1970's Coles crane there until recently that he was going to sort out, but due to scrap prices he cut it up and scrapped it.

Loaded with CFA augers

Now finished in Chelmsford, its back to Harlow to tip off the augers, before running down empty to our Rochester yard to clear 8 pallets back to Harlow. Unloaded these and discover that tomorrow I am back to the IOW and have been told I am staying over. This pleases me not and I slope off grumpily at 1700

Thursday 3rd August

0800 start, no urgency this morning and I start by bitching about how my job is no nights out, and how the **** do you expect me to find accomodation on spec on the IOW during Cowes week. Why can't they book and pay for something in advance, rant rant rant. DONT ASK ME TO DO IT AGAIN. I leave for Wickford to collect some steel, just as I get there my phone bleeps with a text message giving me details of a room booked at the Travel Inn in Newport. One nil to me then.

Bundle of steel on, its off to our plant department at Basildon to collect some augers for the mini piling rig at Totland. After a delay I leave at 12.15 for Oxford. Looks like the 1600 ferry ain't gonna happen. On site at Oxford at 14.15 and start to load the bits and pieces that go with the Klemm. So much to go on first, its a bit of a jumble. All ready to go, the ramps down and up she goes.

After its on we then have to winch a concrete pump on the back. plug the wander lead in and the fuse blows. Great. Change the fuse and it blows again. Even better. New fuse and no lead, am using the manual lever, when something underneath the winch rope must have disengaged the clutch as the pump rolls straight back down again. Due to the amount of stuff up front around the winch, we get a digger driver to put the pump on and stand the ramps up. Now discover one of the straps for securing the ramps, mangled under one of the Klemm's tracks. Leave Oxford with about 15 minutes to make the ferry. It's a bad day.

Down at Portsmouth I check in, fill in a DG form and call the rig driver who left Oxford behind me, he is about 20 minutes away, having thought I'd gone down the A40 and gone round the M25, only to find I went A34. I had just missed the 1800 and was first in the queue for the 1900, despite this I was forced to watch the world and his wife get loaded first, including my rig driver who had now turned up. It was looking like they were going to leave me high and dry. Finally they call me, but stop me and ask for the height, 15' I say, he radios someone and gets a no go. I explain I have been over like this before, went over on the bigger vessel and back on the smaller one, so they decide to measure it. They let me on right at the back. I cancel the text to the rig driver telling him that I hope he sinks.

On to the island I park in about 5 spaces at the Travel Inn and get the key to my room, after discovering that although the company have reserved the room with a card, they have forgotten to authorise the payment and that'll be £80 then sir.

A quick clean up, I unload my bike and have a 20 minute cycle around Newport to unwind. Get back load it up again, and go for dinner in pub next door. Fed up with being billy no mates in the pub. I go back and watch telly before turning in.

Friday 4th August.

Up early, checked out at waiting for the pub to open at 7 for breakfast. On the road at half past and arrive at Binstead site just before 8. Unloading is practically a reverse sequence of the above, including using a digger to remove the pump. Had to wait for about half an hour to get off site as there were other lorries unloading in a leisurely IOW fashion. Leave at 0945 to collect some bits from Bembridge, and hope that the ferries will not be too rammed as the 1000 will have long gone when I get there. Bembridge site has hardly anything to collect, and I get back to Fishbourne just before 11.

There is a big queue of cars and I am told that I may have a while to wait.

Whilst waiting I clean all my mirrors and glass, suraces inside the cab and chuck out yesterdays rubbish. The ferry is loading and I am not hopeful, although the yard is fairly clear and I hear the magic words over a loaders radio "Have you got a nice big rigid for me?" Dutifully I slide my rigid right up the back of his vessel, behind a drop trailer. Why do I always get put behind drop trailers? Still better behind it on this ferry than on the front of the next. I was pleased to see the tug still on the front of the drop trailer when I returned, and things got even better when inside the cab. I noticed in the mirror that someone was leaning against the back of the truck, which was nice and low as I had dumped the air. So I hit the button to return to normal height and watched them get a helluva shock as it pumped back up again with a nice big hiss.

Off the ferry, and into Cowplain to collect a drill rig that I had yet see actual get used. Arrive on site to find that no-one here knows how it works, but eventually figure it out. It was a bit weird to use though as it is remote like some of the Hiabs, the biggest problem with these is the lack of feel in the lever and ended up in a notchy loading procedure where it pretty much walked up the ramps rather than smoothly tracked. Still it went up safely and didn't prove to be awkward to secure with chains. Back along the A3, I decide to head on the M25 clockwise and chance the J25 roadworks. Just turn on to the M25 and get helpful traffic info about the long delays around J15. Struggle on through the traffic which is heavy all the way round and come off at the A10 to cut back across towards Harlow. Luckily the road was open and back to the yard without incident. Unloaded the Baby Drill with the help of the winch, as I just knew it would go horribly wrong otherwise.

Good job it was remote operated as I'd never have managed to operate the winch manually and move the machine. Left the truck unloaded, as the boss is going to load on Saturday, although looking at the heap of stuff for Monday, I think it ain't all gonna fit.

Left to start the weekend at 1830

24th - 28th July 2006

Monday 24th July
Back to my usual place of work nr. Harlow and my usual truck this week, last week was MOT so got loaned to another department. 6am start, the truck (FM12 8 wheeler) has been loaded and left ready for me to strap down. All strapped and down into Kent to large housing development at Chattenden in Kent. Found a forkie and persuaded him to unload the 12 stillages, to save unloading having to chain them up, crane them off and unhook them all myself. Off site about half eight and a quick blast down to Ashford to crane off a pack of ply and two more stillages. Empty. Phoned in as per instructions and given address in Sutton Valence, Kent for collection. Check map, just behind HMP East Sutton , delivered there no problem. Next turn after the prison one is the one I want, it has got a 6'6" width restriction but no weight limit, can't turn round but it looks OK so venture cautiously down the road. It got narrower, then a bit more the wheels were scrubbing the bank on both sides, the mirrors brushing the hedges as I crept through about 3mph. No way was I going to reverse, I just prayed it would eventaully open out. It did. Found site and squeezed through the gate to find that the equipment wasn't going to be ready for 2+ hours and had to be walked down a slope covered in rubble. Not my job, but being helpful I start to lug the deck stands (approx 20Kg each) to a pallet that once loaded to 49 needs shrinkwrapping and craning on. 231 later drenched with sweat I am ready to go 4 hours later. Easy run back to yard at Harlow, unloaded with forklift and reloaded with 600mm Augers for CFA piling rig. 1800 finish.

Tuesday 25th July.0630 start, down the A10 for drop in Dalston Lane, Hackney. Missed the bit where the A10 branches and ended up on A105, went wrong at Stoke Newington Sq. and had a horrendous turning round exercise. back on track and left on to Balls Pond Road, despite taking all the road still had to shunt it to go round, kamikaze car drivers cutting behind whilst reversing. :evil: Up Dalston Road, wrong lane into Graham Road, round the block and come across a 25t bridge with no advance warning and no where to turn. Over the bridge and into the site. Dropped the augers and spent an hour trundling over to Westferry Rd, E14. Arrive on site at 09.30 am waiting for wagon from Scotland with some brand new 350mm augers that I have got to crane off. 14.00 Wagon arrives, augers craned off and left for CFA rig which has now arrived on lowloader outside. 6 wheeler with all related equipment also arrived and has 450mm augers that I am to return with. Loaded and off site by 15.30 persuaded boss to let me drop them off for refurb in the morning, so straight back to the yard, parked up and left yard at 16.30

Wednesday 26th July06.30 start, sorted out augers for refurb took some off that were OK and put a couple of duds from stock on. Added a pallet of concrete slabs for an underpinning job and trundled off for Chelmsford to drop the augers at welders yard. Saw an OshKosh tank transporter on the A12 with trailer but no tank, massive thing with huge convoy of cars behind. Quick unload and back on A12, stopped off for a quick cuppa with my Mum in Colchester and off to middle of nowhere just past Bury St.Edmunds. Craned off slabs, and told to collect about 30 steel tubes 2m x 240mm, It was about midday and these were red hot, but as they were loose they had to be handballed on. Two blokes helped from the site. Also on site was small tracked drop hammer rig with trailer power pack, unfolded ramps on truck, tracked the rig on strapped it down and headed off for the A14 towrds Newmarket. Which was a BIG mistake, just past a turning on the Newmkt bypass I hit the traffic which the radio now tells me is a big jam cos the road is closed ahead. Great. Traffic starts creeping forward after about 5mins, I spy a left turn lane and decide to leave A14 and go back via the A12. Only the slip road leads into a disused service area that was not obvious, so straight back out on the exit slip, followed by a Frenchie Norbet, much to the amusement of a Co-op driver who had been behind me. I did see the humour however. Hours passed trundling along, was given a bottle of water by a copper becuase of the heat. At one point a police car with lights and sirens ablaze was filtering between the two lanes of stationary traffic and was stopped by a car driver, who was telling him to sort out the f-ing traffic. I shouted to him to stop being a tosser, and he soon shut up. Eventually we came off the A14, got diverted through Newmarket which was solid and experiencing an onslaught of rain. Once through Newmkt it was fairly plain sailing back to the yard for a 1900 finish. Phew.

Thursday 27th July
0700 start, boss has unloaded everything and am now ready to load for today. 3 packs of ply and 12 stillages go on and I am out the yard at 09.30 headed for Totland on the IOW. Round the M25 and the traffic is stacked up just past the M3, can't be doing with jams so down the M3 to the M27 and into Portsmouth that way. Arrive at terminal bang on 12.00 check in and am loaded on the 12.30 behind some caravans, much to my disgust! Whilst crossing the Solent the Captain announces that there are temporary traffic lights in Wooton causing severe delays and to go via Ryde if poss. Aaaargh worst possible news, completely wrong direction but hopefully everyone else will go that way. Off the boat at Fishbourne and luckily through the roadworks smoothly. Out past Newport get stuck on the National Speed limit Yarmouth road behind a local doing 25mph. Arrive at Totland and am flagged down by the builder who points to the site entrance which is a nice steep descent down a loose suface access. Gingerly edge down the track, hoping it ain't gonna slide. Get to the bottom and the bend is too tight. Everything craned off, and dumped around the truck wherever space (what space) allowed. Now I am empty and even with the diff lock engaged struggled to reverse up the slope. Took a run up and got out, reversed back to main road and back to Fishbourne. Arrived at F/B 16.10 for the 16.00 and fingers crossed for the next one. Not too busy so good chance. Ferry already unloading, and last off was Thomas the Tank Engine on a low loader. Got over on the 16.30 and arrive Portsmouth for the rush hour. Up the A3 everything fine until Ripley where get to the jam resulting in the M25 closure J10-11. Just as traffic slowed, passed a bloke who had just spun his Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and was still sitting in it on the verge looking dazed. As the speed of the traffic was about 10mph past him, I could have stopped put all my flashing lights on and checked to see if he was OK. Only I didn't think of it until I was past, which irritated me as I am not one to pass someone by if I can help. Sky now black and lashing with rain, so much that the road is awash. Eventually joined M25 a/c and made good progress back to Harlow where there had been flooding and massive lakes across the road in places. Dumped truck in yard and left for home at 21.00

Friday 28th July.0700 Start. Nothing much doing today, but was asked if I wanted to do a Lincoln run instead of next week. OK not too bad I think, and spend about an hour moving stuff in the yard to unearth 17x steel tubes 6m x 140mm and mega heavy with it. Tubes loaded and out of the yard by 10.30 slogged up A1 to Newark and cut across A46. Had forgotten just how far Lincoln was, but found the site easy enough, backed in, craned them the tubes off and decide to head back down the A607 towards Grantham, then take the road through Ancaster to Colsterworth. Stopped for a break near Cranwell and was treated to a bit of an airshow, thanks to everything going in and out of Cranwell and a C17 that had lifted off at Waddington and was buzzing the field. Get to the Ancaster road, ROAD CLOSED, follow diversion and follow the road bak to the A1 remembering that last time it WAS great in a car but just a pain in the truck. Long slog back to Harlow was uneventful except for a Harrier just missing the roof beacons as I passed the runway at Wittering. Back at the yard, reloaded for Monday and out the gate at 1900
Thank **** for that.