17th - 21st December 2007

Monday.

0645 Start. I'm ready loaded from Friday with a Yanmar 75 and I'm off to the pit at Bradwell just outside Braintree to drop it off for one of our drivers who is there waiting for it.

The next stop is Sudbury, Suffolk where I'm down to collect a groundworkers 8 tonner, I drive through the whole site and find a 13t, 22t and finally an 18t machine and start to wonder if someone has missed the 1 off the fax and they actually want the 18t machine moved. Apparently not, there is an 8t JCB tucked away behind the compound with the driver waiting and ready. We're loaded up and off to a barn conversion near Sible Hedingham. The usual entrance is blocked up and once I'm unloaded I have to continue along the narrow road rather than retrace my steps. It does get a bit dicey at one point but eventually I break through near Wethersfield and pick up the decent road ack to Braintree.

I'm done with the given workload so I head back to the yard and lend assistance in the yard moving machines about to make some space for the influx later in the week.

At 1415 the boss comes outside about something and decides that it's just too cold to be standing about doing nothing and tells me to clear off home. Needing no second bidding I'm off out of the gate forgetting to write the tacho in my haste.
Distance 143Km

Tuesday.
0645 Start. No planned work this morning but I've got to get into the tacho before 24hrs are up on yesterdays one. There's not much happening in the yard except for an errand or two, the trouble is no-one is hiring machines just before the holidays and there are none that are available to be collected until later in the week. Finally at 1330 I'm able to go to my one job for the day which is a site clearance from Great Baddow to Braintree.

I've got 5 packs of blocks, some Heras panels & feet and a couple of other random pallets to take, just a bit of shunting so the forklift driver can get them on and I'm on my way about 1500. Over at Braintree they're straight on the ball and swiftly unload and send me on my way again.

Finished about 1645 ish. Distance 69Km

Wednesday.
0645 Start. A short hop first, down the road to Jovic Plant for an 0730 load where I get given one barrel of something tarry and a tar sprayer. Once I've got these it's off into Suffolk to load at a farm just off the A12 near East Bergholt.

There's two Avant shovels to load, possibly the oddest things I've yet to drive. They are artic steer like a dumper, but the seat and 'cockpit' are all attached to the front half but positioned over the rear. Makes for pretty odd handling. Next up is a few sheets of ply which are sodden and frozen and mega heavy. Finally there's a 900 roller which refuses to go up the ramps (both) or left or right ramp, or backwards, with vibration, and someone leaning against it to help push. I'm not quite beaten though, and I pull forward about 100 yards where there is an incredibly slight down gradient on the driveway. By dropping the foot of the ramps at the top of the down gradient it has lowered the body every so slightly and it's just enough to get the roller on board. Otherwise I'd have to have unloaded a shovel and pushed, pulled and cajoled it on.

By now it's about 0930 and I pick up the A12 down to the M25 and in to London on the A13, through the Limehouse Link, pass Wapping and down on to The Embankment. My destination is The Royal Hospital, Chelsea where all the Chelsea pensioners come from and the home of the flower show. First bad news is that you can't turn right when you get to Chelsea Bridge. Second bad news is no right turn in Royal Hosp. Rd. It just means a bit more driving and onto the Kings Road and round Sloane Square to get to the right end. Luckily it's an area I know quite well from multidrop days, but I'd forgotten just how manic it can be when it's mega busy with pedestrians everywhere, taxi's and big red things everywhere.


Finally I'm into the grounds and I find my way to the tennis courts and unload. I've got just over an hour left on the clock, so I decide to stop for a break here as it's nice and quiet. So quiet that twhen I open my eyes I'm stumped as to where the hell I actually am.

I'd have been scraping it fine if I'd used my 1hr 5 mins to get out of the city as it saw me passing through Dagenham, only just enough time to get to a suitable place to stop on the way out. On the way back to the yard I have to call in at Jovic and drop off the ply which they didn't want at Chelsea.

Finished at the yard 1615. Distance 267Km

Thursday.
0645. The first time in ages I've had a decent days work ahead of me, now the plant is starting to come offhire for the shutdown. Job number one is over to Kent to the ridiculously named Green Street Green Road, Green Street Green. The roads are good, there's a bit of traffic over the bridge but nothing much and I'm site just after 0800. There's a bit of delay as they haven't quite finished with the machine and I wait in the -6c cold whilst they level out some stone. I'm glad when they're finished and we load the buckets in the dumper and put the Yanmar 55 on the back behind it.





My luck is in at the tunnel, that's clear too and I head straight back to the yard to drop the digger and buckets.

The dumper is a Hewden one, one hire to us so I leave it on and run it back to their Basildon depot before starting work for their Dagenham depot. I've a collection to make for them from a site practically on the Basildon doorstep.



I'm loading a 12m Telehandler, and I find a brand new JCB 535-125 in the field behind the house, there's no one about so I use my magic key and load it on. It suddenly dawns on me that there's no Hewden stickers on it, in it or anything identifying it as belonging to anyone. I'm deffo in the right place but I don't want to steal the wrong machine so I have anotherlook around.




Aha, that's a Hewden looking number. Good it matches the paperwork, had me worried though.




Right it's a quick blast down the A127 to Dagenham, launch the tele off and back on towards the A13 heading back to Kent. As I come through Rainham I decide to carry on along the old A13 past the Circus Tavern and join the A282 (that's the M25 that goes over the QEII bridge and through the tunnels) right at the bottom of the bridge at J31. I dunno why I did it but it was a smart move as there is traffic everywhere and I queue all the way over the bridge to the tolls.


I'm off to Gravesend to load a couple of machines from a recreation ground, there's our 6t Kobelco and a 6t dumper. Usually I load the dumper on the front but this ones is hired from someone else and I've got to deliver it back for the contractor. The Kobelco goes up front, luckily it's only a 6t as an 8t would take me overweight on the front axle, the dumper is rammed up against the buckets wedging them in and the arm of the machine laid over the top. There's also a Rammax roller in the dumper so that gets strapped in too.



After a break I leave the site just after 1400 and take the sneaky route round to J1a to miss the traffic queues for the tolls. I still have to join a big slow crawl though, the only thing happening is the police, DVLA, ANPR and poss. VOSA have set up camp in the compound by the tolls, whether that's the cause I dunno but the southbound is slow right round to J29.


I decide to come off at J29 and cut around Brentwood and up to Ongar rather than risk the M25 / M11 to Harlow. I'm actually dropping off at Norton Heath between Ongar and Chelmsford so it's just as quick.

I have to unload the dumper, move the machine back and lift the Rammax out and load it up the front to keep the weight distribution right, and it's about 1630 by the time I leave to head back to the yard. I'm not stopping at the yard though it's a quick stop to unload everything, luckily Norman has stayed to help and I'm back out at 1715 and off to drop the truck at Truck East, Witham for service and repair.

Finally clocked off at 1815. Distance 321Km

Friday.
0645 Start. Well it would be if I were to go to the yard, but I'm headed off to Truck East in their little Fiesta to collect the truck from it's overnight spannering session. The good news is that they have got the washer system working properly again, the bad news is the heated seats still don't work and the washer bottle is still leaking. As for the other, don't get me started. I've now got to head back to the yard and no sooner than I am on the A12 I get stuck in traffic, in the 10-15 minutes since coming past the Hatfield Peverel turning, there has now been an accident involving several cars and the road is closed with everything crawling through Hat.Pev.


Back at the yard I can't even get in as it's getting so full, so I load the 3t dumper just outside and drop it off at a farm in nearby Bicknacre. Next job is collecting a couple of machines just up the road from home at Galleywood, it's a 5t dumper and a Hitachi ZX50. Both are caked and it takes several attempts to get the ZX to load on board without sliding back down the ramps. Back at the yard the lowloader has gone and I'm just able to squeeze into his spot and unload, I'm just finished refuelling them when the lowloader rolls back and needs his space. I make a hasty exit and head off down the A12 to the Dutch Quarter in Colchester to load a couple more machines.

It's a bit narrow here and I have to block the road whilst loading, it's only a short dead end road but I still get an irate woman who needs to get into the pub carpark. I tell her I'll be finished in 10 minutes and point out the 'Road Closed' sign. She points out that it also says 'Access Only'. As soon as I'm able I fold the ramps and get back along the road to let her in whilst I chain the machines on.



It's a bit of a big rear overhang, but I haven't really got the time or the space there to try and tuck the arm away so I plug in the magnetic beacon and head back for the A12.



Back at the yard it is chaos. My son has got a little puzzle called traffic jam where you have to move vehicles across a board to get one through the traffic. The yard is like this at the moment, you cannot move one machine because two others need moving too. There's a couple of machine drivers in, and we choreograph it nicely to get my machines off and parked up.



I'm reloading for the new year which will make some space, the Rammax roller gets loaded into a 6t dumper along with the Kobelco's buckets and the two machines are loaded on ready to go back to Gravesend.



Our other 6 wheeler has brought in a 3CX, that needs a home whilst he goes out again to fetch in another 8t machine. When he's back we reload the 3CX and do the whole shuffle thing again.

At the moment the yard contains machines and vans in just about every space imaginable. At 1500 I'm done for the day, week and year.


Distance 143Km

Week 943Km

YTD (since 22.01.07) 59217Km nearly all under my command.



Well that's me done till the new year.