This is the end of week two and its been a good week. I’d been offered jobs at two different companies but I took this onefor two reasons: Argos is only 4 miles from where I live – and I don’t want to do more unpaid driving than I need to do I? Secondly the Argos job is what is called Trunking; I pick up two container boxes at the warehouse and drop them at one of about eight outbases where the local drivers each pick up a box of home delivery items. I bring two empty boxes back and depending on the length of the runs perhaps do the same thing again.
So although these wagon and drags units are the longest vehicles on the road at 58 feet the job is quite simple for an inexperienced driver because it is fixed runs on known routes – warehouse to distribution point.Whatismore unlike the last shower I worked for Argos have been really good about training. Their attitude is that you don’t go out on your own till you feel ready for it. My last job sent me out on London runs in a 27 ton six wheeler with very little preparation and I was close to being physically sick with apprehension for weeks: it very nearly put me off the whole idea of driving and that wouldn’t leave me with a whole lot of options. This time I went out in the cab with another driver to see the job. After a day or two I began driving back then after another day or two, driving there and back. In the last three days I have been going out in my own vehicle in convoy and on Friday I was more or less on my own. Its been great cos I have never really felt nervous at any stage. I start later shifts next week and will still go in convoy for a while so I am quite happy.
The weather has been pretty glorious and the run out to Basingstoke has been particularly nice because the landscape is in full Autumn moult. The view from the M3 is stunning – lots of gorse and trees of all types and they are absolutely luminous at the moment; just like photos of New England in the fall. And I get to listen to the radio so I spend the day in the company of Bunty, Wogan, Ken Bruce – I have to turn off for Jeremy Vine because he and his moronic listeners make me cross – and then Steve Wright in the Afternoon. (Actually I am writing this whilst listening to Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs – does the man ever sleep?). I’m going to prepare some CDs so I can work on my languages whilst driving.
I’m hoping that this will be a great way of getting some experience – the difficulties are the odd things you wouldn’t expect. For example the government’s increasingly complex regulations covering driving hours. These mean you have to actively plan carefully and in advance where and when you need to find somewhere to stop to avoid being in breach of the law: they are a real pain but I suppose they help stop people being exploited and may raise the standard of the game.Shame these requirements don’t apply to the idiot private drivers: In the space of one week I have seen two accidents as they actually happened and two others just after they happened. My favourite was on the M1 the other morning. The M1 is being widened so the traffic is very slow and some cars were joining on a slip road. All they have to do is find a gap and match their speeds to about 15 mph and pull in. Some female joined the stream then immediately decided to pull over into the middle lane because the traffic was moving a little faster, even though a 40 ton artic was already doing just that and got herself severly clipped in the rear wing. She furiously waved a vee sign even though she was entirely in the wrong and continued merrily on her way: mr Trucker was having none of it and got behind her and flagged her over. When we crawled past the truck driver was out and taking notes in a book and missy and her passenger – right filthy looking pair of chavsters – were standing to one side looking very sullen. Not waving vee signs any more are you Mrs Pikey?. How we all laughed. But the M1 has no hard shoulder at that point due to works so that was another lane blocked for god knows how long – another delay on the M1 all because of a driver’s utter stupidity. And this goes on all day and every day. I mean what kind of stupid can have an accident in traffic travelling at walking pace? Maybe I shouldn’t tempt fate.
Its been a bit hectic this last fortnight and I haven’t yet had a chance to sort out the Naples pictures though I hope to do this next week along with seeing about Booking either Budapest or Athens in December and beginning the next house search.
