robert1952:
harry:
Was that Iveco an auto-box,Robert?
Great snaps BTW.No Harry! It had a very well-installed Eaton Twin-splitter: brilliant!
By the way, and Roger may like to know this, my postings about this truck on the Middle-East run start at page 208 of the Astran / M.E. drivers thread. Robert
Donāt worry about Roger, he kicks off at anyone he never saw with his own eyes east of the Bosphorus 
newmercman:
robert1952:
harry:
Was that Iveco an auto-box,Robert?
Great snaps BTW.No Harry! It had a very well-installed Eaton Twin-splitter: brilliant!
By the way, and Roger may like to know this, my postings about this truck on the Middle-East run start at page 208 of the Astran / M.E. drivers thread. Robert
Donāt worry about Roger, he kicks off at anyone he never saw with his own eyes east of the Bosphorus
Thatās alright. Iāve read the entire Astran / ME thread so Iāve worked out where Roger is coming from. Thatās why I gave him a full answer, answered with my full name (because he likes that) and posted a pic of my truck on which he may spot the Astran sticker above the windscreen showing that I was a subbieās driver! No problem. Robert 
Robert, Snide remarks from (-newmercman) I asked a simple question and got a load of unnessary answers,I wasnt questioning whether you had driven to the ME or not ,I was only interested in who you were ,and when you took the pics whether you worked for Astran is not my business ,and I didnt ask that question ,If you had put a caption on the pics I dought whether I would have asked,this is another reason i dont post so much on here now ,its impossible to ask a simple question,without some dummy spoiling it 
.anyway TY Robert the pics are still good whether taking driving or on holiday ,I had two cameras taken on my journeys so I gave up trying shame but thats life,back to Sweden at the weekend peace and quiet .
Roger
Loose-wire:
Robert
Your pics are great but im confused they look like holiday snaps ,what were you doing there in the first place you seem to have traveled a fair distance since you appeared on trucknet,but where is a pic of the trucks you drove ,your vast selection could have been taken by any tourist,im sorry but ive never heard of you ,and I know of most,but i suppose we dont know everyone ,a bit more about yourself would be nice.
Roger
Roger, as you can see here in your post, you say that Robertās photos could have been taken by any tourist and that youāve never heard of Robert and that you know most drivers that went to the M/E. Just the latest in a long line of similar comments from yourself, so pardon me for having a sense of humour, unlike you, mine hasnāt been removed 
Loose-wire:
Robert, Snide remarks from (-newmercman) I asked a simple question and got a load of unnessary answers,I wasnt questioning whether you had driven to the ME or not ,I was only interested in who you were ,and when you took the pics whether you worked for Astran is not my business ,and I didnt ask that question ,If you had put a caption on the pics I dought whether I would have asked,this is another reason i dont post so much on here now ,its impossible to ask a simple question,without some dummy spoiling it
Roger
Well Iām glad you were able to pick the answer you wanted from all the chaff. Most of my pics are captioned, but I agree that the oneās that are not might lead to confusion. Enjoy the clean air of Scandinavia! Robert 
Is that so Newmercman well who gives a toss what you think ,I never asked for your comments in the first place ,I was interested in Robert not you ,and TY Robert, Sweden is much nicer country to live in than GB its finished here get out while you can Bye bye
Roger
Loose-wire:
Is that so Newmercman well who gives a toss what you think ,I never asked for your comments in the first place ,I was interested in Robert not you ,and TY Robert, Sweden is much nicer country to live in than GB its finished here get out while you can Bye bye
Roger
Thanks for the kind words
You know you love me really
Hi, I have read all the ME threads on TN to me its fascinating what you guys have done and where you have been, I wish I had gave it a go , but how one ME driver can question the other just because he hasnāt met or heard of another, I know ex ME drivers that I have worked with that he probably doesnāt know, to me Robertās addition to TN is brilliant.
Les.
Hi Roger.Glad to hear you are enjoying life in Sweden.Been a strange Winter this year.Last week was plus 5c,now itās gone back to min 25c with a foot of snow 
.Ceāst la vie.A couple of pics would be nice of where you live so we can have a drool over.Mike
In a way, Roger raised an interesting question: at what point do our images cease to become authentic records of life on the road and start to become holiday snaps? I would say that that point doesnāt exist: that compartmentalising drivers into workers abroad and tourists is an artificial construct. I was looking at Astran driversā happy snaps of the mosques across the Bosphorous in Istanbul in the Astran thread. Inevitably, they are identical with pics I took when I was parked up in Londra Camp TIR-park and went exploring in Istanbul. But they are also identical to pics I took in Istanbul when I visited as a tourist in the early '80s and again, identical to pics I took when I taught in a secondary school in Istanbul for a year.
The thing is, when you live in a lorry for weeks on end traversing whole continents, there are going to be times when you are at work, times when you are at leisure and times when you actually become a tourist. Long-haul drivers carry a set of decent clothes in which to go out to a good restaurant or a nightclub. For a driver, the whole thing is integrated into a vague concept of ālorry workā, ābig tripsā, or āon the roadā. What is a holiday snap to one observer is a workmanās memento to another.
Finally, I attach the following picture. I was on my way back from the Gulf through Greece, had rung ahead to the port but couldnāt get an early boat, leaving me with half a day to spare. So I visited the fabulous ancient site of Delphi. Technically, this becomes a holiday snap because I had magicked into tourist for the morning. But wait, you can see my truck in the far distance (top, right) - mmm, canāt be a holiday snap then, or is it? Robert
I Think the majority of international truckers are āāpart timeāā tourists purely due to the nature of the job.When we do the job all of us have a little bit of āāMarco Poloāā adventurer in us otherwise we would not do it.The financial recompense does not fully compensate for the job and all it entails.Many of us are already interested in travel\ Culture\history and the job is a means of improving\enjoying\learning about peoples,places and Cultures which,in many cases the average person would never see or experience let alone get paid at the same time.
I know i would never have had the possibility of going to such places as the further reaches of USSR,Pakistan or Oman as a tourist so will always be grateful for having had the opportunity,especially as travel to so called āāexoticāā locations seems to be getting more restrictive with each passing year.
hutpik:
I Think the majority of international truckers are āāpart timeāā tourists purely due to the nature of the job.When we do the job all of us have a little bit of āāMarco Poloāā adventurer in us otherwise we would not do it.The financial recompense does not fully compensate for the job and all it entails.Many of us are already interested in travel\ Culture\history and the job is a means of improving\enjoying\learning about peoples,places and Cultures which,in many cases the average person would never see or experience let alone get paid at the same time.
I know i would never have had the possibility of going to such places as the further reaches of USSR,Pakistan or Oman as a tourist so will always be grateful for having had the opportunity,especially as travel to so called āāexoticāā locations seems to be getting more restrictive with each passing year.
I fully agree with you. Another driver posting on The Adventures thread made the point that long-haul work could simply be described as a great adventure. You could earn more money driving brand new supermarket trolleys up and down the M2 (and be home by tea time) than you could driving old wagons up and down the TIR-trail. We made our choices - Iāll never regret mine. Robert
Robert
I agree with most of your post ,and little bit on the cultural side of things was not my thing,as for having a fine set of duds to go out on the town,forget that,when you have had all your gear thrown out on the road or sand by stupid ignorant so called customs guys looking for something they could have,on so many occasions ,3 shirts 5 pairs of boxers,5 tee shirts,2 pairs of socks,2 pair of jeans 2 cut of at the knees ,for shorts and a packet of soap powder, 10 clothes pegs,a pack of 3 just in case I saw a good looking slapper never did in all my years on the road,dont forget the clacks ,clogs, and desert boots a must for stripping that tilt in 100degrees,but loved every part of it,good times and bad ,had enough trouble looking at what was going on through the windscreen ,while driving ,nevermind the camera,watch,out for yourself,I never had the time ,most was spent on others who should not have been there in the first place , an Ex soldier cant leave a sole behind it cost me dear on a few occasions, iām rambling now ,By
Roger
Interesting point Robert. Ramble on Roger, Iām from the same school as you, I look back on the 26+ years I had as a European based driver and consider most of it to be a payed holiday. I got into it with high hopes but humble aspirations, was lucky enough to have one heck of a fantastic time, and never regretted any of it. I summed it one day when I was talking to my mate when he asked me how long a trip would take and how long I got of between runs.
" You donāt know how a trip will take until you get back, and you donāt know how long you get of until itās time to go again."
I was never big on taking photos when I was away, but my Dad pressured me to take a camera when I was driving in America in the late 80ās. The last part of that trip involved me riding my Harley from Pomona to JFK via the bike rally at Sturgas so I put everything I had ( Car, Truck, And Custom Bike Magazines as well as thousands of photos ) in 2 large boxes and Fed Exted them back home. That was the last I ever saw of them, and after that and having a couple confiscated at certain border crossings, I never really bothered with a camera any more.
One of the biggest problems was that no one else I knew from home was doing anything similar to what I was doing, so when I eventually got back home it was hard to relate to any one as they didnāt any idea what it was like to do the kind of work people like us were up to.
I mentioned to Robert on another thread that when I got to Australia I contacted the ed from a well known trucking mag and he asked me to write down a few tales and adventures. When he eventually replied he said he really enjoyed them but couldnāt print any of it as no one would be able to relate to any of it and most would think it was all made up.
It wasnāt until I found Trucknet that I found other people that did the same sort of thing, I can put up a photo of goat in a tree and say I took that photo out the window of my F12 draw bar in North Africa and people on here will comment like āI used see them all the time when I was thereā
Show that to your average none traveling bod in the UK and youāll get a blank stare with no frame of reference.
Jeffā¦
Jelliot you make a very good point about having lots of pictures of trucks in exotic places that no-one you know can related to. Thatās exactly why I chose to put all my pictures on TruckNet, because there are people on here who CAN related to them. Robert
I love trucks and I love traveling and I was lucky enough to do both at the same time. I was equally lucky that on occasion I could take my girlfriend ( now wife ) along with me so at least she understands from her point of view what it was all about.
For me itās the journey and not as much the destination, I find it very soul destroying to sit in a plane and fly over things. I donāt under stand why people have this urge to go from one soul destroying air port to another then get in a bus with a load of other folk and get herded along joining the dots by a disinterested tour guide.
My in laws wanted me to go to north Queensland for a couple of weeks holiday so we sent the kids on on the plane and my wife and I spent a week driving up, to me that part was the holiday. You cant understand a country if you fly over it at 30,000 feet.
Jeffā¦
Travelled all my life and loved it. Now I donāt want the hassle. Get in a taxi,get on a plane,get in another taxi 6000 miles away and itās a home from home to continue my life. Never did like driving cars,they are too near the ground for me,so now I even have my groceries delivered to save the schlep to tescos.
Well retired btw.
(Maybe I need a change of scenery?)
By the way ,Robert . When I was young I hitch hiked from Copenhagen to Colombo and back. DK,D,A,I,GR,TURKEY,IRAN,AFGHANISTAN ,KHYBER PASS, PAKISTAN ,INDIA, CEYLON ā¦and back again.
I saw all I wanted to see of that part of the world so when TIR started I avoided those places and always went south for the beaches ,babes ,good food,drink and climate. I was earning good money for having a holiday with pay on the beach at Castellafels while the ME lads were up to their ears in muck and bullets for trip money.
All those barge like wooden lorries you see in Pakistan and India Iāve ridden in the cab and on top of the load. In India the roads are very smooth and riding on top you soon go to sleep.
The most dangerous countries to hitch were Germany and Iran ,the drivers were either psychos or p#ss heads. Do that trip once without the comfort and protection of the big rig and you wouldnāt make a habit of it. .
I did that trip,it took six months there and back ,for Ā£150!
Excellent, Harry - and when you do those things in your formative years they become part of who you are. They can never take that away from you! Robert
robert1952:
Excellent, Harry - and when you do those things in your formative years they become part of who you are. They can never take that away from you! Robert
You canāt imagine how many lifts I got ,Robert. They took a large part of my brain away.
Hitching thru the Khyber ,FFS! What was I thinking of? Picked up by tribesmen in a old Yankee banger with no back seat,just sat on the metal and drive like no tomorrow .
The ME was accidental, I hitched to Piraeus to get a boat to Australia . I asked the price ,which was cheap ,bearing in mind I started with Ā£100 , and asked where was his next stop ,turned out to be Colombo . So I worked out the mileage and decided to take in the scenery ,hitch there and get the fare half price. After many hair raising adventures in Turkey ,Iran ,Afghanistan ,Pakistan and India I finally arrived at Colombo quayside only to find out the fare to Sydney was the same as it was from Piraeus ! Didnāt have the money so now had to get back to Copenhagen ā¦another story.
