Having enjoyed the 20/20 Hindsight thread I was thinking how often life can be changed in an instant by a chance meeting, a decision quickly made or simply where you happen to be at the right or wrong time.
Is there any particular circumstance in your professional life that has dramatically changed the direction of your work or business?
We had a Scania 110 broken down on the side of the road in Northern Italy. According to the service manual the nearest dealership was in Milan - a total unknown to me -I’d always bi-passed the place. I asked the first pedestrian who got me to within 2 miles of the street. The 2nd person worked there and I gave her a lift! By the way, they didn’t have a UJ in stock, but they did have one in Swtzerland, so over the Simplon in my Fiat 124 I went. What a road - if anybody used that in a Lorry they have my respect. Jim.
Hi Dipster,i can imagine most if not all men on here have had one of the moments you have suggested.how could you not avoid one of them doing as we did…especially the early 1970s drivers in Europe and the middle east[not me, 1980 i started] read A.S.JONES POSTS, nothing i write will top any of theirs .pdb.
Yes, I can give an example. I was driving an artic round Kent picking up apple bins from the farms and taking them to the juicer. One of our drivers refused to take a LHD draw-bar outfit (old) from Spain to Poland because he was apprehensive about going to the Eastern Bloc. I was asked if I would take over the lorry. I did the job and when I returned I was asked if I would do a pioneering run (for that company) with an artic to Turkey. I did it. The rest is history because I went on to do North Africa and the Middle East, but it took a simple thing like another man’s refusal to explore the TIR-trail to jump-start me into it. 
Robert
Robert, well over 40 years ago when I was a management trainee with RHM, John Townsend, a wise old Personnel Manager (as they were called in those days before this HR nonsense), said to me that opportunity was 90% of being in the right place at the right time. Over the years that have passed since then I have observed time and time again how true John’s words have proved to be.
gingerfold:
Robert, well over 40 years ago when I was a management trainee with RHM, John Townsend, a wise old Personnel Manager (as they were called in those days before this HR nonsense), said to me that opportunity was 90% of being in the right place at the right time. Over the years that have passed since then I have observed time and time again how true John’s words have proved to be.
You and he (the personnel manager) were spot-on there IMHO! As you know, when I wasn’t driving lorries I was school-teaching and I delivered many a secondary school assembly about taking opportunities because they may never come round again. (I did qualify that for the kids by saying ‘good’ opportunities: an opportunity to try a ■■■ behind the bike sheds isn’t necessarily equal to trying snails in garlic sauce for the first time!). I can’t think of any serious opportunities I’ve grasped that I regret! Robert