Author: Buck

Bleeding typical. The job I didn’t want I passed the assessment, the job I desperately wanted they said I was ‘borderline’ and needed to get another month’s experience and try again. He said it was not a ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you’ sort of deal, and that he wanted me to come back and drive for them, just with a little more experience. *sigh* Stuff like me not knowing where anywhere was, being rusty with a manual gearbox (I think that was my second go of a truck that wasn’t automatic since I passed my test, 2½ years ago! I’d have soon got fluid at it again.) and being ‘nervous’ (on an assessment for a job I was desperate to get, FFS!) particularly on the reverse. Bloody right I was. They said the assessment was all about safety. I thought it would be better to be slow and sure. That is too nervous. Screw that! I’m not risking crashing.  The only faults on the road were that he reckoned I turned the wrong way at an offset, blind junction. As I couldn’t see the road to my left I turned the cab to the right, so I could see out of the left hand wide-angle mirror. It’s a small mirror, but sufficient. He reckons I should have turned the cab to the left, which would have blocked the traffic from the right, so I could physically see the road.  I’ll do that next time. The only other thing was approaching junctions carrying too much speed, he reckoned. I don’t agree, but he’s the assessor. If I’d have had a good knowledge of the roads and not been nervous, I think I could have swung that. As it was he just saw me as a quivering wreck who had no idea. Balls! I was gutted.   I pulled myself together and emailed an application off to another agency the same morning. The next day I got all the class 1 trunking jobs off the jobcentre and applied for them all. All agencies. All desperate for drivers. Until you apply. I got one outright ‘no’, one ‘maybe’ and two ‘we’ll get back to you as soon as we get work in’. Real jobs my arse!  Agencies! *spits*   That’s two weeks with no work now. Things are starting to get worrying. We’ve got enough in the bank to last another month or so before we have to really fret, but it’s surprising how quickly you start to lose your self confidence. And self worth, for that matter. Work is a strange master. I think it’s some perverse form of Stockholm syndrome.   On the bright side I’ve had plenty of time for other things, such as getting back into training and my instruments. I’ve been for a few swims whilst I rest my knackered leg up. I’m struggling with that bilateral breathing, not my fave. Still,. all that chlorinated water I’m drinking must be doing my teeth the world of good. […]

I am hesitant to even mention this, it’s so perfect for me. Even though I’m not superstitious I still don’t want to jinx it. First off let me relate how I got here. As you know I’ve not been applying  for  full time jobs because of nerves about the driving assessment. The agency work has been really scarce and then when they did get me a day’s driving it was for DHL/ Iceland, the company and depot I had to leave because they wouldn’t let me drive for them! That was irritating. Then, before they’d let me out on the road they made me do hours of paperwork, a drug and alcohol test and then a driving assessment! After all that they sent me on an easy run, luckily. I know how hard some of the stores are to get in though. Having to back across carparks that have moving cars and customers. Scary stuff. To be honest I really don’t want to do it now I’ve tried other driving. However, if it’s a choice between a shift for them and a week without pay I’ll do it.   That was my situation and stress level. I’d passed an assessment I didn’t know I was going to do, which left me eligible to do a job I really don’t want. I thought ‘Screw it! I may as well apply for other jobs, an assessment is not as stressful as an Iceland store delivery.’   So I did. I applied for something called Igloo logistics and for a couple of different agency jobs. The agencys haven’t got back to me. After I’d rang about the full time Igloo job, (and written the email, updated, tweaked and attached  the CV, etc) I went on their website to check I’d got the right email address. The Jobcentre advert had said some experience, their website said minimum of two years. I emailed it anyway then gave up on it. The chap rang me back, asked if I’d had my license for two and a half years (I said I had in the email, but only six months driving experience) I confirmed, he told me to come in for the induction /interview thingy. I went for it today and it is perfect for me. It’s just trunking (where you pick up a trailer from a massive depot and take it to a massive depot, maybe shuffle a few trailers around the yard, then straight back to base, go home.) You can pick which start time suits you 0500-0730, 1100-1400, or 1700-2130 (something like that), it’s £9.14 basic, time and a third for all over eight hours each day, Sundays always time and a third. He said it’s the easiest driving job going and it’s well paid. Also, they have outgrown the Appleton depot so they are having another one built ‘”near Ikea”, ie on my doorstep! I put all my paperwork through today, I’ve got a driving assessment on Thursday. If I pass that I […]

OMG! This is wonderful. If you know the Pink Floyd track it is infinitely better, but I expect it stands alone. On the backing track you hear the snippets of the geezer trailing the black stuff (death?). The other friend is making it work as a conversation. Anyway, that’s just a condiment of extra appreciation. The banquet of taste and style doesn’t need it.   “I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.” Edvard Munch, 1893   Here it is:  (sound on, full blast, obviously) The Scream from Sebastian Cosor on Vimeo. For better appreciation of the experience you can click on the four arrows pointing diagonally outwards (the full screen button). Am I being patronising? That means to talk down to people. Buck.

I said that I’d got Wendy that surprise gift of a clarinet and joked  that she liked it, so no bonus gift for me. The joke was on me. She couldn’t take to it. Bugger. On the bright side, I now have the only two instruments that use a reed. Interesting fact. Or not. Please yourselves. You got in here for free, you know. As a consequence, I’ve been alternating my blowing between the sax and clarinet. The clarinet is a bugger. If you think about putting your fingers near a key, or are not 100% on the one you should be on, or you don’t clamp down on the reed like a pit-bull on a postman it makes a horrible squawking noise. I went on to a sax forum to see if there was a more sax-like mouthpiece and it is a common complaint of sax players. Because the sax was designed as an adaptation of the clarinet, by a clarinet player, sax players (and me) think they can just pick it up and play it. Not even. One guy on there called it ‘the misery-stick’. The consensus view was that it was a fair description. I picked up some tips. Still, I can now say I am crap at two instruments not just one. That’s multi-talented, that is.   Anyhow, that left Wendy bereft of a hobby again. She needs one. She used (20 years ago) to play the organ (huh huh) but always fancied the piano. (Which it would have been super to have known before I got the clarinet. Still, I’m enjoying/ hating it.) I looked at the options for renting this time, as little miss changeable might not have took to the amount of hours you need to put in. They were all crap deals. ‘Rent this crappy learner keyboard and if you want you can buy it later with the rent knocked off’. Why would you want to buy a piece of crap? The rental money would just have been a waste and the kit was such low-end rubbish it just wasn’t worth it. Yamaha, who are a byword for musical quality (and rather nice bikes, if Mr Yamaha wants to reward me for plugging his kit) have launched a weighted keys (so it sounds louder if you bang the keys rather than tap them, just like a real piano) budget electric piano. It seems to save the money by not including whistles and bells gimmickry. Most of the electronic pianos have a shit-load of sound effects and a monster computer to dick about with. This is just an electric piano. It has four ‘voices’ ie, you can play it as a grand piano, an organ, and two others. Which, truth be told, is three too many, but that’s about it. There are other features, such as programmable downloaded tunes. Don’t even know what that is. Anyway, the point is it does what it says on the tin, for a (relatively) modest price. It’s […]

Just a quick one. My last entry was all doom and gloom. Back on top now. Too much time sat around waiting for the agency to get me work.   I got the call to action yesterday. Back in, straight back on the road (in awful conditions) and I did fine. I settled into it and was a happy Bucky again. This is good. Part of my worry was that as we are almost into the New Year there will be no work, thus I’ll have to start applying for other jobs. A daunting prospect, all those assessments. Now I’m going to go and kick trucking arse. It’s just a matter of being careful. I can do the tricky bits, but I have to be slow and careful. 99.9% of the time I’m fine. So I just have to be triple sure of everything I’m doing in that .1% when it’s gets really difficult.   Positive Bucky.   To prove I’m all chipper, here are a couple of funny pictures people have just posted on Twitter. A Northern pina colada:   And, Jihad dog disapproves of your extravagant New Year celebrations:   And a random one that makes me laugh, (‘cos I’m a bastard!)   See? Happy Bucky. Have a super New Year and enjoy it all the way up to the Mayan apocalypse. Buck.