16th - 20th October 2006

Monday 16th October

Up at 0430 and waiting for Mrs 8 wheels to return after her Sunday night shift. We pass in the doorway and I get going straight away to get out the yard as early as possible. I arrive at 0515 and am out the gates by 0530. First port of call is Moor St. W. Bromwich to deliver a bundle of straight rebar. Amazingly the traffic around Brum is OK and I am on site just after 0800. It's only one lift here and I'm ready for the off, back out to the M5 the way I came past the huge steel stockholders at the end of the road. The motorway signs were saying M6 Closed J18-J19 so l quickly decided to take the A38 Northbound to the M1,and head up to Sheffield and cut across to Padfield near Glossop. I was aiming to take a 45 at Tibshelf services but had to stop in a layby near Ripley as l would have gone over my 4.5 hours. l fancied a run over the Snake but the satnav wouldn't suggest it unless you made it an actual part of the journey so l decided to follow it's route over the Woodhead Pass instead, I was up against the clock and decided to take heed. l was enjoying this route until l hit the tail of the traffic at the roadworks. It was quite a queue but l have queued in worse places.

The Eastbound queue was worse though as it was back to Tintwistle. The site was easy enough to find although as usual tight to get into, it was quite a big development but the gate was just narrow. It was another 5 minute, 1 lift unload here, just a bundle of steel tubes that will be driven to form the piles.

This is the beast that knocks them in. These tubes are well traveled, l collected them a while back from Wakefield moved them to Hull and then took them back to the yard. I’m empty and off site by 1330 and have to go back over Woodhead to Honley between Holmfirth and Huddersfield. I don't fancy the queue and discover a B road from Glossop to the pass that joins just after the roadworks. Now it was a bit winding and hilly but there were no restrictions and saved me probably nearly an hour.

Traffic free alternative to the queue for the Woodhead roadworks, not for the faint hearted though.

The collection at Honley was from our office there, I was due to collect a Hutte drill rig, it’s power pack and augers for the plant department at Basildon plus some of our stuff too. Unfortunately the Hutte is the older model with the larger power pack and there's no way it will all fit on. A quick call and the Hutte stays in the workshop with it's hoses and augers. All I load is 2 stillages, 1 pallet and big heap of Celotex that our buyers got delivered here in error. I take another 45 here and calculate that when l leave at 1525 l have got just over 2 hours left today, I send off a text to this effect in the hope someone might book some accommodation. I get a reply when I am on the A1M that they are struggling to find a vacancy. I stop at Blyth services and find a room at the Travelodge there, it is almost 1700 so the chances of getting it paid by Head Office are practically zero so I pay myself and will have to claim it back. l didn't fancy the food in the self service and had a fairly average Burger King instead. Sat in the room scribing this into my PDA listening to the sound of a distant reefer droning away.

Tuesday 17th October 2006

Up at 0630 to investigate the food on offer at the services, it was the self serve restaurant or nothing so l had a traditional cooked breakfast and an orange juice. This culinary disaster cost the company £8.48, it was the cheapest of 3 breakfasts but wasn't very good. Everything seemed in order at the lorry and l was headed southbound by 0715. Apart from a few slow spots the A1 was OK (or even A1) but the A14 was jammed by Huntingdon. I arrived at the yard at 1030 and had a 45 before unloading. The forklift had yet another puncture so after a quick 4 lifts I was ready to leave. The plan was now pick up in Wickford and deliver to Winchcombe and I suggested that we collected the steel and delivered it early tomorrow as I could get it there for 0730 as opposed to 1700 tonight, but they were adamant it had to go today. I was not best pleased about another night out and made it quite clear before leaving. The bundle of steel was only 15 lengths of 6m long straight bar, that had been missed off a delivery last week. Attempting to get back was out of the question as they had lumped a collection from Dursley on me as well. Doing my sums, I reckoned on it being tight making the site without a break but I pushed on anyway. I even overtook 2 B&Q lorries on the M25.
Can I?

Yep

Easy

I had the Satnav on just for the time/distance and l wasn't convinced l would make it before the site shut. On the A40 it started raining as we entered Gloucestershire and it got quite bad. I had a nasty moment at a roundabout where a car 'popped out' from behind the driver's side mirror, l hit the brakes hard and just managed to stop. l ignored the satnav's directions as the way it took me in the van last week was a bit narrow and windy. Just after the fork with the Gloucester road it was trying again so l consulted the map. lt seemed like a potential route, a straightish lane that if OK would get me to site in time. lf not l'd have to stop, but that looked likely if using the Cheltenham route anyway. l took it's advice and it seemed OK, no weight limits and the road not too narrow. Even a tractor cutting the verge moved out of the way before l got to it. A little further on it got narrower and the trees started to form a tunnel. I was now getting concerned but was committed to going on for lack of places to turn.

The 17% gradient sign didn't do much for me especially when there was a hairpin in the middle. Somehow l squeezed through and ended up by Winchcombe Hospital and breathed a big sigh of relief. On site with but a few minutes spare. There was a roadsweeper doing a permanent circuit, but the rain had just made a slippery coating on top of the road. l tried attempting a 3 point turn, but the reverse part was slightly downhill and when l touched the brakes l just slid, so l decided to reverse off site when l was ready. The bundle of steel was lifted off by a digger and replaced by 2x 6m augers that need repairs. l leave the site and take another 45 whilst trying to sort some accomodation, the Travelodge computer doesn't understand my voice and the number for Travel Inn doesn't work so l look at the map for inspiration. This gives me the idea of using the POI on TomTom and there's a possible on the A40 at Gloucester. Things look promising it's a Travel Inn and already has an 18tonner in the carpark. Inside there is a French receptionist who sounds like Michelle of the Resistance from Allo Allo (listen very carefully, l shall say this only once) who gives me the news that none of Gloucester's 4 Travel Inn's have vacancies. The satnav suggests another possible just by the M5 at Stonehouse, l need to find somewhere soon as l am running out of time. l find a Travelodge and grab a room, planning on getting some food at the Little Chef next door. The receptionist warns me against it, even though l hadn't mentioned it. l have got to eat as it's been a long time since breakfast so l drive into the town and hit the expenses for a Chinese takeaway. They'll probably moan, but they aren't paying me anything so sod 'em. Back at the Travelodge l notice a long line of size 13 muddy bootprints all the way to my door. After a pig out with dinner, l go back and write up my paperwork and clock off at 1915.

Wednesday 18th October 2006

Up at 0645 and on the road by 0715, forgoing breakfast at the Little Chef, as last night’s dinner is keeping me going. It’s only a 15 minute run into Dursley and I pass one of Hallett Silberman’s lowloaders parked in a layby on the way in. The plan is to beat it and their 6 wheelers to site, so that I can get loaded and out before they come to load the CFA rig and all it’s gear. The turn in to the site is mega tight and I wonder if I’ll get in at all, but after mounting the kerb opposite I just manage to get round, avoiding the concrete bollard on the left and keeping the rear from swinging out demolishing a wall. Now all I have to do is fold the mirrors to get through the chainlink gates and I’m in. I have a quick cuppa in the hut whilst finding out what I’ve got to load. There’s two bundles of 9m long steel and a big heap of helicals (basically big springs that get tangled up as soon as you try and move them) it’s all up at the top of the slope next to the cabins and somehow I slip and slide to the top so that I can drag them into lifting distance.

Top of the slope.
Looking back down.

One of the crew helps me slinging and I’m loaded up by 0900 and ready to leave at 0915. Getting out involves gingerly reversing down the slope, hoping it’s not going to slide as I’d probably not stop and then attempting an 18 point turn to line up with the driveway out. Back to the gate, fold the mirrors, drive through, unfold, and squeeze it round the corner. I’m off site and on the highway, but still not problem free as the lowloader is round the corner and the 2x 6 wheelers around the next meaning several shunts to make the turn.
Hmmm, that'd make a nice rigid for me I reckon.

Yes, don't need all that trailer nonsense. Finally I escape and head off for the M4 following last weeks route in the van. It seems to take forever today, and is foggy which is making things worse. I resist the temptation to stop for a bacon roll or similar at a roadside van and press on for the motorway. As I’m nearing Membury I realize that I’m not going to last until dinner so I pull and spend some more expenses on an expensive sandwich. My 15 minute stop turns into a 45, when I realize I’m going to have to stop before getting back and I’m hitting the highway again at 1125. Straight up the M4 round the M25 and on to the A12 to drop the augers off for refurb at Boreham. I have to go within a mile of my front door but I’m not done yet, as I still have to get back to Harlow and unload. The forklift has now been repaired but I lift the helicals off with the crane to avoid tangling them further. I really want to go home but there is a big load for tomorrow so I load the 8 stillages, 2 packs ply and 2 pallets in mega quick time, strap it down and get out by 1630.

Thursday 19th October 2006

0600 Start. Back in to the old routine of unlocking all the gates and office make a brew and locking the yard and office before leaving at 0615. The job this morning is for a site at Aldwincle near Kettering which was where the Klemm rig was until I moved it last week. Ordinarily this equipment would have been dropped off when collecting the rig, but due to a lack of space it couldn’t be dropped until it was to be used. On site at bang on 0800 (I should get a job doing this) and I’ve got two willing volunteers to help me slinging, this makes a nice change and saves a lot of climbing up and down. They on the other hand get the benefit of being able to tell me what to put where and I don’t mind shifting a couple of times to get the extra reach. It’s all off by about 0900 but due to a cock up somewhere along the line I have got to borrow some steel from this job and take it onwards. It takes a while to split the bundle and count out the 100 lengths, by which time it’s lashing with rain but I’m done by 0930 and reverse out and attempt to turn around. I’m headed for West Brom so it’s back to the A14 and turn right to pick up the M6. There has been some sort of incident (a brown trouser one by the look of the marks on the verge) by the junction with the M1/M6 and this is causing delays but it has been cleared and the traffic is just the buildup. It adds about ½ hour to the journey but it’s no sweat. The M6 / M5 into West Brom is clear and I’ve tipped the steel by 1145. The access road alongside the site is wide enough and free from restrictions so I take a 45 here, have a brew in the canteen and shut my eyes for 20 minutes. I’m bored after 40 so I do a touch of window cleaning, plus the mirrors and lights and even give the specs a clean too.That’s it for today, so it’s an empty run back down the M5/M6/M1/M25. The traffic through the roadworks at Spag. is jammed up the other way but I sail through until the M1 roadworks where it is slow going at the Northern end. It seems like some work is taking place and people are obviously shocked and slowing down to witness. Further towards the M25 the pace picks up as drivers aren’t interested in parked machinery. I roll back in the yard about 1530, one of the contract managers is in, so I persuade him that the Dursley job really needs a telehandler on site (Two full loads coming up) After yesterdays empty slippery hillclimb it’s not an exaggeration but he fires off an email to request one, so fingers crossed. After a cuppa and some paperwork I’m out by 1630 with a blank sheet for tomorrow (ish)

Friday 20th October 2006

0700 Start. Still nothing happening first thing so I sit in the office drinking tea until the traffic will have calmed down a bit. At 0900 I leave in the van headed for Enfield to an awkward site that is on the bend of a narrow road that is frankly unsuitable for the lorry (not that I haven’t been there). It’s only about 30 lengths of stainless steel angle and I’m off by 0945 headed for another job in nearby Cockfosters. Being a van driver has it’s uses and I’m able to stop at a Post Office on a parade of shops and post a parcel off. The site at Cockfosters is not one of the jobs we would usually get involved with, as it is a retro fit basement ie. Someone extending downwards rather than up or out. It is only a single length of stainless to deliver and I’m on my way back to the yard, although not until I’ve nipped into Homebase to get a new flush lever for the home toilet! Back at the yard I get given some proper work to do, run down empty to the timber treatment works on Tilbury docks and collect some ply for onward delivery. My directions are vague “Go through the dock gate, turn right at the roundabout and it’s along there on the left” Having done this I see nowhere that looks right and end up going past Finn Forest and the Freighliner terminal, I’m sure this would have been mentioned and I continue round looking for possible sites. I am sure that I have gone wrong so call up and am told that it’s just by the roundabout behind some tall trees. I turn around and pull in behind the trees but see no treatment works so I call in a drivers reception in the yard but they just tell me “Nah mate this is just Berth 42” before remembering that it might be about 50 yards up the road. Back to the roundabout and I can see it now (it has moved and now requires a left at the roundabout) So I pull in and report my arrival. The plant is next to the Port reception and there are plenty of Africans dropping off tossy old Mazda 626’s and other old wrecks for export. After a while a sideloader appears and loads me with 5 packs of ply. I get the exit pass and make my way back to the M25 / A2 to drop the ply at Chattenden in Kent. As usual I have to wait about half hour for the forkie, so I take the opportunity to watch some others working. The five packs are off quickly and I’m leaving the site by 1430 due to make a collection in Redhill of a single stillage. I decide that it is worth a phone call to see if it could be done next week in the hope that maybe I’ll avoid the tunnel at the 1700 rush hour hell. The good news is that I could leave it and return empty, the bad news however was quite another story.