mushroomman:
Birdie4x4:
This site really needs a like button.0
Well I met my old boss (Malcolm Watson) this week, first time since I finished working for him in 78, he could write a dozen books, he started middle east in the early 70s I joined him in 76 until 78, after I left he carried on with Redcliffeâs then had 14 years living in Qatar running internally with his own trucks, came back to the UK and carried on running on the middle east, some of his last runs were to Iran delivering old UK trucks with trailers full of spares and flying home, he did his last trip in 2013 ( age 71 ) donât think thereâs many around that stuck it that long, I asked him abut running trailers from Dammam to Riyadh when we stayed in Saudi for the odd week when we had tipped and who we stayed with and it was Brent Savage a well known name back in the day and his mates. Looking forward to having another catch up soon.
Thanks for that great post mushroomman. I could read your memories all day. Iâm sure Iâm not the only one who pops over here occasionally to find out what you all got up to. Anyone who has a connection with Turkey will find it so evocative.
Iâm late to the party but Iâm loving my career change so far - itâs such a good fit for me - and I canât help wishing I had started driving professionally when I was much younger. I would have loved the international travel but it never presented itself to me as an option, yet as a lover of travel, it is an obvious choice of career. Perhaps I will get to do a trip or two at the latter end of my working life instead.
vwvanman0:
0Donât recall seeing a transcontinental in Erik Vick livery before? Pic is from fb m/e page.
Steve
An excellent find, vwvanman! I knew Eric Vick had a Transcon and a LPS merc on Middle-East work but had always assumed they were never painted into EV colours. But recently I found a clip of the LPS in EV livery and now youâve come up with the Transcon too. There was also a Atki Borderer but I donât think that did M/E!
Not all sand camels on that work.
I must admit that yesterday was the first time that I have seen this video before.
It might be a bit grainy and flickery in parts but I found it really interesting, especially seeing some of the old British companies.
I am sure that lots of us on here would of seen a photo of the abandoned motor at 13 min + 12 secs.
Thanks to Ant Williams for taking the time to put Gilbertâs cine film on You Tube. 
youtube.com/watch?v=-v6EV6kgtnc
youtube.com/watch?v=3a-O2pUlP8s
Comartâs.
youtube.com/watch?v=LoKpMvx0HAA
B.T.W.
As somebody asked about Er-sen sometime ago, did anybody spot the Er-sen Fiat parked at the Harem truck park behind the photo of the Mushroomlady.
On Gilbertâs first video there is quick glimpse of The Harem Hotel and the truck park, approximately between 40 secs and 1 min 36.
Really nice to see my old firm Redcliffeâs MAN in the second video, thanks for that.
A well-worn Eurostar and tilt in Syria.
I was in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago, WOW, how the place has changed so much over the last forty years although the traffic is just as bad as it ever was.
The sea front outside Taci Kochmanâs office has probably had billions of Turkish Lire spent on it and its now a world class cruise terminal which can accommodate the largest of cruise ships.
The khaki coloured building next to the yellow crane is where Kochmanâs office used to be, itâs now a Marriott Hotel.
^^^^Iâm so glad I was there in the '80s and '90s when all that lovely Belle Epoch architecture still adorned the banks of the Bosphorous. And the Istanbul backstreets were real backstreets.
I know exactly what you mean, even The Blue Mosque is having a massive refurbishment and to me, it seems that it will not be as blue as it has been for hundreds of years.
I tried taking a couple of photos of the dome, itâs quite stunning but to me, it seems more of a blue grey.
I donât know if Jazzandy remembers it but on the corner of the building where Taciâs office was, just opposite the old port gates. There was a little shop which sold freshly made orange and lemon juice. There used to be sacks full of oranges and lemons, stacked up outside on the pavement. One of the young kids who would have been about ten or twelve would cut the oranges or the lemons in half and grind them into a lemon squeezer. The juice would run down into a glass tank where his mate of about the same age would fill up the glasses. An older fellow would take the customers money.
It was the best orange juice that I had ever tasted, and I could never walk past the place without having at least two glasses of fresh cold orange juice.
I revisited the place a couple of weeks ago, itâs not there anymore, itâs now a mobile phone shop. 
HAGIA SOFIA MOSQUE.
mushroomman:
I know exactly what you mean, even The Blue Mosque is having a massive refurbishment and to me, it seems that it will not be as blue as it has been for hundreds of years.
I tried taking a couple of photos of the dome, itâs quite stunning but to me, it seems more of a blue grey.I donât know if Jazzandy remembers it but on the corner of the building where Taciâs office was, just opposite the old port gates. There was a little shop which sold freshly made orange and lemon juice. There used to be sacks full of oranges and lemons, stacked up outside on the pavement. One of the young kids who would have been about ten or twelve would cut the oranges or the lemons in half and grind them into a lemon squeezer. The juice would run down into a glass tank where his mate of about the same age would fill up the glasses. An older fellow would take the customers money.
It was the best orange juice that I had ever tasted, and I could never walk past the place without having at least two glasses of fresh cold orange juice.I revisited the place a couple of weeks ago, itâs not there anymore, itâs now a mobile phone shop.
HAGIA SOFIA MOSQUE.
Hiya Mushroomman! Those orange juice stalls used to use sturdy hand-operated orange presses. Simple technology, over-engineered and last for ever. I bought one in Alanya market and on my way home the customs officer thought it was a dismantled gun until he investigated. When he saw it was a street boyâs orange press he howled with laughter!! Hereâs a picture of one like mine but mine is an older and slightly simpler model. Same colour and stand.
You werenât driving for Matrix Churchill at the time were you Ro. 
After I had paid a visit to The Blue Mosque, I thought that it would have been rude not to call into The Pudding Shop. It suddenly came back to me the number of times that I had heard British drivers all those years ago, asking for a plate of âElephants Legâ and chips, and I ordered a couple of draught Efes, just for nostalgia purposes of course.
I had a bit of a conversation with one of the waiters and mentioned that the last time that I was in there was in 1987. I asked him did they still have those Pudding Shop car stickers. He told me that he had only worked there for thirty years, and he sent one of the young waiters into the back of the shop to try and find me a sticker. After about five minutes the young lad returned and gave me this sticker and a Pudding Shop post card.
From there I walked round to The Grand Bazaar, which you will all know used to be the old Sultans stables. That too has had a massive makeover and to me, it seems to have lost all of its old-world atmosphere and character.
mushroomman:
You werenât driving for Matrix Churchill at the time were you Ro.After I had paid a visit to The Blue Mosque, I thought that it would have been rude not to call into The Pudding Shop. It suddenly came back to me the number of times that I had heard British drivers all those years ago, asking for a plate of âElephants Legâ and chips, and I ordered a couple of draught Efes, just for nostalgia purposes of course.
I had a bit of a conversation with one of the waiters and mentioned that the last time that I was in there was in 1987. I asked him did they still have those Pudding Shop car stickers. He told me that he had only worked there for thirty years, and he sent one of the young waiters into the back of the shop to try and find me a sticker. After about five minutes the young lad returned and gave me this sticker and a Pudding Shop post card.
From there I walked round to The Grand Bazaar, which you will all know used to be the old Sultans stables. That too has had a massive makeover and to me, it seems to have lost all of its old-world atmosphere and character.
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It must have been a bit boring coming to Oz Mushroomman driving from say Brisbane to Perth probly about the same distance but no where near the culture and sights seen as these. Thanks for sharing with ENE.
Cheers Dig
Good afternoon Dig, I have been messing around for the last couple of hours trying to put these two photos on and for some reason they will not come out horizontally. 
Anyway, as to your question I am afraid that my driving adventures from Brisbane to Perth were always in our motorhome.
The only problem that I ever encountered at the borders was between South Australia and W.A. and the Northern Territory and W.A.
I got my wrists slapped because we had a jar of honey in the fridge.
Well, you have to think about the fruit flies you know.
After arriving here in 1998 they wouldnât recognize my U.K. H.G.V. class one and so I had to do a driving test to get my H.C. Heavy Combination.
The first job that came up was driving a Scania 112 with a forty-foot fridge for Queensland Mushrooms at their farm just west of Brisbane.
Maybe I saw you or Star in the Brisbane fruit and veggie markets on a Sunday morning where trucks from all across Australia, including Tasmania, would be trying to offload.
Not long after I passed my Aussie test, they changed the rules back to recognizing U.K. H.G.V. driving licenses again.
B.T.W. what is ENE. 
mushroomman:
Good afternoon Dig, I have been messing around for the last couple of hours trying to put these two photos on and for some reason they will not come out horizontally.Anyway, as to your question I am afraid that my driving adventures from Brisbane to Perth were always in our motorhome.
The only problem that I ever encountered at the borders was between South Australia and W.A. and the Northern Territory and W.A.
I got my wrists slapped because we had a jar of honey in the fridge.
Well, you have to think about the fruit flies you know.After arriving here in 1998 they wouldnât recognize my U.K. H.G.V. class one and so I had to do a driving test to get my H.C. Heavy Combination.
The first job that came up was driving a Scania 112 with a forty-foot fridge for Queensland Mushrooms at their farm just west of Brisbane.Maybe I saw you or Star in the Brisbane fruit and veggie markets on a Sunday morning where trucks from all across Australia, including Tasmania, would be trying to offload.
Not long after I passed my Aussie test, they changed the rules back to recognizing U.K. H.G.V. driving licenses again.
B.T.W. what is ENE.
Hey mate I double clicked on the photos and that turned them right way up but back to wrong way up when returned to normal.Great photos though.
ENE/ ERF - NGC - EUROPEAN. just took a short cut that didnt work.
I turned up in Perth in 1969 they told me my all groups english licence was good for 6 months ,that turned out to be â â â â â â â â anyhow I was working at British Leyland West Oz truck devision and as they used to fly me around fixing a few things which meant driving stuff to acces its problem etc Leylands hired a driving school to get all of us on the workshop floor a licence.I was the guinea pig passed with flying colours which translated meant I got on well with the police sergeant who was the examiner. 
Only been to Brisbanne once landed there to change planes flew onto Townnsvill bought a Titan from Macks [Otherwise known as the Money Pit 
] there and drove it home across the top . 6004kms Macks front gate to home.
They gave the truck drivers a book of stat decs last time I went through 4 years ago just waved it and green flagged, but it is a joke at times if you went Great Central Road or the Tanami Track a yellow rubbish bin at the border with a small truck bay.
Dig
Thatâs good trick!! 
ERF-NGC-European:
Thatâs good trick!!
Yes, it is, and it looks like Larry Dunbar has also been practicing it on the Past, Present and in Between Thread. 
Here are a couple of old photos which were taken in The Grand Bazaar back in the eighties.
Frankie Andrews and his wife Brenda.
These are not my photos but this is how I remember it.
I was looking forward to seeing the new Canakkale Bridge but as it was nighttime as we sailed past Gallipoli, these were the only photos that I managed to take. They are able to change the colours of the lighting on the bridge, which makes it look quite impressive.
mushroomman:
I was looking forward to seeing the new Canakkale Bridge but as it was nighttime as we sailed past Gallipoli, these were the only photos that I managed to take. They are able to change the colours of the lighting on the bridge, which makes it look quite impressive.4
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Was there a couple of weeks ago, took a ferry because couldnt find HGS tag and ferry is also cheaper. Next time, next week, driving over bridge just for fun.