Well here’s a quick update from the madman. I’m in Scandinavia so most of you are quite safe and can breathe a sigh of relief. Things didn’t work out with the job in Stavanger, although I would have been on very good money and loved the place I had a few problems when I got back to the UK from the interview. Everything that could have gone wrong did and the final straw was my car blowing up on me so I figured the whole Nordic adventure wasn’t going to happen. By the time I’d sorted everything out it was going to be too much of a stretch for me to go to Stavanger and put a big deposit up on somewhere to stay and live for nearly 6 weeks before the first full pay cheque so I had to reluctantly tell them that I couldn’t take the job that was on offer. The company were fine about it and said that there would be a job waiting for me next April if I’m still interested. After a period of being seriously ■■■■■■ off with the World I got over it and said ■■■■ it, I’ll just stay in Nottingham and enjoy what bit of a Summer there is. Unfortunately I’m a very curious person and kept looking on Norwegian job websites. I noticed a hiab job on offer near Trondheim but didn’t even want to waste my time applying for it. After a couple of days I got an itchy finger whilst waiting to load a car at Grimsby docks and sent a 2 sentence email to the owner of the firm in question. He replied within 10 mins. telling me that it was a full-time job etc. and to send my CV. 24 hours later I hadn’t responded and he’s sending me more messages to get in touch because he wants to know more. 3 days later I throw a few boxer shorts and a couple of shirts in a case and take the the train to Gatwick followed by a flight to Trondheim. Planned to stay Fri-Sat-Sun and see what it was all about so hired a car and went for a cruise. The owner drives a tanker on day shift thru the week so I had to meet him and his main man on the Friday night at the yard. After a 10 min. chat and a quick play with the hiab on the back of a new 6x4 Actros they seemed a bit keen to end the “interview” and switch to speaking in perfect English. At this point I thought it was going down like a lead ballon but it turned out the reason they were so anxious to wrap things up was they wanted to get changed and go to the Scania 70 year anniversary party at the main dealer on the outskirts of town. Free tea, coffee and Carlsberg all night on tap, plus free BBQ, seafood, cakes, wine, live music and enough V8 Golden Griffen Merchandise to give a tang a ■■■■■■■ heart attack! So 90 mins. later they come to pick me up at the hotel and drive me to the party to meet some of the other drivers. After a short period of awkward “Nor-English” introductions and talking ■■■■■■■■ about American trucks and jobs in Canada we get completely ■■■■■■■ rat-arsed and by midnight we’re drinking 96% proof Moonshine coffee, whilst the boss who is now completely out of his tree is dancing with a blonde half his age, she has got her legs wrapped around his neck and he’s swinging her around like a rag doll! The party finally shuts down sometime around 2am and although we could have gone on longer we call it a night and agree to meet up the next day. I wake up the next day still drunk but not hungover for some reason and don’t know what the ■■■■ to expect next when told to meet up at the owner’s house. Tells me the job is mine if I want it and he’ll try to find somewhere for me to stay in the village as I haven’t got a car of my own yet. On the Monday morning I go down to the tax office in Trondheim to register myself in order to open a bank account and also get a place to stay that is included in the job so I don’t have to worry about a paying deposit or monthly payments to the landlord, it just comes out of my money each month which is a lot easier for me. On the Tuesday I was told that there was nothing for me to do so I took the train into town to buy some stuff for the “Love Shack” but just as I get to the door of the first shop I get call saying there might be a job on this afternoon and do you wanna earn some money today? To right I ■■■■■■■ do!! So I run across town to the train station like Linford Christie and get my instructions via text message. I have to go to Grandma’s house where I’m given a Norwegian road atlas and the keys to the the circa. £200k Actros which I need to take to Ålesund town centre and be ready to load 2 counter weights and tower crane section the following morning. Bear in mind that they hadn’t even see me a drive vehicle at this point but about halfway to Molde where I was going to catch a ferry to Vestnes I met the firm’s top driver on a Shell station and he gave me some notes on where to park overnight, buy diesel and the procedures onsite in Ålesund. Unfortunately the camera on my phone ■■■■■■ up so I couldn’t get many photos of the ferry crossing or scenery from the first trip but hopefully it won’t be the last time I do that run. Had no dramas finding the overnight parking in Ålesund or the collection address but the fun began after I had loaded. Nearly. 3 hours and 2 cans of WD40 to put 6 chains on!! Hardly get used on the particular trailer that I had and had rusted up solid! Thankfully I’ve calmed down a lot nowadays and instead of blowing a gasket went to the coffee shop half way thru and had 10 mins to cool off. Eventually got it all strapped down and secure and headed back towards to the ferry between Vestnes and Molde. Nice beef stroganoff on the boat and a drop of jungle juice for the Actros in Molde and a nice cruise back to Trondheim taking in all the mountains and fjords along the way. Not a bad first trip in “my” new motor but it now seems however that the guy who was supposed to be leaving the company and move back to the West coast to be closer to his family has been messed around with his new job. He likes tramping as he works 3 weeks on and 1 week off here although he does have a small cabin around 45 miles from the yard. The plan now is that he will drive the Actros on local/distance hiab work for 3 weeks at a time whilst I drive his Scania R620 V8 on local asphalt routes with another driver on shifts. When he goes home for his week off I’ll jump in the Actros again. It’s a better solution for everyone, he doesn’t have to cab share and I get an easier local job that pays a lot more on hourly rate for asphalt driving as opposed to salary on long distance plus I get to be home every night and have a chance to become familiar with the local neighbourhood but once a month I get to go out on tour and see some of the country so I get the best of both worlds in theory. Will try and do a proper diary of a trip in the near future when I get a bit more organized. I’m on the Actros next week so you might not have to wait too long…
Great story & pics mate.
Keep em coming. 
As above, but on your next blog a bit easier on the eyes to read in paragraphs.
Good luck though.
Great words and pictures. Thanks for posting.
Fascinating reading, how do you manage with the language or is English widely spoken. I lived in The Netherlands for a while and found if you did not at least try to speak Dutch people eventually got a little peed off and stopped helping.
Well, I had actually been offered a chance to work in Norway a few years ago (non-driving) but choose to go on a working holiday to New Zealand before I was too old to get a work visa therefore I knew a bit about Scandinavia already. When I got back to the UK one of my first jobs was loading a racing car in Peterborough for delivery to Immingham docks for a Norwegian customer and things kind of progressed from there. I then met a Norwegian teacher in Nottingham married to an Englishman and learned to speak the language in my spare time. Probably difficult to get a job there without speaking the language but once you’re actually there almost everyone speaks English to you. For some strange reason I seemed to get a better reception from the locals when I spoke English as they recognized the British accent straight away as opposed to “general foreigner” whilst speaking Norwegian. Most places presumed I was Polish or Latvian etc. as like most countries there a more than a few Eastern Europeans drivers around but then seemed quite shocked that I was English but could speak another language.