one for you norman
See I kept my word, Norman
uote=“aidey”]Get her round then norm were all waiting 
[/quote]
Hi Norm…wheres the pics…West Berlin…Tarje Kotchman…whos he…is that a good spelling for the ol turk… 
truckyboy:
Hi Norm…wheres the pics…West Berlin…Tarje Kotchman…whos he…is that a good spelling for the ol turk…
truckboy pictures are o n norman denizli etc three lots including my accident, opposite LONDRA camping the outskirts of Istanbul, was a nightclub called the " WEST BERLINER" have you got it young lad, ha ha ha, I was drivng the big ones when I was in the army and when I came out in 1958.
Sandman Norman
truckyboy:
Hi Norm…wheres the pics…West Berlin…Tarje Kotchman…whos he…is that a good spelling for the ol turk…
I think it is spellled as Taci Koçman, in the Turkish alphabet, c is pronounced as j, and the c in Kocman has a tail under it which is then pronounced as ch.
bestbooties:
truckyboy:
Hi Norm…wheres the pics…West Berlin…Tarje Kotchman…whos he…is that a good spelling for the ol turk…I think it is spellled as Taci Koçman, in the Turkish alphabet, c is pronounced as j, and the c in Kocman has a tail under it which is then pronounced as ch.
Does anybody remember the view from Taci Kocman’s office or his assistant The Colonel 
, now he was a nice fellow. I did hear that The Colonel had a lot of contacts in high places.
View from Taci’s office.
Photo taken from The Harem towards Taci’s office.
I remember the view from Taci’s office back across the Bosphorous to the harem and the big jail behind.
At one time I was in Taci’s office sorting out a problem with an erant driver that had sabotaged his truck,then threatened my life with a live bullet that he said had my name on it.(■■■■■■■ pratt!)
We looked out of the office window over at the jail and Taci asked this guy if he would like to spend a few years in there with all your hair shaved off and some big Turk up your arse every night!
The Colonel was a real gent.
That tall building in the pic is the Galatta Tower.
bestbooties:
I remember the view from Taci’s office back across the Bosphorous to the harem and the big jail behind.
At one time I was in Taci’s office sorting out a problem with an erant driver that had sabotaged his truck,then threatened my life with a live bullet that he said had my name on it.([zb] pratt!)
We looked out of the office window over at the jail and Taci asked this guy if he would like to spend a few years in there with all your hair shaved off and some big Turk up your arse every night!
The Colonel was a real gent.
That tall building in the pic is the Galatta Tower.
to me it was double dutch, the reason I never used it, bagdad bill&big terry, and john mccann, and a few other lads on our firm did, once when I took my family to go there to see bill, the bloody taxi driver got lost, when we got to the pier, the ferries had stopped, we went back to londra camp.
A very good mate who was on overland Keith Shirley, said he is going to write a book, also I am well into one as well, I have done one trip to Iran, and the return trip, and have 9 sheets of A4 full of adventure,fun, and laughter. A few friends have read a couple of pages, and the delight on their faces was a joy to behold, they said do a book.
Norman Ingram:
A very good mate who was on overland Keith Shirley, said he is going to write a book, also I am well into one as well, I have done one trip to Iran, and the return trip, and have 9 sheets of A4 full of adventure,fun, and laughter. A few friends have read a couple of pages, and the delight on their faces was a joy to behold, they said do a book.
Norman,
Join the gang,there’s going to be a lot of books out soon!
Ian are you trying to tell me, that my book will not not be the “ONLY BOOK”, and i will not corner the market AaHHHH I have just had a heart attack, will this mean I won’t be a multi millionaire before I am 100, how could you be so cruel to a poor old retired trucker. ha ha ha only kidding Sandman Norman
Norman,
I’ve said it before,every driver that did ANY Middle East has enough stories to write a book,even the guys that only did one trip.
We all have a load of stories,and the thing is,they are all different!
It’s a case of making a book an enjoyable read.I have not read Cola Cowboys and am not likely to.I met the author in Turkey and I think he listened to too many drivers tall stories to write a credible book.
It’s difficult to tell a story JUST AS IT WAS,without stretching credulity too far.
In my book,I intend telling any tales just the way they happened,injecting a little bit of humour into them I hope will make the read more enjoyable without detracting from the reality of what transpired.
It’s like how many guys said they had been in the SAS?Dozens if you believe them all.
Guys who have REALLY been in the SAS wont tell you!In my M/E career of 12 years I only got to know TWO blokes who I THOUGHT were ex SAS.
As an ex military man myself,(No,not SAS),I think I am qualified to be a bit of a judge about who is a military man and who isn’t.
So Norman,I am only just over 65 and I reckon it could take me 2 years to write my book,I hope I live long enough to finish it!
Hi Ian you youngster, born 3/9/1937 went in the R.E.M.E, when seventeen & half, this after starting work at 14 , as a apprentice plumber on the British Railway, went to enlist and said Iwant to be a Driver, was asked why, my reply, was to travel and see other countries. Well we have enough drivers, we need mechanic’s, but you will travel and see other places. Six weeks basic training at Blandford, and twelve weeks mechanical training at Taunton, to be a recovery mechanic,after completion of course,there was a notice up asking for volunteers for the SAS for service in Kenya against the MAU MAU, and in Malaya for jungle warfare, to start & recover vechicles abandoned, we would have to parashoot in. So ten of our platoon put our names down, one of the conditions was you had to be a marksman, so we was on this test to see if we would be good enough, full pack and rifle, and do the mile in around 10 minutes, assult course, and many more tests, I passed, then they took us to the fireing range to check our marksman qualifacations, I put 5rounds of 303 in a two inch white square and the instructor from Hereford, said well done Craftman Ingram, and turned towards me, and screamed your are wearing glasses, I said yes sir I need them tosee long distance. You can not be in the elite service with glasses. So i went to Germany instead Hereford.
At last, thanks to a ex- middle-east trucker,I have seen a photo of the driver I was enquiring about, who use to drive for the bus firm "Bartons of Nottingham, ■■■■ Brieley, who I used to call him " ■■■■ Barton " special agent, he used to give me a little toothless grin, now I remember he had a young lad of twenty with thick curly dark hair , this was in 1976, this chap can only be about 53 years old and on the same firm. It is a pity that ■■■■ is now in the depot in the clouds, but it only took 6 months to find this out, with such a few clues, the other chap, I do not remember his name, for I only met him once, proberly he only did one trip? Sandman Norman
Hi Norman, here is another one of ■■■■ Barton with his Robinhood badge in his cap, this one was taken in the five day Queue at Bazargan waiting to exit turkey and enter Iran.
This was another memorable trip with ■■■■, my mate George Hope and i came on ■■■■ and several other Brits having a cook up north of Ankara, and here the tale begins. ■■■■ had a duff battery on his old Fiat and refused to buy a new one as that would have eaten into his fiddle money, according to ■■■■ they got £1800.00 running money each trip and didnt hand any back so buying a battery was not an option. He also had a burst fuel filter so was squirting diesel out onto the road as he would not stop his engine. I agreed to follow him into the next town to see if we could buy a filter and also to give him a tow if needed.
I ended up towing him up and down the main street of this town, with a young turk lying on the floor of his cab with the engine cover off trying to bleed the fuel system after we fitted the new filter.By the time that we were mobile again the others wer well gone, we reached the top of imranlie mountain around ten that evening and decided to call it a day andslept outside the grader station. the next morning after a tow we set off bright and early and cought up with my mate George who was waiting for us at a truck /coach stop.There were a couple ofSwedes also there, one had brought a spare V8 engine mounted on a cradle behind his cab for the other truck which had blown his up. The five of us then went into the resturant for breakfast where ■■■■ then explained to the waiter that we wanted fried eggs, he had him bring some eggs and then promptly broke them on the side of his glass and plopped them in his beer three of. The Waiter as well as us were a picture to behold as ■■■■ lifted his glass and drank the lot in one swallow where two of us got up and ran outside and threw up.
We either towed or jump started ■■■■ every day of that trip until we parted company in hungary on the way back.
The next sceneario was in the oassis resturant in Iran, we had parked up for the night and were having a few beers when the waiter told us that there was no more beer and then served a new customer with beer. ■■■■ called him over and asked him why he had told us that he had no more beer, he said that the police had told him not to give the drivers anymore than four beers and we had fifteen empy bottles on the table. We promptly paid up he cleared the table and we started over again.
He was also one of the founder drivers of TJ Trucking but that is another story. i will tell you about tom and jerry in another post.
Regards Jamie. PS I dont know how I had time to do all those trips as now i dont seem to have time to do anything, an hours work seems to take a Day.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s
Jamie, That was a very good photo of old ■■■■, and the tale about him , is so typical, he had many inner tubes & tyres off of me, and he liked his beer & women, I do not know which came first, but he was a randy old sod, but you had to like him, all I will say, we went in to The West Berliner, and he made a bee line towards this girl one -eye, I did know her name, but it eludes me at this moment, but he returned with a smile on his face, and said it was good value for his money Ha Ha Ha. My dad served in India, and when he came home after a drink, he would put several eggs in to a glass, salt, pepper, vinegar, and whisk up, then swallow down, he called it " Bombay Duck" and said it was good to settle your stomach, and sober you up, I think he would have been around Dicks age, but he died in 1945 aged about 48, do you know how old ■■■■ was, and when he passed away. catch you later mate, know what you mean about time, the days are hours, do you think we are getting old■■?. all the best Sandman Norman
hiya ,
born 1937 left school at 14 ? and commenced work ,i don’t think so ,i was born 1936 and the school leaving age was 15 that was 1951 couldn’t work until age 15 ,
thanks harry long retired .
Harry, I LOVE IT when people are so sharp, that they cut them selves, my birthday is September 3rd 1937, school term usually starts on my birthday, at 15 you could leave, I left school in june, got a apprenticeship on the railway, as a plumber, and because my mother was a widow, a concession was allowed, to let me go to work. So I left school at 14 and went to work, so you better start thinking again, I do not lie. Sandman Norman
Norman, I too have followed your path, being born 11th May 1937 and then being called up for the REME.
I was coming home from Tehran 74/75 cannot be exact, but you will know the date when I stopped at my usual Rasthaus in Austria at a place called Rottenman, about halfway across. The park was opposite and was full of BRS Overland Trucks, which I had never seen before and when I got chatting to them in the restaurant, it appeared that the then Editor of Commercial Motor(Whose name esccapes me now) was riding along as passenger to see how it all went.
I did not think that they lasted that long as I never seemed to spot them again, but I did do a clearing up operation for Tacettin Kocman (Tarji) with loads that BRS had lost in Eastern Turkey.
Were you in that restaurant that day?
hiya ,
sorry norman i was only quoting the law as it was at the time and wasn’t aware of any concessions as was in your case i thought you had possibly made a mistake and if i could have left at 14 i would have been first in the queue i hated school i was 15 in the may of 1951 but had to soldier on until july before i could leave had a job and went straight down the pits chucked that went in the army in 1954 was a driver, i drove in korea and malaya and singapore all big stuff of the day can i claim being a truly international driver i was only a national serviceman hence demobbed at age 20 but had to do work away from the haulage industry the law being it wasn’t legal to drive a heavy vehicle until age 21 so went back in the pit for a year , anyway my apologies again sorry norman .
thanks harry long retired .