I did my own tour of Vienna looking for places mentioned in ‘The Third Man’. The big ferris wheel was effin miles off.
A group of us spent the day at Gardaland, probably one of the nicest weekends I ever had.
Went round Hamburg and spent the night in a squat with a bar listening to rave music (I don’t like rave music) rejoined the rest of the world the next morning and had coffee in the fishmarket.
Parked up at a tiny Routier on the cross country way to Toulouse. No idea where I was, they opened the kitchen just for me and made me my tea.
Got the train to Arnhem (instead of Amsterdam for once) to walk round some of the battle sites. The bridge isn’t the original one.
Nearly drowned swimming in the sea near Murcia and I’m a good swimmer…
Many weekends in the village of Evergem and the city of Gent. The place is probably the size of Preston (my home town) and just as tatty from the outside. The centre though, was a world apart, I’ve even thought of going on holiday there.
Plenty of short weekends on rainy motorway services too. Usually just 24 off and a holiday letter waiting in the yard for a bit of overtime.
As for Jabekke, I think I had a coffee there once…
First time out I got weekended, stayed at carisio. Got on the ■■■■ with some Brits, wakes up Saturday morning with a knock on the door and the bloke who was parked at the side of me had made me a cup of tea!! Don’t think that would happen in an English MSA.
I know what you mean,total strangers would have eggs and bacon on the go,or a cuppa made,everyone is out for themselves,that is progress,with 24 hour,all year round tipping and loading,overnight working.
I once spent the Easter weekend at Aosta,the truck parking was full,so was on the slip road,so i went up the cable car to sun bathe in the hot sun at that height and watch the action on the slopes,you can walk up the lanes,but would take ages,the buses go up there.
Many weekends in the Estoril/Cascais area,drop the trailer in the TIR park at Alverca,smelly sewer there by the river with big mosquitoes,bob tail down to the beach.
The cinema in the shopping malls was handy,as the films were in English with Portuguese subtiltes,so you could learn the language quickly,i could park in the goods in area at the rear of the mall,so there was security.
Shower at the camp site at Playa de Guincho,where they have worldwide surfing contests.
Weekends in Spain,find the nearest public swimming pool.
Use public transport to get in the cities,to get out of the cab.
parked up for the weekend at tillys at puig near valenecia in 1989 sat in the bar watching east and west germans sitting hugging on top of the berlin wall drinking beers then they started to demolish it.as the 1st bricks fell we never realised that it was the start of the end for our industry and all our jobs
A good way to explore big German cities is just jump on the Berlin or Hamburg underground and get off after 10 minutes. Whichever street you end up on go for a pint, as long as you remember which stop you got on it doesn’t matter, you have all weekend to find the lorry
Wheel Nut:
A good way to explore big German cities is just jump on the Berlin or Hamburg underground and get off after 10 minutes. Whichever street you end up on go for a pint, as long as you remember which stop you got on it doesn’t matter, you have all weekend to find the lorry
Haha, that’s if you can work out how to buy a bloody ticket from those stupid machines!!!
Just this minute come off Skype talking to my mate Gibbo who’s stuck down in Casablanca for the weekend, stinking hot so he’s just of to the beech to find a nice bar and restaurant to drown his sorrows, what a hard life, bet he wished he was savouring the delights of a wet weekend on a MSA over here, am I jealous? You bet I am.
OssieD:
Just this minute come off Skype talking to my mate Gibbo who’s stuck down in Casablanca for the weekend, stinking hot so he’s just of to the beech to find a nice bar and restaurant to drown his sorrows, what a hard life, bet he wished he was savouring the delights of a wet weekend on a MSA over here, am I jealous? You bet I am.
Ossie
& then its the Seamans or the French restaurant in the Flower Market.
He’ll find them Harry.
Perhaps I’ve been lucky over the many years I spent abroad, I never had many weekend away, but one I remember well was having to spend four days waiting for a load down at Rimini, the boss of the place I was loading out of was most apologetic and had me booked into a four star hotel on the sea front with everything paid for on the bill, plus twenty-five pound spending money a day in my pocket, now that was a good weekend, had to lay it on strong to the wife that I wasn’t enjoying it one little bit, when I phoned her.
Harry Monk, this thread is bringing back many good memories of places I’ve stayed at, eaten in, or got drunk in with many good drivers of many nationalities, over the years, happy times, and thanks.
Got bladdered in Maia in Portugal one time, lucky enough I wrote the address of the freight forwarders were I left the truck down, bar owner gave me a lift back on his scooter, no way would I have found it myself
Dumped the truck in Happendon services and hitchhiked home
Got lost in the hills surrounding Lochboisdale
That’s it for weekending. But I often sit somewhere and wait for the back load… The things got tricky, as I have to be able to jump into my van at any time, so I can’t go somwhere and leave it behind… But my boss is ok if I am driving it a bit. And with a van I can drive pretty much everywhere…
So:
having a bbq on the opposite site of Oslo Fjord with a company of some elderly fisherman who don’t speak any language I know I shared some Polish sausage with him, and he shared fish that he just pulled out of the water with me
visiting my friends in Rotterdam, when I got a translation job from out of the blue, as when I visited there was only husband at home, who is Dutch and the woman who is Polish was away and they needed it quickly (I wish they paid so well in Scotland for two hours of translating!)
visiting my friends in Nantwich
visiting my friends in London
visitign my other friends in London
visiting my yet other friends in London
reading everything I had with me and desperately looking for something non-hungarian in Hungary, finally asking Czech truck driver for the papers they already read.
getting invited to the Polish truck and watching movies on DVD
playing guitars at the fire with French students on gap year
picking up a hithiker and going along the Cote d’Azur with him, swimming in the sea and eating in the restaurant, practicing my friends, then going to Alps Provansals, spending night on the camping and in the morning exchanging mp3s using his laptop.
joining the workers who just finished picking grapes at French winery. Off course I could not joing them for drinking, as I was on-call, but I never ate so much grapes in my life
reading books, papers, mags…
getting burn on the beach near La Rochelle…
getting invited to the dinner in Orchard by the French family, who came out to see if everything is all right when I stopped just outside their property…
I’ve had a few memorable weekends on eastern europe work, but this weekend Im sitting in my nicely air-conditioned hotelroom in zaragoza and my plans for the weekend include the hotel bar
It’s almost 40 degrees outside, it’s nice to go and see stuff but only in humane conditions
Got weekended in Gib a couple of times , for the love of me i could not get a shower anywhere, even offered to pay …no chance. But at least you could get decent grub and speak to people. I took some service boats for the police with 2x 500 quicksilver engines on to catch drug smugglers etc, Bonus was having sheets on the trailer i would undo them wrapped copious amount of ■■■■ in £8 for 200 then, Leave 400 in the cab so the Guard civil would see and take 200 of me .
Santiago de compost heap, Picked up some big propellers for refurb got stuck in a lay by for the weekend not to far from a restaurant, watching this farmer plowing a field and broke down right next to me, so i helped him fix it and ended up helping him plow his fields, i was well looked after that weekend and it was fun, never put a hand in my pocket, he wouldnt let me… His daughters was fit , but the shotgun was near the back door so didnt fancy me chances lol.
Lloret de mar usual stuff.
Alcora, Total garage meeting place for OTS
Nules Upstairs downstairs say no more
La jonquera , went past the last year didnt recognise the place completley changed .
Just some of the places i use to haunt
prob one of the best… arrived madrid fri eve [too late to tip■■?] . was right at the end of GBE when we had the yellow iveco’s. parked at freds got bladdered with some guys from finland… sat am helped them unload furniture into the finnish embassy…big tip… afternoon and well into the night sightseeing in the coslada waterpark bladdered again… sunday train into madrid centre now 3 from GBE and the finnish lads … had a beer or 20 train back got off at wrong coslada station… taxi back to freds. think we had dinner too. was a bloody long 3km’s to tip mon am… went back to freds for coffee and fins were still sleeping… good times and despite what they all say i still love the job…not keen on plastic russians though…
Bondoufle, Paris. Tipped at Lu, dropped trailer for loading at Hays. Bounced round to the nearest commuter station, parked the motor and jumped the train for a day in the capital. Tuilerie gardens, Nôtre Dame and the Louvre. Couldn’t see what all the fuss was about the Mona Lisa, but those giant Flemish paintings, fair gave me a lump in the throat.
Not a weekend but my first quatorze juillet in France. Loaded at Heudebert biscuits in NE France. Just enough time to get to a small roadside routier a few miles away. Parked on the pavement opposite overlooking the mairie. La Patronne brought me a baguette across the road to go with my emergency rations and I watched the whole celebration unfold from the Maire arriving and standing on a chair to fix the flags to the gate, through the little band marching up the road, the speeches and prize giving, the clearing up and, last of all the Maire replacing the flags in the building, locking the doors and climbing into his 2cv to chug back home. Back to the radio and my book.
Waiting to load apples at Cuneo. Promised for Saturday morning till we got there only to be told ‘Monday morning’. Great, could have stayed on the beach at Samona. The guard dog wouldn’t let me out for a pee, the wife gingerly climbed down first, he seemed to prefer her and, out of consideration allowed me out too. We went for an ‘exhilerating walk’ in the flat countryside, dreaming of the beach.
Reims. Treated myself to a luxery hôtel for the first night admiring the French habit of not turning a hair at the large artic taking up half the car park. Freezing cold, walked round the town and felt peaceful in the magnificent cathedral. Even lit a candle, not bad for a lifelong atheist.
Vanrouge,you mean the original Freds,it was a dust bowl,he owned some lady of the night establishments,what a character,he always short changed me,he opened a place on the national one,about an hour north of Madrid,up on a hill,it did not last long,you can still see the advert written on the wall.
Then he moved to a bigger place with security as apes and monkeys,that would pull out their batons and pistols,yes real guns,if you looked at them funny.
Fred is still trading at the block of flats,and you can still park there for free,he has not aged,and speaks about 7 languages,the guy should get a medal for services provided.
In all his time at the old places,the food was terrible and a right rip off,he made a fortune,loads of drivers would sit in the cab over the weekend,and not get the bus or train to the city centre.
Having a good day on the p— with Mervyn King, Brian Haley ,Peter king ,Kenny Ward John Bone Steve (the Dog) Gray and whoever else was with us the crack was fantastic in the Dolphin at Stisted happy days
I shared some Polish sausage with him, and he shared fish that he just pulled out of the water with me
