Ron’s picture flipped.
Hey Johnny , how did you do that ? It took time for me to create that illusion 
!!! You know we drive on the left!!! that’s the right side to drive Har Har , Ron
I know it’s off thread, but - brother Andy and myself started in 1966 at the tax office in Manchester. We lived in digs during the week and came home to Barrow on his Norton 600 on Friday night. Spent the weekend readjusting the clutch, chain etc and set off back early Monday mornings. A depressing time in my life! I should have done what Bewick did (and also a ‘lad’ I met last week, Frank Sleddon, now 70) they were ‘trailer boys’ for the late ‘Possy’ on Bradys.
I was on the third floor, Albert Bridge House, Albert Bridge Street, Manchester 3. Andy was on the 9th floor. I used to spend my days looking out of the windows at the lorries. You could look at the wage scale and see what you would be earning at retirement at 65.
When you’re 17 you’re never going to be 65! How anyone could do a job like that all their life I cannot comprehend! I realise that I was lucky, I had a good education and after six soul destroying months in the tax office I started in the labs at Glaxo in Ulverston. This was still a ‘regimented’ job, but I loved it after the tax office. Unfortunately, my lab was over the loading bays. I used to see the tankers (Thomas Allen- Stanford le Hope) unloading and the finished product loading (roped and sheeted flats). I knew what I wanted to do.
If I’d stayed at Glaxo I’d probably be richer now. They gave you shares every year and the salaries are probably now beyond the dreams of avarice. Oh and a pension!
Ah well! I’ve had a life that no chemist at Glaxo could dream of and have no complaints, apart from those of a grumpy old man, who thinks that his own country should come first…Lets not go there.
My original point was that I now have a Honda 600. I get it serviced every year. Unlike the Norton, the chain, the tappets (do they even have tappets?) etc never need adjusting. It has never spilt even one drop of oil on the garage floor. I get on it and go for a ride when I feel like it, then put it back in the garage.
I understand your love for the old bikes Ron - but they were bloody hard work!
John
Now then all you “Bikers” back to the hot days in the KSA how do you like my desk chair … it was used as a barbers chair too !!!
furnishings courtesy of "Bostrom "
5 *****acomandation !!! Backsplice ? The Bostrom seat ? Now there’s a tail ,I think his name was ? Is ? !!! Colin Hunt or maybe not ,you can imagine his signature ■■? Any way I think it may have been him , working at S Jones as the night shift Forman to get a Bostrom seat you have to have Doctors note, this was handed to me !! and I went up two flights of stairs in the stores to find this one and only Bostom !!! some one had put this seat out of sight , right in the Apex off the roof , I think it had been ear marked for some els ?being awkward and heavy I tied a rope round it ? The other end I threw over the roof gerder ■■? And kicked it over the side ■■? Now this is where Backsplice could have come in handy with his rope skills ■■ !!! The Rope came undone as it tipped over this 40 ft drop ,!!! a Jamaican named Brad was at the bottom waiting to receive this object hurtling towards him at great speed ? Bloody hell it only just missed him , I know drivers have been maimed sitting in them but to get killed with one falling out the Sky would have been on the News ,!!! The seat, the bloody seat which was for people with bad backs , and the only one at that we had ,!! was twisted and was terrible to sit on !!! Dropping it down the pit to rectifie the twist I fitted it in the A series ERF it was at a bit of an angle ■■ And could have been ideal for a side loader , the poor driver was always complaining about this seat as climbed out after 350miles with his twisted spine !!! he said the old one was more comfortable I do apologise for that !! and also for taking the Micky out of Mirlin & the The foreign two wheelers , ps John , I went to Grimsby on a 600 norton side vale silver in colour , it was Heavy , in "winter " but no truble Ron
Working on nights at S Jones , we had hr dinner time , on this dark night about 2 am we arranged to have a seance the Alphabet was laid in a circle on our big grimy table ,all the lads sat round with there fingers on top of an upturned glass this was done with No Believers , except one ? The Jamaican named Brad who would not take part ? 
We started this game with laughter and disbelief ? 
two candles ,and lights out , then the glass started to move we thought somebody was cheating ■■ It moved Quick and immediately Spelt out QUEENY ■■? : Brad the Jamaican ran down stairs shouting it’s my dead Mother !!! Well-there was panic Jake Roberts jumped out the window onto some old springs its a wander he was not injured we all scattered it was brilliant just brilliant , our night shift was great , !! great hard working lads. Ron
Just found this shot of the real heavy moves in Saudi!!! impressive or what , with an empty desert and oil money there’s no limit , Ron
I remember the oil fires at night on the East side just like candles dotted about , getting closer in the day to Goss 7 Petro chemical plant, there where giant golf balls structures the hole plant was as big as a town, vessels ,pipes and tanks sprawled out they are massive sites, the lads know ?!!! When driving for Marlene ?Aldridge Steel stockholders i delivered plate to Thomsons on the Bilston rd they fabricated these massive chemical reactors tanks , and inside it was all chambers pipes etc , the plate they used was heavy may be 1/2 inch ? !!! All those skills have gone ■■ Ron
This was in my grandads tunic pocket in the battle of the Somme ? When he eventually got back home ! His unform was full of lice , my gran said when she ironed the seams you coud hear the lice cracking ? Ron
All your posts are interesting Ron. Sometimes they evoke memories which lead to replies. As others have pointed out, most people just read, but for whatever reason don’t contribute. Sometimes just shyness.
There are about 20 currently logged in, but 130 viewing. Most people just look, not everyone is a writer!
Happy birthday by the way! I remember when you were still young! Here you are, half your current age with Merlin when you worked at Taseco.
Best wishes,
John.
Hi Ron … browsing through this site (TN) I see all these super duper lorries that are all the go now …all the box and dice I thought my F89 6x4 was the bees knees so today,s lads think that their stuff is the same … I notice that the last photo you posted of that JONES ERF (M) reg 1974 ■■ had a Clocker box sleeper conversion how would that go down these days ■■? also looking at the card of your Grandads they certainly had a way with words then did,nt they
Thinking back we did have a lot of fun while in the KSA I ,ve added a pic of a few SARAMAT lads playin up !!! as John says there are lots of lookers here but not many contributors … anyway we,ll keep going its the only place I get to reminisce…
Mah Salaam
Thanks John for your encouragement, Looks like a great bunch of lads Backsplice , that’s what the crack was with the Trans Arabia , the pranks we got up to was hilarious, big Andy the Jamaican driver we had, believed in Voodoo Hoodoo ? This was a bit worrying when this came up in conversation in the canteen !! What with the dead bodies in the road wrecks it went down like a led balloon,!!! he was close to scattering bones on the table to predict our fate ? Somebody said they will nail a chicken to his bedroom door to keep his spirits away , his door was directly opposite the shower room and the lads where conscious of coming out of the shower !!! Well we did not want to embarrass the bloke !!! Har Har !!! the chicken went missing ? Mr Perfect had pinched it He sacrificed it up Taef In the Mazola Mack !!! So the Hoodoo was working after all !!! although the bones could have been ( handy for Andy )!!! But they where not visible after this inferno ? I did look !! Into the grey ash see photo Ron
Hello All. Although I worked in Jeddah in the late 70’s, my memories of the place are so hazy that I hesitate to post them. Never the less, please carry on, especially with the pictures - they stir them up and bring it all back. Just before I flew out I read that an American Company had won the contract to clear the streets of abandoned cars. I wondered “What’s that all about?” I found out when I got there! Trans Am anybody? A Texan I spoke to later told me his firm used Cheverolet Suburbans as pool cars and their average life was 3MONTHS! Our villa in Doha overlooked a derelict site that was used for dumping. The pecking order was - Kids first who used everything as a plaything - Then the dogs that cleared anything edible - Then the goats that cleared the lot non-metalic including the inside of the cars that the kids had left the doors open on. One day somebody dumped cases of damp damaged washing powder. The goats were blowing bubbles the size of their heads chewing that lot. Iwas 6 months in Doha after crossing from Jeddah - the highest building in the city was probably the Gulf Hotel, with the Emir’s Palace second. I met a bloke who had the contract to re-decorate the Guest Palace after every visit. This is no place to repeat his stories - if they were true.All the best. Jim.
Hello All. Although I worked in Jeddah in the late 70’s, my memories of the place are so hazy that I hesitate to post them. Never the less, please carry on, especially with the pictures - they stir them up and bring it all back. Just before I flew out I read that an American Company had won the contract to clear the streets of abandoned cars. I wondered “What’s that all about?” I found out when I got there! Trans Am anybody? A Texan I spoke to later told me his firm used Cheverolet Suburbans as pool cars and their average life was 3MONTHS! Our villa in Doha overlooked a derelict site that was used for dumping. The pecking order was - Kids first who used everything as a plaything - Then the dogs that cleared anything edible - Then the goats that cleared the lot non-metalic including the inside of the cars that the kids had left the doors open on. One day somebody dumped cases of damp damaged washing powder. The goats were blowing bubbles the size of their heads chewing that lot. Iwas 6 months in Doha after crossing from Jeddah - the highest building in the city was probably the Gulf Hotel, with the Emir’s Palace second. I met a bloke who had the contract to re-decorate the Guest Palace after every visit. This is no place to repeat his stories - if they were true.All the best. Jim.
Sorry lads. Finger trouble. By the way Ron, I had a Norton like that, a Big Four 600cc that came off a chair the size of a bungalow. 1953, Road-holder forks, No back suspension, 65 MPH. I stopped every 20 miles to get the feeling back in my hands. Sold it for £30. The guy painted the tank green. I could have cried when I saw it. Jim.
Hi Jim , Your tails are good you are a natural !! keep them up , sounds like you know Jedda like we do once seen never forgotten I love the goat story ? Was it from both ends !! 
John & Mirlin will be pleased to know I have just Fired up the Bike ,it took about 6 kicks spitting back twice it nearly Broke my foot , but it’s a sound machine and I will be on it shortly , today is lovely, but having just cut the lawns ? Can you belive it !!! " Feb"! I will wait for the weekend , Ron
Hi Ron … a wee bit off KSA but as you like Dad,s army I thought I post myself in a kind of Dad,s army taken a couple of years ago …we had hoses instead of lee-enfields though !!!
I forgot to tell you (I think ) that my Saudi com padres used to call me "Abbah Hamahm " I know what irt was supposed to mean but not sure if it did…■■?
Mah Salaam
What is the uniform ? Tell us more ?!!! The notice in that cab Backsplice took me straight back to the Bus Depot , the Walsall fleet where in those days all Guys Double Deckers, these just went into the old tram garages , then Mr Cox purchased 2 AEC D /D now these where taller by about a ft ? They put a large sign in the cab as they only went into the highest bay at the far end after a close shave they could have been. ( open top ) ? This photo below? the 1st door on the right is the main work shop , Inside inspection pit for engine overhauls in situe and belt driven lathes , compleat engine rebuild that’s where I worked the top of this long workshop, the small brick building at the front is for clocking in !!! " I was always late" Bloody hell. I am back there thanks for that The bay’s further right are for the trolly buses you can see the over head wires , the buildings 1st left was the fuel bay and then the D/Decker park bays !!! this was a fantastic start for learning mechanical skills this made me what I am , ■■? Don’t answer that. Mirlin ?!!! thanks Backsplice for that spark Ron. Ps if you where more than two min late ? You could not start work until a 1/4 past the hr if you mist the 1/4 you coud not start until 9 o’clock, this hapened to me quite often ■■ !!! Then when I walked up the long shop floor ? All the men would start hammering there benches the din was terrible, and Mr Cox would look through his high window to see who this young lad was being shown up ? But I had bean burning the candle at both ends , life was just brill ? Ron
All these learning curves Ron …I think we have all had them at one time or another but thinking on there were situations out there in the KSA where some of them these curves came in handy… It was a case of a wee bit of intuition got a person out of what could have the potential to become risky or dangerous … doing the best you could with what you had and sometimes that was,nt much ■■? still the learning curves helped did,nt they ■■?.. that uniform is the volunteer Bush fire service had to keep my hand in some how !!! attached a couple of recent pics but one from KSA too… making friends with the locals
