Ahhhh, the luxury of being on holiday, 2 glorious weeks away from work. Yeah if only, the amount of stuff I have to do around the house is unreal. Will be glad to get back to work and get some rest.

What is it with Tesco Artic drivers, do they go to a special school on how to piss off other drivers or is it part of the induction policy. On my way back to the depot I had to overtake a Tesco lorry, as I get half way up the trailer the driver decides to slap on his indicator and immediately start to move into my lane. Had two options, keep the line and let him smack into me or move out to the middle lane. As luck would have it there was no traffic and the middle lane (3rd lane on M1 past Hemel Jct) so I moved over, as I went past the unit the driver was oblivious to anything he'd just done. Kept staring ahead and didn't even notice that I went past him.

Back to reality now that the white stuff is all gone, having said that there were some interesting bits when it was snowing. On my way back to the yard I have to go over a bridge and when the car in front stops I have to do the same. He then manages to get going but me in my artic just couldn't get going. Tried everything to no avail, had to back down the hill to get a run up but as usual no car driver will give way to a lorry. Had one of our agency drivers help me but still the cars were just not bothering to help. Had no choice but to slowly blind side down a side road and then go the long way back. Going home was also fun, cars crawling at 10mph and of course a few CEVA artics going flat out down the M25, all adds to the fun and games.

Kept seeing Matrix signs on the M1 yesterday 'Salt Spreading' but didn't see a single gritter. They must have that Romulan Cloaking Device, because in 4 hours of driving up and down the M1 I didn't see a single one.

Well, that's the third module of the DCPC done and dusted. To be honest it was quite interesting and the way it was run it made the day worthwhile.

Keeping Fit

As a keen runner myself I do understand that people wish to keep fit and do run in some strange places. This however takes some beating, on my way to Jubilee MC early Tuesday morning (01:00) I noticed something very peculiar. The was someone actually jogging on the hard shoulder of the M25, just before the M4 Junction, as there were no cars on the hard shoulder before and after the junction I can only assume that this madman decided to use this road for his early morning run. There are ways to commit suicide and this has to be one of the most innovative one I've seen.

They've done it again, closed of a major entry to the M25 and not bothered to put up any matrix signs. Only on the slip road is there any information that the entry to the M25(S) is closed, yet there are loads of signs that the Hammersmith Flyover is closed, surely it would be to drivers advantage is they replaced a few of those signs with more up to date info, such like closed exits. The Highways Agency seems to be unable to their job, what;s the point of them being there.

Oh man, what a difference, no wind coming back to Heathrow last night. The trailer actually followed me instead trying to overtake.

Some serious wind last night, the trailer had a mind of its own for most of the journey. I hate those warning sounds on the DAF, the unit decided to tell me every few seconds that the EBS was not playing correctly, and the sound was driving me mad . Had the radio turned up, cotton wool in my ears and I still heard it. On the way back the wind got a bit worse, could see the spray being blown across the other carriageway on the M1 and is the open spaces it was damn hard to keep in a straight line. Roll on tonight.

Cracking trip up the M1 yesterday, all that wind howling about. At one point my trailer was almost in the middle lane. Lugging an empty trailer is definitely fun, much better when the thing has some weight in it. At least it was dry on the way back and no snow (yet)

Good Old Jeremy

So 21.000 or so complained about old Jeremy, I say good on him. He has said what most likely many more people think about this. Those that did strike have the most lucrative pensions in the whole of the UK. They pay very little in and get loads back, and they want more. In this economic age wake up and smell the roses. I have to pay in loads more then they do and I'll get loads LESS back. Good on you Jeremy

On my way to work yesterday I was quite happily going down the slip road on the M4 towards the Langley junction when some dozy pratt in a Clio decided to take the ramp as well. The only thing was that when he decided to do that he was in the outside lane and moved across all the lanes without indicating and almost wiping me out in the process. Then he continues to drive along like nothing has happened, some people must have got their license from a Corn Flakes packet.

Bulgarian (Screw)Drivers

The usual state of play on Friday, sitting in a jam on the M25 and crawling along to the M1 Junction. As I sat in the off ramp crawling at about 10mph a Bulgarian lorry flew past me on the Hard Shoulder, this idiot was going flat out. All I managed to get was the BG on back of his license plate and the back of the trailer. This is some moron who thinks that the hard shoulder is another lane and couldn't wait like the rest of us to join the M1. This has considerably lowered my opinion of Eastern European drivers. we all have bad moments when we drive but this was sheer lunacy.

Well, I'm slowly getting used to my new shift(s). One long week with just one day off and then a sort of a short week with 3 days off. Thought it would have been a bit harder to get this going but it's not so bad with the exception that I don't see my other half very much and finishing at 01:30 on the short week is the main downer.

What is the point................yesterday was nice and sunny so what in the gods name are people doing driving with their FOG lights on top of their headlights. Are they hoping for a patch of fog to appear sudden like, OK some Volvo's do have the lights on full time but fog lights.

Just done two long weeks of my rotational duty and boy did I need the weekend off, up and down the M1 was becoming routine and going through the roadworks was almost a non existent blur of sort. Complacency was starting to settle in and I'm glad this week is a bit short and the route differs.

Not much to post lately but yeterday few things got me thinking.

• On my way to work on the M25 things were a bit slow with cars and lorries jockeying for position, eventually I found out why. a person of a certain heritage was crawling along in the second lane at a paltry speed of 40mph (quite possibly 45mph). Then as I came of the J14 to cut through Colnbrook to get to a BP petrol station another person of the same heritage realised that they went down the wrong road and decided to REVERSE up the road and reverse onto the roundabout. For crying out loud where do they get their licenses from, Corn Flakes packet. We all have a 'senior' day once in a while but this is a regular occurrence.

New route all signed for and did my first shift yesterday. Not bad except a few hang about times. Feeling a bit knackered today so we'll have to see how it all feels at the end of the week.

Oh its so good to have the 'old' unit back again. Last night I had the 'pleasure' of driving my old unit. Drove this unit for few months and got to know the quirky things about it and to get my hands on it yesterday made my day.

All change please, the anual changeover is all but done and me being so far down the pecking order I didn't hope for a decent shift. Although I've been doing a good one for the past few weeks and had hopes of keeping it but another more senior driver got his hands on it. So I now have a 2 week split shift.
It will be interesting to see how long I can hang on before I'm so knackered I'll need either a change or some holiday. Vast majority is motorway driving so it shouldn't be that knackering.