Author: Buck

Just a quick one. I had my first crack at my new run yesterday. I went to some hideous one horse town on Friday, end of the M65, Barnoldswick, Lancashire. Tight as buggery getting in, stupidly tight crossroads to turn down, scary tight bays. It seems that is going to be a regular feature on my new run. I didn’t do it yesterday, (Monday) but I heard them saying that I was to take returns there today. Ace. My truck driving instructor gave me a tip, he said if you see a railing on the pavement on the corner of a turn it’s a visual clue. It’s been put there to protect pedestrian. ie, it is so tight there is a good chance your trailer will mount the pavement. The crossroads going into Barnoldswick has railings on all four corners. And re-enforcing stumps before them. It is tight. You have to drive in to the oncoming lane, take all of it, and then swing in. That *just* gets you around the corner. To add to the fun there is a cop shop on one of the corners, so there’s no getting away with a hit. So that’s fun.   The run I was told I was doing, and that I did yesterday, was set off from Irlam, run down to Crewe, pick up a trailer and take it to Cowley, Oxfordshire, then come back. I was thinking it wasn’t going to last long as a job. I couldn’t understand why you would pay someone to start in Irlam, run down solo (without a trailer) to Crewe (an hour’s wages and diesel) before starting the run. Why not just get someone from Crewe to do it? If I have to take returns up to Barnoldswick first that makes sense.   My first run yesterday, then. I drove into Crewe, (I went there on Friday as well, so that was easy enough to find) and was told to shunt a trailer onto a bay as they were going to put my load onto a different trailer. OK, fair enough. I picked up the trailer, drove around to a bay and was just about to start to back on when I saw the main transport manager had come out to watch me. As it was my first run for him I thought he’d come out to assess me. The skill in artic driving is 95% in the reverse. No pressure then. I reversed it on in one, then took a little shunt to straighten it up a bit. Not too shabby. It turns out they have a H&S system in place there, whereby someone from the office has to physically unlock the bays when the trailer had been made safe. ie, when the driver’s keys have been handed in, or in this case, when I’d dropped it and pulled away from it. He wasn’t there to judge me. D’oh! That went about as well as can be expected. Which is to say; it […]

Strange things are afoot at the circle K, to quote the philosophers Bill and Ted. It had got to Friday morning and I thought I’d better start looking for other jobs. I rang one at Asda, early starts and good money but not ideal as the hours were “8 – 48” per week. If you got one shift  in a week you’d be broke, then there’s the hanging by the telephone… less than perfect but I rang anyway as they were desperate for drivers, shifts and times to suit you. No-one answered the ‘phone. *sigh*   Still not too arsed, loads of jobs about. One would take me on, however poor the pay and conditions. Some advertising “meets minimum wage.” Not exceeds, meets. For a class 1 driver. Cheeky bastards. I went in Friday for my last shift and the guy who was in charge of HDS (Home Delivery Service, not that that’s important) before they moved it to another site, (taking my job with them, bastards!) asked me if I was available next week. I said I was. Would I like to do a different run, starting in Irlam at 1400, pick up in Crewe, down to Kent, get tipped and reloaded, back to Crewe, trailer swap then back to Irlam. Shit hours, 1400 till probably 0100 –0200 ish, but it pays the bills. I said I’d do it. I asked if it was just for the week and he said, “No, it’s ongoing”. Hmmm.   In several respects this is fantastic news. I don’t have to worry about money, or dicking about with agencies calling day and night wanting you to start at an hour’s notice, and, most importantly, if I’m doing the same run each time I only have to find it once. They sent me to two different places on Friday. I really don’t like it. It’s the only way I’m going to learn, but it is nerve racking for me. One of the new places was Crewe, so I only have to find one place and I’m set up for as long as this contract lasts.   The down sides are not inconsiderable though; for one I’ll not see Wendy from Monday morning until Saturday morning. Sorry, apart from a few hours on Wednesday, her day off. If I’m cycling in and back I’ll need a shower before bed, noisy at that time in the morning with Wendy trying to sleep. It is not much fun for me, either. I’d much prefer an early start, early finish. Then there’s the training. I can’t do swimming lessons in the evening as I’ll be working them all.   Needs must.   There is a local swimming baths that opens at dinner time. If I re-join Warrington tri club (and actually attend this time) they run a Saturday swim with a qualified swimming instructor, perhaps he could train me. So I could get lessons at the weekend, apply stuff learned during the week. I’ve sussed a nice course for […]

I’ve got my passport back, all brand new and funky with a less serial-killer/-yak-molester photo’ in. Which is always a bonus if you want to try and get through customs without a cavity search. At the very least I expect flowers before that. The French is progressing. Slower now, but I am understanding it. Instead of giving you lists of words and all their different endings he’s explaining the logic behind the endings. Whilst building your vocabulary and giving you practice in structuring the sentences. Negations are tricky. Adding an N, flipping the order if it’s a question, changing the ending of the verb, and then working out where you are going to stick the ‘not’.  He says he’s teaching us how to use the verbs, “if you can use the verbs you can use the language.” Anyway, I do half a C.D.’s worth (about an hour and a half/ two hours) then my brain melts out of my ears and I have to call it a day. The next day I go back over the last half of what I did (quarter C.D.), understand it this time around, then do another quarter. This way each day is half revision/ consolidation, half challenging and moving forward. The speed of progression has slowed, but it’s solid learning. I’m not skimming and moving on without understanding. I’m halfway through C.D. 4. The whole of the Basic French course is 8 C.D.’s. I have to say, even though it’s only French, the first choice of UK second languages, I am quite thrilled about the thought of having another tongue. Hopefully German will come a bit easier after picking up one language. Who knows, maybe finally learn Russian properly?   All is going swimmingly, I’ve got my passport and am learning French, Wendy has sent off for her passport, I’ve sent off for that police criminal record thing… and that’s where we hit the wall. That was a formality. I’ve only got a driving offence and (apart from 3 points for speeding- that now stay on four years, grrrr- off next year) it is ‘spent’ and history. Not so. Apparently if you’ve had any brushes with law if you are applying for a foreign visa you HAVE to declare them. Ace. So I can’t waltz into the states and test my passport that way, I have to apply for a visa and go through an interview process. With Canada, they respect other country’s ‘spent/ clean slate’ policies but you still have to apply for a rehabilitation of offenders form and be judged. So stupid drunken 30’s me may have just shafted TT, upright-citizen me good and proper. Bollocks.   Not over till the fat trucker sings. I will apply for both visas and carry on with the plan. If it’s a ‘no’, …, well, karma’s a bitch.   I got my race results. Official time was 1:39.41 About what I thought. I broke the 1:40 barrier, which wasn’t a bad effort considering I ran […]

I did the half marathon this morning. Lovely day for it. I was going great guns. They have pace-setter runners who have a helium filled balloon displaying the time they are going for. I started in the 1:30 – 1:45 section, but when we set off the 1:45 pace-setter was way ahead of me. I wanted to threaten 1:30 this year so I had to work my way through the pack until I could see the 1:30 balloon. I missed the first mile marker, but paced myself going up the cantilever bridge hill, opened my legs and got a trot on going down. When I checked my time at the 2 mile point I was averaging 7.15 m/m. Or 1:34 for the distance. I was feeling OK at the faster pace. Then at mile 4 my quads began to cramp again. My right thigh first, then the left. There was nothing I could do about it so I pushed on. At the 10 mile point, after running 6 miles with cramped quads, I was still averaging 7.30 m/m, good enough for 1:37. Then there was the long, slow downhill past the Dingle and under the Bridgewater Canal. The bit where you get free speed and everyone was getting a move on. My thighs were crippling me and I was slowing down. I gritted my teeth and stumbled on. I was so grateful for the uphill of the cantilever, but then the steep downhill on the other side finished me. I got to the bottom and had to stop. I tried stretching my quads (by lifting my foot up against my bum, I could barely lift my foot off the floor, my thighs were screaming!) but that was useless. I just had to start running again. It was bloody killing me, but at least I knew it was flat from there on in, so the pain wouldn’t get any worse. On mile 12 –13 I had enough energy to pick the pace up and overtake people again. It wasn’t that the pain was any less, just that it would be over in a bit and I still had loads of energy. I forgot to stop my stopwatch on the line, but after a brief conversation with an official who wanted to make sure I was alright and a stagger to the goody-bag area it was 1:40.15  I reckon I did it in 1:39, but until they publish the official times am kidding myself it might have been a 1:38. I was shouting out loud when I tried to stretch off. The pain was intense. Still, new PB for that course, my previous best being 1:42.38 I really think I could have threatened the 1:30 mark though. Gutted.   I’ve spent some time researching what caused quad cramps, after ruling out sodium deficiency (studies show it’s not primarily that) and period pains (I’m way past the menopause) the two likeliest suspects are; new trainers (Dammit! I like these trainers, comfiest and fastest […]

This has been a quiet week. It’s the Warrington half marathon tomorrow so I’ve taken a week off exercising to fully rest up for it. It means I’ve had loads of free time to kill, and that the weather has been perfect for training. Obviously. Last Sunday was my last run. I did the route into Frodsham, up Froddy hill, down the other side for half a mile and then back. 13 very hilly miles. The two mile ascent to the top of the hill is a slow rise followed by a mile straight up. As it’s the halfway point of the run it can be a bit tiring. ‘Train hard, fight easy’, as they say. Wendy and I had been feeling a bit weakened with some bug that was going round. I forced myself to do the run as it was my last chance if I wanted a week’s R&R. Happily, although I felt weak as a kitten driving over there, when I got going I was alright. I sweated it out, hit the start of the big climb and just pushed through. I nearly killed myself getting to the top of Frodsham hill then tried to get my breath back on the half mile descent. Suddenly my right thigh muscle cramped like a bitch. I tried to ignore it but it was hurting that much I really thought I’d done myself a mischief. I was gutted. The free-speed, easy, reward part of the run was ruined. I had to stop and beat it a bit to try and get it working. Then stretched off. I started again, same thing. The real downer was it was at exactly the halfway point. I couldn’t be any further away from the car. And I had the two mile descent to contend with. So I could either try and run back or limp for hours. I chose to run. I had to stop, (on the downhill! Grrrr!) a further three times. It was hurting that much I was actually faster and in less pain on the uphills. I’ve never had that before. Hopefully never will again, but now I’ve had it I’m always going to be conscious of the fact it could happen. Totally not good. I used to mock the tennis players and the like who got the physio on for a cramp, never again! Pure misery.   In other news, Op Canada is progressing apace. I’ve sent away for a new passport and am learning French. I’ve done the first two CD’s worth. I’m most of the way through the third but I’m going to have to go back and try to get my head around a strange rule. You have to change verb endings. I have some of it, such as when there is ‘does/ doesn’t –ing’ words, but there is more to it. Very good course though. Referring to old English (Shakespearian and King James Bible era English – Lord Of The Rings English I think of it […]