My OperaMy trip to Algiers 1981
Saturday, July 11, 2009 12:00:46 PM
I started the week with a trip to London and Tilbury docks and back home. It's Tuesday morning and I am loading for Cornwall when the boss walks up to me.” Dutch" he says I've got a better run for you.” Where to "says I,” Algiers how does that grab you”. Gut level is where! I make tracks for home to grab some gear and some money.” Hello darling goodbye darling see you when I see you". Well that's trucking for you, anywhere any time!!.
So the trip has started, I bumped my way up to Holyhead solo, picked up an empty trailer and caught the 03:30 ferry to Ireland. I docked in Dublin at 07:30 Wednesday morning. My agent met me to give me running money and my paperwork .I cleared customs and immigration and dropped my trailer off. After that it was a solo trip down to Roeselare on some wonderful twisting bumpy crap roads, still the scenery was nice. Not much to say about Roeselare other than my reefer arrived 45 minutes before the ship sailed. After flapping through customs and finding bulbs and lenses for the trailer I boarded the ship with 5 minutes to spare. Other than taking 22 hours ,the sailing was uneventful.
Friday morning, Le Havre is 4 hours behind me and I have just cleared Paris next stop Macon and a good nights sleep. Saturday morning in Macon I'm ready to roll. Just before I left, I was talking to another trucker,4 blowouts and a gearbox inside a week and still heading for Malta...that's trucking for you!!.
I had a nice run down to Marseilles, found the dock I wanted and got parked up and went for a walkabout.
I Met up with 2 Dutch drivers, a Frenchy and 2 Danish drivers amazing how you can converse with sign language. I must tell you this; a motorcyclist came off the ship in full regalia. He had 2 pieces of luggage on the handlebars, luggage on his tank, behind him sat a child then the mother and behind her more luggage! What a sight to see. I wish I had brought my camera.
By about 19:00 we were gathered in a dockside bar when we heard a truck alarm go off. We all dashed outside thinking it was one of ours .Kes one of the Dutch drivers tripped over headfirst into a signpost and cut his head open. Three of us took him to hospital by taxi and waited until 03:00 for him. The long and short of it was, Kes had 7 stitches and a Danish driver had forgotten to reset his lorry alarm!
We set sail on Sunday afternoon for Africa, the ship was nice, good food and cabins and there was a good band to listen to. All in all, it was a pleasant 24 hour sailing.
Here I am in the Port of Algiers, I have returned to my truck, my fridge has been turned off and will not start because the batteries are flat f****** hell! Anyway, we disembark the ship and with the help of the other drivers I manage to fire up the fridge (I hope the meat is alright). I have done immigration cleared customs and got money from the bureau de change. I won't tell you what I think of Algerian customs suffice it to say; it was a very unpleasant 3 hours. We all spent the day kicking our heels in the sweltering heat.
The vet arrived has finally cleared us all and we are all running to our drop which is only about 6km down the road.
We have all been stuck at the abattoir for 2 days now the place stinks and there are no facilities to wash other than a cow trough yuk!!. I am beginning to hum a bit in the heat and the flies have decided I taste better than the local meat. We took a stroll around the town avoiding the pot holes and open sewers (it certainly makes you appreciate the finer things in life). At night time we stood around the slaughter house watching the animals have their throats cut and then gutted...lovely stuff!. At last after two days we have all been unloaded and are heading back to the dock and a change of scenery. No sign of our ship yet.
We are going on the town tonight so I need a wash. Now here we have all mod cons, like open air washroom and a hole in the ground where the water bubbles up! I put my shaving mirror on the foot of the crane and guess what it started to move off!. That’s life!
I took a walk around the town with my friends; it was nice to have the company. I tried the local cuisine, makes you appreciate home cooking. After looking round Algiers I reckon Istanbul is more exciting, although it does look nice lit up. At least we couldn't get lost as Algiers sits on a hill so if you got drunk and fell over you could roll back down to the harbor. Well its back to my cab and bed. .
Goodnight. Zzzzz.
So, here I am on board ship sailing to France and civilization. The food was lousy on this ship; I spent the entire trip sleeping, reading or dodging the mosquito dive bombers. I was sat down "enjoying” my dinner when I noticed a horrible smell, a cat had decided to visit my table and had left its calling card under my chair. Lucky me!. Marseilles at last viva la France, now for some decent food. I've steam cleaned my reefer out, had a good meal, said cheerio to my fellow truckers and off I go. My first collection is near Avignon. After a nice drive up the through the mountains, I arrive at a place called Le chateaus Le be roux. I am not loading until morning, so I can relax and enjoy the scenery. After Algiers it was nice just to sit and enjoy the beauty of the mountains and the peace and quiet. No mosquito's or what have you clamoring for your attention. Well I am off to bed now.
Goodnight. Zzzzz
Good morning although not really, its raining hard its 11:00 I have just finished loading my truck with fruit, guess what, the fridge won’t start! The whole thing is knackered. I rang my boss with the good news, he said don’t worry its only fruit. God I am really fed up with the whole damn game, roll on home time. I am tramping up to Dijon now for my last pickup a little over the speed limit. Yippee, I have found my pickup point loaded up and by 16:30 I have hit the road for Calais and home (whip them horses into a gallop Dutchyboy). I hit Lyon in the rush hour, its raining heavily and the traffic is heavy. The motorway runs through Lyon, through tunnels and link span bridges and the way French drivers perform, its not long before the road is littered with wrecked cars. I finally clear Lyon, its time for the big "welly". I stopped at Auxerre for a rest and something to eat. by 22:30 I am back on the road going for broke...I’ve cleared Paris in the early hours of Sunday morning and I am galloping down the road for Calais and the first available ferry for Dover.
Here I am at last in Dover where everything runs smoothly. Here in Dover agents and customs officers fall over themselves to clear you and get you away.>>5 hours later I am on my way home to my wife and good cooking.
I am retired now but I still miss the life of a trucker.
Dutchyboy.
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So the trip has started, I bumped my way up to Holyhead solo, picked up an empty trailer and caught the 03:30 ferry to Ireland. I docked in Dublin at 07:30 Wednesday morning. My agent met me to give me running money and my paperwork .I cleared customs and immigration and dropped my trailer off. After that it was a solo trip down to Roeselare on some wonderful twisting bumpy crap roads, still the scenery was nice. Not much to say about Roeselare other than my reefer arrived 45 minutes before the ship sailed. After flapping through customs and finding bulbs and lenses for the trailer I boarded the ship with 5 minutes to spare. Other than taking 22 hours ,the sailing was uneventful.
Friday morning, Le Havre is 4 hours behind me and I have just cleared Paris next stop Macon and a good nights sleep. Saturday morning in Macon I'm ready to roll. Just before I left, I was talking to another trucker,4 blowouts and a gearbox inside a week and still heading for Malta...that's trucking for you!!.
I had a nice run down to Marseilles, found the dock I wanted and got parked up and went for a walkabout.
I Met up with 2 Dutch drivers, a Frenchy and 2 Danish drivers amazing how you can converse with sign language. I must tell you this; a motorcyclist came off the ship in full regalia. He had 2 pieces of luggage on the handlebars, luggage on his tank, behind him sat a child then the mother and behind her more luggage! What a sight to see. I wish I had brought my camera.
By about 19:00 we were gathered in a dockside bar when we heard a truck alarm go off. We all dashed outside thinking it was one of ours .Kes one of the Dutch drivers tripped over headfirst into a signpost and cut his head open. Three of us took him to hospital by taxi and waited until 03:00 for him. The long and short of it was, Kes had 7 stitches and a Danish driver had forgotten to reset his lorry alarm!
We set sail on Sunday afternoon for Africa, the ship was nice, good food and cabins and there was a good band to listen to. All in all, it was a pleasant 24 hour sailing.
Here I am in the Port of Algiers, I have returned to my truck, my fridge has been turned off and will not start because the batteries are flat f****** hell! Anyway, we disembark the ship and with the help of the other drivers I manage to fire up the fridge (I hope the meat is alright). I have done immigration cleared customs and got money from the bureau de change. I won't tell you what I think of Algerian customs suffice it to say; it was a very unpleasant 3 hours. We all spent the day kicking our heels in the sweltering heat.
The vet arrived has finally cleared us all and we are all running to our drop which is only about 6km down the road.
We have all been stuck at the abattoir for 2 days now the place stinks and there are no facilities to wash other than a cow trough yuk!!. I am beginning to hum a bit in the heat and the flies have decided I taste better than the local meat. We took a stroll around the town avoiding the pot holes and open sewers (it certainly makes you appreciate the finer things in life). At night time we stood around the slaughter house watching the animals have their throats cut and then gutted...lovely stuff!. At last after two days we have all been unloaded and are heading back to the dock and a change of scenery. No sign of our ship yet.
We are going on the town tonight so I need a wash. Now here we have all mod cons, like open air washroom and a hole in the ground where the water bubbles up! I put my shaving mirror on the foot of the crane and guess what it started to move off!. That’s life!
I took a walk around the town with my friends; it was nice to have the company. I tried the local cuisine, makes you appreciate home cooking. After looking round Algiers I reckon Istanbul is more exciting, although it does look nice lit up. At least we couldn't get lost as Algiers sits on a hill so if you got drunk and fell over you could roll back down to the harbor. Well its back to my cab and bed. .
Goodnight. Zzzzz.
So, here I am on board ship sailing to France and civilization. The food was lousy on this ship; I spent the entire trip sleeping, reading or dodging the mosquito dive bombers. I was sat down "enjoying” my dinner when I noticed a horrible smell, a cat had decided to visit my table and had left its calling card under my chair. Lucky me!. Marseilles at last viva la France, now for some decent food. I've steam cleaned my reefer out, had a good meal, said cheerio to my fellow truckers and off I go. My first collection is near Avignon. After a nice drive up the through the mountains, I arrive at a place called Le chateaus Le be roux. I am not loading until morning, so I can relax and enjoy the scenery. After Algiers it was nice just to sit and enjoy the beauty of the mountains and the peace and quiet. No mosquito's or what have you clamoring for your attention. Well I am off to bed now.
Goodnight. Zzzzz
Good morning although not really, its raining hard its 11:00 I have just finished loading my truck with fruit, guess what, the fridge won’t start! The whole thing is knackered. I rang my boss with the good news, he said don’t worry its only fruit. God I am really fed up with the whole damn game, roll on home time. I am tramping up to Dijon now for my last pickup a little over the speed limit. Yippee, I have found my pickup point loaded up and by 16:30 I have hit the road for Calais and home (whip them horses into a gallop Dutchyboy). I hit Lyon in the rush hour, its raining heavily and the traffic is heavy. The motorway runs through Lyon, through tunnels and link span bridges and the way French drivers perform, its not long before the road is littered with wrecked cars. I finally clear Lyon, its time for the big "welly". I stopped at Auxerre for a rest and something to eat. by 22:30 I am back on the road going for broke...I’ve cleared Paris in the early hours of Sunday morning and I am galloping down the road for Calais and the first available ferry for Dover.
Here I am at last in Dover where everything runs smoothly. Here in Dover agents and customs officers fall over themselves to clear you and get you away.>>5 hours later I am on my way home to my wife and good cooking.
I am retired now but I still miss the life of a trucker.
Dutchyboy.
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