ENJOY - I did 
EDIT - or see it a few posts below this one
Thanks ROG, glad you enjoyed it
Great posting ! Thoroughly enjoyed the read, thanks for taking the time to post it. Brought a smile to my face. especially the reversing bits. (I could feel your pain) A mate of mine used to drive an artic for a firm that subbied to Wisemans, and collect milk from farms around Cheshire and Staffs, so I know where you are coming from.
Thought i’d copy and paste it here
Tomorrow will mark exactly 12 months since i passed my Class 1, and 10 months since i started at my current job at Turners. I had my yearly driving assessment 2 days ago at work, and as i have a day off i thought i’d write a little diary on how it’s been so far. Sorry if this goes on a bit.
I jumped straight driving a transit van to doing this job, with no class 2 experience either. Looking back, it really hasn’t been smooth sailing, far from it. Fresh from passing my test, and having a few odd jobs here and there, i had a lot to learn. I had to learn to drive, i had to learn how to reverse, i had to learn how to reverse a rear steer trailer, i had to learn how to drive with a load that’s constantly moving, i had to learn how to use the computers in the trailer, and as i had a different truck everyday, i had to learn how everything worked on each unit. And this was just the beginning.
I remember my first day well, sitting in the passenger seat with another driver showing me what they did. Picking up from farms means taking 44tonne Artics down roads an artic should never go down, and i remember thinking to myself ‘I cant drive like this guy, there’s no way i am going to be able to do this job’. and that was when driving forwards. My horror when we got to that first farm and i saw where we had to reverse into just added to my fears. No room to manouvre, farm machinery to avoid hitting, barns to avoid destroying, dogs to try not to run over. The list was endless.
Anyway, after 2 days of that, i was given one route that i would be doing to gain some experience. Route 95 - which was a 4.30am start, with a 6.00 tip at Dairy Crest in Chadwell Heath, then 2 collections in Princes Risborough, and one in Ongar, then back to base, which is Arla in Hatfield Peveral for it to be unloaded and ready for the night driver to take out. It had eveything on this route, loading, unloading, blind side reversing, near side reversing, tight lanes and all that.
In that first week, i managed to swipe a car with the rear of the trailer whilst turning a corner, and thought that was game over and prepared myself to be sacked 
That day i was out with the boss, and he was pretty cool about it, and just said put it down to experience, and take more care in future, and i haven’t done it since, thank god.
Reversing
This is what i struggled with most. I had to sit and think about what way to turn the steering wheel, and the more i thought about it, the more it confused me, up to the point where after all the thinking, i still turned the wrong way 
It took me months to get the hang of it, and it used to stress me out so bad.
I had days when i’ve been trying to reverse into a farm off the road and run out air and blocked the entire street off, i had days where i cocked up a reverse so much i had to drive off and take 15 minutes out to compose myself and try again, and days where i felt like jacking it in because i found it so hard.
It’s got to a point now where as soon as i’m in the truck, i just instinctly turn the wheel the right way, but when hooking up a trailer i tend to turn as if i have a trailer on and up snaking back towards it I can see when a reverse isn’t going right quite early on as well, rather than when i used to ■■■■it up and try and correct it without starting again, thinking it would be ok.
Some of the places i have to reverse into are no place for a new driver, but i’m glad i stuck with it and i can now pretty much reverse into anywhere, and if i cant, i’ve learnt to laugh it off, try again and not to panic. I’m glad i stuck with it , the more experienced drivers say that if you can reverse in this job, you can reverse in any job, so i’m pleased 
Damage
As said earlier, very early on in the job i managed to smack a car, and that’s been the worst of it thank god. I’ve reversed into a few posts, bent a few trailer bumpers, but nothing half as bad as what i’ve seen some of the other drivers do. I’ve clattered a few mirrors on trees down the country lanes as well, but, touch wood, i seem to have stopped doing the above things and haven’t had any damage reports to fill out for a good few months
I did this trying to reverse off the road, and rushing because i had cars waiting and watching me. I’ve since learnt to sod the other drivers, they can wait 
Punctures are my thing at the moment, with 3 in the last 3 weeks
Driving with a moving load
This took some getting used to. A load that moves forwards and backwards, and side to side. There’s photos in our office of overturned milk tankers, and when i first started i expected a photo of me to be up there in the near future.
I crapped myself the first time i got caught out by the ‘slop’. I honestly thought it was going over. From then on i took it very easy, but i slowly got used to it and found my limits and haven’t had to much bother with it.
Snow
I was just 6 months in when the snow hit us this year, and to be honest, i hated every single minute of the first few days. Some of the guys on here gave me some advice, but i really wasn’t prepared for what lay ahead. Motorways and main roads covered in snow, ungritted country lanes and trying to figure out how an artic should be driven in these conditions.
Cue lots of crap your pants moments, getting stuck down back lanes with no one around to help you, hours of waiting to be rescued, and a few very long days. One day, i got into work to be told that the driver on the day before hadn’t managed to collect any milk at all on this route. He had turned round and come back empty. So, i had 2 days of milk to collect. It took me over 6 hours to get from Chelmsford to Aylesbury, due to the A41 being shut because of snow and having to find another way to this first farm. I had to stop at one roundabout for a scania coming round and couldn’t get going again, causing a massive tail back This became a regular thing throughout the snowfall, but i somehow got through it without going off the road, crashing into anything or doing any damage at all
Other things include learning how to fix a pump that has siezed (shouting and swearing at it doesn’t work , i’ve tried), and as every trailer is different, having to learn which valves to what, which switches to turn on or off and all that.
I am much, much more confident in driving, reversing and every other aspect of the job, and i honestly love what i do. I’m glad i stuck at it, because it has been very, very rewarding
and here’s a few of me for good measure, if you see a ■■■in a hat driving a tanker, give us a wave 
yonmons:
Great posting ! Thoroughly enjoyed the read, thanks for taking the time to post it. Brought a smile to my face. especially the reversing bits. (I could feel your pain) A mate of mine used to drive an artic for a firm that subbied to Wisemans, and collect milk from farms around Cheshire and Staffs, so I know where you are coming from.
Thank you
Nice one, great post I bet your Wagon gets covered in all kinds of crap, do you have top clean it? 
Every time I see Turners I think of them two young Girls, very sad. 
Oooops, sorry for putting a ‘downer’ on your great thread.