I have launched this thread so that people are aware that I have published my third book, “The Champagne Truckers”.
The thread is designed to inform people of developments with the book and allow everybody to discuss it.
Obviously, I will answer any questions that any body raises.
The book follows up my first book “The Vodka Cola Cowboy” and is a collection of more previously unpublished, true incidents and situations that
I encountered during the five years that I lived in Moscow and operated my own truck from there.
Once again the subjects raised in the book range from the comic to the extremely dangerous and all points in between.
I definitely think that readers of “The Vodka Cola Cowboy” and “Trucking Magic” will enjoy “The Champagne Truckers”
and here is a forum for them to discuss this.
Seeing as how nobody else wants to comment on your book Mick I will start the ball rolling. I got the book on Kindle Unlimited last week and had read it within 2 days as I found it that enjoyable. It gives a great insight into Russian Trucking at the time and lays the groundwork to why things are as they are in Putin’s Russia at the present day. All in all a great read if you are into transport or how other cultures live and operate.
Les
Just finished my Kindle copy of the book. Excellent reading as always and a fascinating insight into Russia and Russian society in the immediate post-USSR years, especially with regard to the nouveau riche, driving standards, criminality and alcoholism - it must have been a challenge to live, work and drive there back then. I shudder to think what it’s like under Putin.
kickstart:
Seeing as how nobody else wants to comment on your book Mick I will start the ball rolling. I got the book on Kindle Unlimited last week and had read it within 2 days as I found it that enjoyable. It gives a great insight into Russian Trucking at the time and lays the groundwork to why things are as they are in Putin’s Russia at the present day. All in all a great read if you are into transport or how other cultures live and operate.
Les
Thanks Les.
Glad that you enjoyed it mate. Has the good lady wife calmed down a bit, now ?
I did not go into detail as to what happened after Yeltsin, because I did not want to upset
Vladimir. I could have ended up with a cup of Polonium tea
See, I kept my word. I told you that it would be on KUL. Especially for you mate.
Just finished my Kindle copy of the book. Excellent reading as always and a fascinating insight into Russia and Russian society in the immediate post-USSR years, especially with regard to the nouveau riche, driving standards, criminality and alcoholism - it must have been a challenge to live, work and drive there back then. I shudder to think what it’s like under Putin.
James aka Doggage.
Hello James.
I am glad that you enjoyed the book. The sights that I saw in Moscow and beyond regarding alcoholism and driving were unbelievable.
In 1994 there was a programme on Russian television about alcoholism. They concluded that it was around 86% of the population
that were alcohol dependent. So, despite what people say, the Russians aren’t all bad
Hi Mick, yes she has calmed down, but I don’t attach too much importance to her moaning about jobs, I am used to it. I have found that as soon as I have cleared the list of jobs to do then the list miraculously self reproduces and I am back to square one again. Thanks for ensuring that it was on Kindle Unlimited, it has made the monthly subs better value. I am slowly working my way through all the transport related books on there. I have just finished one called “The Old Lorry Driver’s Log Book” by Paul Singleton, another good read about times gone past. About to start one called “Zeebrugge and Back” by Roger L Brookfield. I really enjoy these tales of driver’s times gone by, they usually remind me of experiences I had but had forgotten about. I have to say that the 2 of yours I have read so far are at the top of the tree.
Les
kickstart:
Hi Mick, yes she has calmed down, but I don’t attach too much importance to her moaning about jobs, I am used to it. I have found that as soon as I have cleared the list of jobs to do then the list miraculously self reproduces and I am back to square one again. Thanks for ensuring that it was on Kindle Unlimited, it has made the monthly subs better value. I am slowly working my way through all the transport related books on there. I have just finished one called “The Old Lorry Driver’s Log Book” by Paul Singleton, another good read about times gone past. About to start one called “Zeebrugge and Back” by Roger L Brookfield. I really enjoy these tales of driver’s times gone by, they usually remind me of experiences I had but had forgotten about. I have to say that the 2 of yours I have read so far are at the top of the tree.
Les
Thanks for that Les. I am getting a lot of good feedback from people who have read the books.
Some have read all of them and some one or two. But they seem quite popular.
As I said in “The Champagne Truckers”, I had a few dealings with Sovtransavto.
Firstly they sponsored our visas so that we could work in Russia.
Then I had to occasionally deliver at their depots. Also I had them service the truck for me.
When I first ever saw them it was in Yugoslavia, in the 70s. This is what their trucks looked like then.
As I said in “The Champagne Truckers”, I had a few dealings with Sovtransavto.
Firstly they sponsored our visas so that we could work in Russia.
Then I had to occasionally deliver at their depots. Also I had them service the truck for me.
When I first ever saw them it was in Yugoslavia, in the 70s. This is what their trucks looked like then.
Mick
Interesting information. What kind of lorries did they have?
Vodka Cola Cowboy:
As I said in “The Champagne Truckers”, I had a few dealings with Sovtransavto.
Firstly they sponsored our visas so that we could work in Russia.
Then I had to occasionally deliver at their depots. Also I had them service the truck for me.
When I first ever saw them it was in Yugoslavia, in the 70s. This is what their trucks looked like then.
Mick
Interesting information. What kind of lorries did they have?
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
MAZ lorries Johnny, they later switched to Western marques such as pictured Merc, but didn’t they had Volvo’s in the fleet as well…? Might be wrong though…as usual…
One thing that Sovtransavto were into was colour schemes. They kept changing them at regular intervals. From the old, original light blue they went through their orange period. The sandy yellow period and then on to their white with red lines. I don’t know what prompted them to keep making these changes unless it was the manufacturers cheapest price. Here is the white with red design.
A photo of a Sovtransavto workshop. I used them a few times for minor repairs and to have the truck serviced.
Then there were the wash down facilities which I used to de-cake the truck and trailers.
As I say in “The Champagne Truckers”, their charges were cheap and they really helped me out.
A Sovtransavto promotional advert. With their H.Q. based in Moscow,
they had depots and fleets of trucks throughout the whole of the old Soviet Union.
But they weren’t just an International haulage operation.
They ran fleets of coaches which took Russian tourists throughout the
old Eastern European bloc and on trips within the U.S.S.R.
They also ran local and long distance internal trucks which covered the vast sprawl of the country.
With a very solid base they survived the break up of the Soviet Union.
The usual view that you got of the road through Russia, when it was not winter time.
The dirt strips either side of the road were a constant presence. They acted as hard shoulders.
The terrain beside the road would be either wide open grassland or thick forests.
Whichever it was it would go on for long distances.
The road between the Polish border and Moscow was relatively flat, particularly through Belarus.
Once you reached Borisov, you encountered three ridges on the way to Moscow.
However, there were no steep climbs on that route and you could cruise along quite effortlessly.
You also found, in the early 90s, that the road would be virtually deserted and you would see very little other traffic.
