Sploom:
Have you only listened to those that told you what you want to hear?
Stay dry?
That is a good idea.Its something ,maybe,I should do too.Every week,I drink a bottle of wine ,Probably because Im addicted to the stuff
One bottle per week hardly equates to an addiction, it’s no more than your total weekly recommended max intake as an adult male (14 units). But yes, if you neck a whole bottle in one sitting then you’re likely to have a hangover.
robroy:
I’ve come to the conclusion that the word is bandied about a bit too freely and frequently…a bit like saying you have flu when its only a sniffle.
Precisely: depressed, paranoid, OCD, ADHD and the rest of the alphabet soup… 
They’ve become everyday adjectives used by non-medically qualified lay-people, it’s even worse when people have Googled how they’re feeling and decide they’re able to self-diagnose. Anyone can feel “down”, most of the time it is not clinical depression.
21st century life is a bit pants, too much stress, too much online-time looking at total BS. A bit of “green therapy” is free and works wonders for a lot of people.
Juddian:
Blue Estate, my tuppence is this.My previous work in car transporters was hard work, i hadn’t realised how close i was to breaking point but wifey had seen it and urged me to pack it in, in truth i’d become part of the bloody machine but was too busy to see it for myself, i think this can happen more easily than many realise, the car game is bad for this but others in general transport will know how it can be.
OK that’s my sorry tale for what its worth.
I’ve been offered car transporter work before… no thanks lol.
It would have to be £30 ph/hr min for me to consider it.
If you’re feeling down try out cold plunging, it really does make a difference to your whole mood. Search Wim Hoff (ice man) and have a listen to the link I’ve posted.
I left the lorries behind 3 years ago and it’s the best decision I ever made.
A lot of you are going to think I’m talking ■■■■■■■■ here,.I get it. 
Here goes…
Re. The guys who have packed the job in after a number of years, the way I see it is the job is just not,.(and never was) for THEM…you may come back with ''no sh,.obviously,…but just go with it for a minute.
Nothing at all wrong with the job not being for them either ,.they may even have more sense than me.
My point is, the way I see it is if you are a long term driver and I’m talking specifically tramping here btw…it is completely in your blood,.a commitment, in fact almost a vocation 
(that’s the potential ■■■■■■■■ part I was on about )
I wanted to be nothing else but a trucker (misguided eh? ) since I was a young lad,.I even knocked back a carreer in engineering which I did a (wasted,) 4 years apprenticeship for…I could have been minted today.
(Not to mention much happier 
)
A lot of lads at that time I knew who started same time as me, were the same, we had all gone away with our Dads, …and as a step further I went away with mates from about 16 to 20 years old, so I had a good insight into the tramping job by then, routes, ropes and sheets at that time,.and the bloody good social side of it on a night out …a job vastly and COMPLETELY different to the job today btw.
Now after saying that if I was 18 today going away with a mate in today’s job…would I still.be as keen to do it?
Would I ■■■■ !!!
A lot of guys today just go for it as ‘just another job’ which is why we have the car drivers with Class 1s,.who will never be ‘proper drivers’ as long as they have holes in their arses. …not ALL of em I hasten to add.
The days of lads (and lasses) going away with their Dads,.are virtually all gone these days with the advent of the type of tossers in charge of transport firms today.
You can say what tf you like, not so much day men,.but being a tramper is more of a way of life than a job, being away from home,.maybe weeks in Europe for instance, or even 3 to 4 nights in the UK, is absolute chalk and cheese in comparison to a run of the mill 9 to 5 gig.
So consequently not everyone is either cut out for it nor can hack it…its a commitment.
■■■■■■■■ or not…you decide.
Whilst i’ve done the nights away etc Robroy, that side of the job was never my prime reason for doing it, often enough there was no social side because i’d always try and find a country roadside pub i could park near where i could get a decent dinner and enjoy being away from the wagon (and people generally) for a few hours.
My pleasure in the job has always been in the technical aspect of the job, hence often ending up in more specialised sectors, and constantly trying to improve how i myself do the job, i also chased the money which often didn’t always include being away from home.
Yes lorry world is a way of life but it doesn’t have to include being away from home for anything from 4 days to 4 weeks or more, one can still take a pride in their work and go home at the end of the day or night.
Luckily the transport sector is a broad church so there’s enough different work to satisfy almost everyone, there’s lots of sectors i wouldn’t work in, pallet distribution, RDC deliveries (hell on earth) multi drop parcel work and what you yourself love, tramping.
You’re not talking ■■■■■■■■, you’ve found your ideal and some of us have found ours in other sectors.
There may well be an element of truth in that Rob, though perhaps I would come at it from a slightly different angle - if you were brought up with trucks, that’s always going to feel like the right place to be, and the idea of never doing anything else for the rest of your life quite a reasonable one.
My love of the big stuff came from being a dodgy hippy living in converted trucks and buses in the 90s. My 15 years tramping was, as I always happily admitted, merely a more respectable way of continuing that lifestyle. Would I still be there if I hadn’t got the diagnosis I did? Probably not in that job - I always wanted to do more in Europe than the small amount of French work I managed, but I didn’t want to be away more than a week at a time while the kids were still kids. They’ve grown up now, so…yeah. In fact, if I’m still able, I plan to do a stint on tour work at some point, just for the hell of it.
What I would have done if I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to stay so connected to the industry, I don’t know. I still find it virtually impossible to think of myself as a journalist, truth be told, even eight years on. Probably been a hell of a lot more miserable, for certain.
And yes, by the way, I agree that “depression” is a phrase bandied about too easily now, with precisely the effect we’re seeing here - someone who is genuinely at the end of his rope being offered the advice of “just snap out of it” because, in a lot of cases, that probably is the answer. I don’t believe it is in this one, however…I guess I recognise where he’s coming from only too well.
It’s sounds like you are the type of person that would have enjoyed over landing in a converted vehicle that was a truck turned in to bus, the company didn’t survive the pandemic but is now no longer was called Dragoman.
The opportunities were endless , one tour was from Alaska to the bottom of South America to tie in with the Rio carnival.
The UK to the bottom of Africa, or Africa from the east coast to west or vice versa.
UK to India ,or circumnavigate India, or UK to the Middle East or Nepal.
Sounds absolutely perfect! 
Lucy:
There may well be an element of truth in that Rob, though perhaps I would come at it from a slightly different angle - if you were brought up with trucks, that’s always going to feel like the right place to be, and the idea of never doing anything else for the rest of your life quite a reasonable one.My love of the big stuff came from being a dodgy hippy living in converted trucks and buses in the 90s. My 15 years tramping was, as I always happily admitted, merely a more respectable way of continuing that lifestyle. Would I still be there if I hadn’t got the diagnosis I did? Probably not in that job - I always wanted to do more in Europe than the small amount of French work I managed, but I didn’t want to be away more than a week at a time while the kids were still kids. They’ve grown up now, so…yeah. In fact, if I’m still able, I plan to do a stint on tour work at some point, just for the hell of it.
What I would have done if I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to stay so connected to the industry, I don’t know. I still find it virtually impossible to think of myself as a journalist, truth be told, even eight years on. Probably been a hell of a lot more miserable, for certain.
And yes, by the way, I agree that “depression” is a phrase bandied about too easily now, with precisely the effect we’re seeing here - someone who is genuinely at the end of his rope being offered the advice of “just snap out of it” because, in a lot of cases, that probably is the answer. I don’t believe it is in this one, however…I guess I recognise where he’s coming from only too well.
Nowt wrong with having a free spirit,.at least you can say you did it and enjoyed it when you were younger.
The depression thing…
Yep as I said there are deffo absolute genuine cases out there fact,many of the cases ate only seen as genuine when it’s too bloody late unfortunately,.then their families are left and blame themselves.
That said, I still.say the attention seekers outnumber the genuine though, and being a cynic I tend to view many people rightly or wrongly as the latter if I’m honest, but that’s just me .
My daughter has often joked (because of this and other similar views I have on other subjects,.and some of my opinions 
…)
''Can you imagine Dad on The Samaritan’s switchboard ‘’.
On plus side at least they would get a lot of quick turnover calls.
A lot of people are rightly baffled as to why they are working 50+ hours a week just so they can pay for their mortgage… so they can sleep in a house they barely spend anytime in due to work… to rent a car to take them to work… to pay for food just so they can sustain themselves for work…
with very little money left over and often very little energy left over at the end of the week other than to lay in front of the tv and watch crap.
The western ‘ideal’ of having family/car/house… For some it is great for sure. For others its quite depressing and not that great. Ironically the truckers I have spoke to who have kids often do everything in their power to make sure they stay at school and do not follow them down the route of trucking lol. I can’t think of a single instance of a trucker getting his/her son/daughter into trucking. Maybe this was the case a few decades ago.
I personally find trucking ■■■■■■ Granted I do retail work for the big firms… But you are just a number on a computer nothing more.
FAO- Lucy: Ref ; Over land trips.
Mine ended badly but not with this company, I took the controversial Larium anti-malaria pills that had terrible side effects to include suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and psychotic episodes as a Norwegian soldier was a camp mate and I couldn’t remember one thing what happened as he explained he thought a burglar was entering the tent and put me in a neck lock.
Apparently he said I attacked him and he thought I was the burglar as the army defence training kicked in.
The whole group fell out at the end all arguing over petty things and our allocated duties, such as collecting firewood, cooking, cleaning, unloading backpacks and putting them all back five times a day, looking after all the running money and so on.
Zac_A:
Sploom:
Have you only listened to those that told you what you want to hear?
Stay dry?
That is a good idea.Its something ,maybe,I should do too.Every week,I drink a bottle of wine ,Probably because Im addicted to the stuff
One bottle per week hardly equates to an addiction, it’s no more than your total weekly recommended max intake as an adult male (14 units). But yes, if you neck a whole bottle in one sitting then you’re likely to have a hangover.
Yes,but they want you to spread it out throught out the,that means one eggcup ful a day,I wouldnt bother because it wouldnt have any effect on me but a whole bottle does the trick,it resets my brain fir the week,if that makes sense
Sploom:
Zac_A:
Sploom:
Have you only listened to those that told you what you want to hear?
Stay dry?
That is a good idea.Its something ,maybe,I should do too.Every week,I drink a bottle of wine ,Probably because Im addicted to the stuff
One bottle per week hardly equates to an addiction, it’s no more than your total weekly recommended max intake as an adult male (14 units). But yes, if you neck a whole bottle in one sitting then you’re likely to have a hangover.
Yes,but they want you to spread it out throught out the,that means one eggcup ful a day,I wouldnt bother because it wouldnt have any effect on me but a whole bottle does the trick,it resets my brain fir the week,if that makes sense
You should get a hobby mate, because that is what filling your head with crap.all week does, (we all know what I’m on about) …turns you to drinking, and worse drinking on your own at home.
It ain’t good for you ,.It’s one thing having a couple of beers in front of the tv football, it’s another necking a full bottle of vino sat on your own.
Get yourself a social life sorted .
You’re welcome.
Sploom, you should take up a hobby involving ball games, will this float your boat and when it rains there’s a wet tee shirt competition.
Sploomy, one bottle of wine is about 10 units, the chief medical officer advises 14 units per week so one bottle and a half per week is acceptable and not health damaging.
If one bottle is about five big glasses and you have five glasses per day , the units are 90.
Your only 48 Years of age, you should get professional help for your knee & ankle, go to a Chiropractor/Physio they can diagnose and treat your problems, most problems can be fixed, even if you spend £500 in treatments to get better it’s worth every penny YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH.
FYI i went to a chiro for bad knee, (couldnt run or walk without pain) it was a tight hip flexor muscle and tight IT Band (illotibial band in leg. After 6 treatments/stretching/exercise i was good again. Exercise also helps with anxiety depression even if its a brisk walk for 30mins or your 15 mins walk round checks you will feel better about yourself.
AnotherDriver:
Your only 48 Years of age,
FYI i went to a chiro for bad knee, (couldnt run or walk without pain) it was a tight hip flexor muscle and tight IT Band (illotibial band in leg. After 6 treatments/stretching/exercise i was good again. Exercise also helps with anxiety depression even if its a brisk walk for 30mins or your 15 mins walk round checks
At work we Devan boxes as well so exercise there , at home got a furry exercise machine and she like a good walk
OK,thanks for the sploom replies
Tom Wellington:
FAO- Lucy: Ref ; Over land trips.
Mine ended badly but not with this company, I took the controversial Larium anti-malaria pills that had terrible side effects to include suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and psychotic episodes as a Norwegian soldier was a camp mate and I couldn’t remember one thing what happened as he explained he thought a burglar was entering the tent and put me in a neck lock.Apparently he said I attacked him and he thought I was the burglar as the army defence training kicked in.
The whole group fell out at the end all arguing over petty things and our allocated duties, such as collecting firewood, cooking, cleaning, unloading backpacks and putting them all back five times a day, looking after all the running money and so on.
Sounds not dissimilar to being on a New Age travellers site in 1994!!!
