Well I haven’t done a diary for a while but since the ■■■■ hit the fan in Norway there hasn’t been too much to write home about. That all changed earlier in the week though during my little “city break” in Copenhagen. There was no Little Mermaid, Carlsberg factory or Nyhavn tours for me! After an 8:30 am flight on Monday morning from Luton where they shoot 'em I ended up in the Danish capital after a 15 minute train ride from Kastrup airport and had a quick look around town.
We now fast forward to Tuesday morning and after a 4:30 am alarm call I make the short stroll across town to Copenhagen Central Station where I catch a train to Trekroner station just outside Roskilde. There’s nothing like a bit of fresh Nordic air at 5 am to liven you up in the morning but the blonde Danish girl at 7-Eleven commenting on my Norwegian dialect and hoping that I would stick around in Copenhagen whilst she served me a Danish pastry came a close second. High as a kite from some female affection I board the train and 30 minutes later take the short walk from Roskilde University outside the train station to Brdr. Dyring crane & special transport, arriving just before 6 am.
I meet the transport manager and a few of the guys whilst we wait for the boss to arrive. In the meantime I’m taken to a storeroom where I’m given some company apparel and suit up for the day ahead. Unfortunately the smallest trousers that I could find were 36’ waist and since I’ve started going to the gym I’ve dropped down to 29’. Therefore said trousers almost end up around ankles as Michael the boss and his 23 year old daughter walk through the door! Luckily they see the funny side and he lends me a belt before handing me the keys to my steed for the day.
The first job is to fill up with jungle juice at the automated pump just outside the firm’s gates and then Michael joins me in the passenger seat and it’s time to see what I can do. Luckily I remember which side the steering wheel is on and which side of the road to drive on and after a couple of minutes we hit the Holbeak Motorway back towards Copenhagen before turning off and heading South towards Greve.
So for those of you that aren’t familiar with the concept here’s a photo to show you how we attach the ballast.
We lower it into position behind the cab and then slew the crane around 180 degrees before hydraulically connecting it with the aid of 2 hydraulic pistons.
It isn’t long before Stuge & Monica turn up with first cabin and it’s time for my first uplifting experience in Denmark.
So that’s it for part 1 but I’ll try and get part 2 up soon. This could be quite a long photo heavy diary so you’ll have to bear with me whilst I try to upload it inbetween doing other stuff.
I do couple of runs with Ole and find that he speaks excellent Norwegian as he used to work up there but being a proud Scandinavian it’s strictly shoes off and on the top step when you get in to his cab. Unfortunately on the second run we get back to the immigration centre and I find that I’ve only got one shoe! It fell off of the step when we left Ramirent but Stuge noticed it and after a few minutes I’ve got my shoe back and a new nickname- “footloose”.
Before too long the job is complete and we head off with Ole towards Kastrup airport. We have to be careful not to miss the final motorway exit or else the next stop is Malmo after a little trip over the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden!
After a short wait we clear security and along with Ole in the lowloader and 2 ■■■■■■ vehicles we proceed to the control tower where we get the big spreader bar out and load a wide cabin on to Ole’s trailer.
A good team effort from everyone involved including the 2 ■■■■■■ drivers from another company sees us loaded up reasonably quickly and off to the next job.
We take a tunnel underneath the runway and briefly rejoin the motorway heading back towards Greve for a mile or so before heading towards a tower block with a canteen on the top floor. It’s time for some new kitchen equipment so our job is to hoist the new appliances up to the roof and bring the old sink units and cookers etc. back down.
There’s a canal between us and the building and also an underground cellar with central heating pipes under the pavement on the original site where we wanted to place the outriggers so after a short discussion I jack-knife between a tree and electric box putting the outriggers in a safer position and therefore allowing us to continue with the job in a slightly safer fashion.
Well that concludes part 2.
I’ll try to get the next installment up this evening for anyone that’s interested.
So, after setting the crane up we realised that the lift was on the borderline of requiring the extension jib but in order to save time we switched over to the small hook and re-routed the wire ropes in order to gain about 1.5m of clearance which was just enough to clear the fence on top of the building.
So with the walkie talkie in hand I go up and down more times than a ■■■■■’s drawers whilst rigging/slinging everything both down on the floor and on the top of the building. Thankfully nothing made it’s way back down with the aid of gravity and after a quick chat to some Danish guys about Peter Schmeichel and Brondby football club we’re off to the next job.
After a 30 minute drive or so we end up on a new section of motorway and peel off the main carriageway and onto a temporary road that was in use whilst the new road was under construction.
Stuge and Monica are already onsite with the V8 and Broshuis extendable trailer and we get to work removing a now defunct gantry.
Said gantry is lowered into a cradle and bolted up at either end before being re-hoisted and placed on the back of the trailer.
It’s now time to take out the 2 support columns and I make myself look like a prat when I go to give the highways agency guy a push with the cherry picker. I didn’t realise that it had motor movers fitted to both wheels so it can be driven into position by one man regardless of any gradient that it may be standing on. When it goes behind his van to the next site he simply moves 2 small hydraulic cylinders and it free wheels just like a normal trailer would.
Whilst we are removing the concrete foundations the highway agency guy gets the old acetylene torch out and cuts the “V” shaped support columns into 2 pieces so that they fit on to the trailer without being around 15’-20’ wide at the bottom.
So that’s it for part 3, part 4 will hopefully be up tomorrow.
dogthehunter:
Brilliant mate …love Scandinavia thanks for sharing
Cheers pal, do you still load fish at Stavanger/Haugesund for Ray White?
I’m not sure what’s happening yet but give us a shout if they need a Scandinavian driver during the Winter.
Nice pics Duck. Was that it or have you a fast job with them? I’ll look out for you as that’s my daily stamping ground. Was actually tipped by one of them some months ago, machinery x UK going into a small chocolate factory. Yes its a nice part of the world over here. Go steady.
It’s kind of a sore point to be honest. I was offered a full-time job with them and was supposed to let them know by today what I wanted to do. A top firm, very good conditions and interesting work with private medical insurance for all employees and the possibility of a company car to get to the yard each morning. Also thought the Danes were a lot more outgoing than Norwegians and pretty easy to get along with. The deal breaker is the Danish government, it’s 50% tax over there! I would have been on very good money as they would have put me on one of their biggest cranes but after you factor in losing half of your wages in tax and housing/living costs in Scandanavia I’m better off in the UK. A bit ■■■■■■ off because I really wanted to go for it but anyone can work just for fun. The novelty soon wears off once the honeymoon period is over.
OK but the skat isn’t as bad as it looks, in UK you pay income tax, NI, council tax and added together its probably not much less than in DK, plus I think we get more for our money here. Took me a long time to get my head around private car tax mind but we all have to pay it so that’s that. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Luckily they see the funny side and he lends me a belt before handing me the keys to my steed for the day.
Luckily I remember which side the steering wheel is on and which side of the road to drive on and after a couple of minutes we hit the Holbeak Motorway back towards Copenhagen before turning off and heading South towards Greve.
