Remember folks the last post is at the top. To start at the beginning try looking HERE at the bottom of the page.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Immigrants to Canada - The Japanese






Introduction
Japanese Canadians celebrated 100 years of life in Canada in 1977. For many of those years, Japanese immigrants had to struggle against racism and discrimination. The early settlers from Japan were treated with disrespect and even hatred in some communities. Today, the situation is very different. Japanese Canadians such as scientist David Suzuki and painter Miyuki Tanobe are sought-after and celebrated across the country.

For many decades, Canadian laws and people's cruelty restricted and harmed many Japanese Canadians. The worst discrimination began in 1942 when harsh wartime laws ruined the lives of many Japanese-Canadian families. Like many other newcomers, many struggled to make a living in their new home, or found opportunities to make their lives better.
Japanese immigrants to Canada have enjoyed successes in their own local communities and throughout Canada. Each generation of Japanese immigrants has a special name: the Issei (pronounced "ee-say"), meaning "one," were the first arrivals. Their children are called Nisei ("nee-say"), meaning "two." The children of the Nisei are called Sansei (san means "three").

Beginnings
The first Japanese man to settle in Canada came to British Columbia in 1877. Not every ethnocultural group can name the first to arrive, but the Japanese do have this information. Manzo Nagano was the first Japanese Canadian. He lived in Victoria, where he eventually owned a gift shop, sold Japanese food and ran a hotel.

By 1914, there were about 10,000 Japanese people, mainly men, living in Canada. Most of them settled in British Columbia. In Japan, their families were very poor. There was not enough work for them to earn a living, and not enough food. They hoped for prosperity and a better life in Canada. Many of this early group of Japanese newcomers, or Issei, were young men with very little education. Few could read or write. But they knew how to work hard. They got jobs in the fishing, farming, logging and lumber industries. Some owned businesses to serve other Japanese Canadians.

The first Japanese woman to move to Canada was Yo Shishido, who immigrated in 1887, right after she got married. Her two sisters came later. After them, other women came as "picture brides." When a Japanese-Canadian man decided he wanted to get married, he wrote to Japan, asking his parents to look for a suitable wife. When his parents found someone, the couple exchanged photographs. If both agreed to the marriage, the bride travelled to Canada to meet and marry her husband. Altogether, 6,240 picture brides found husbands in Canada. The system lasted until 1925.

Daily Life
There were about 85,250 Japanese Canadians in 2005. More than 53,000 of them are of mixed ancestry, which means that their heritage is Japanese as well as another culture. Japanese Canadians live, work, learn, play, and eat much like other Canadians. There are special Japanese dishes, but this doesn't mean that Japanese Canadians eat sushi every day. Still, in more traditional homes, families start a meal with miso shiru or miso soup.

Culture Religion
Japanese Canadians belong to many different religions, including Buddhism, an ancient religion practised by many Asians and non-Asians around the world. Others are members of Christian churches (such as Roman Catholic and Protestant), while still others are not members of any particular religious organization.

Festivals
Japanese-Canadian families observe all the official Canadian holidays. For some, New Year's Day is just as important as Christmas. During Oshogatsu (New Year's), Japanese Canadians enjoy lots of special food prepared only for this holiday. It is a time for families to gather and thank all those friends who have helped them throughout the year.

For Buddhists, Obon, the Festival of Lights, is a significant celebration. From July to September, Buddhists get together, usually in a park or city square. They dance traditional folk dances to recorded music or to live musicians playing the taiko (drums), fue (flute) and shamisen (a banjo-like instrument). The dancers, dressed in their colourful kimono, circle a yagura or tower where the musicians sit, to express gratitude to their ancestors.

Culture
Bazaars and spring festivals take place across the country. The Powell Street Festival is the largest celebration of Japanese-Canadian art and community. It takes place in Vancouver's east end, where the Issei first settled. The first celebration of this festival was in 1977. Now, people travel from all over Canada and the world to take part in the Powell Street festivities. There is traditional and modern dancing, music and entertainment. And, of course, everyone enjoys the food. Japanese and Japanese-Canadian artists and musicians display their work, and every day people show off their talents. It is a wonderful event for everyone, giving Japanese Canadians a chance to remember the past and celebrate the present and future.

Cultural Centres
Japanese-Canadian cultural centres in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montréal provide classes and community centres for Japanese and non-Japanese Canadians. There, you can learn a martial art, find out about Japanese-Canadian history, or take a cooking class. You can take a course in Japanese arts and crafts like shodo (calligraphy), origami (paper folding), sumie (Japanese brush painting) or pottery. The majority of students are not Japanese, but in every Japanese-Canadian family at least one member knows how to fold a paper crane.

The War And Internment
During World War II, more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly interned in Canada.

Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, members of the non-Japanese population of British Columbia, including municipal government offices, local newspapers and businesses called for the internment of the Japanese. In British Columbia, there were fears that some Japanese who worked in the fishing industry were charting the coastline for the Japanese navy, acting as spies on Canada's military. Military and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) authorities felt the public's fears were unwarranted, but the public opinion quickly pushed the government to act. Canadian Pacific Railway fired all the Japanese workers, and most other Canadian companies did the same. Japanese fish boats were first confined to port, and eventually, the Canadian navy seized 1,200 of these vessels.

In January 1942, a "protected" 100-mile wide strip up the Pacific coast was created, and any men of Japanese descent between the ages of 18 and 45 were removed and taken to road camps in the British Columbian interior, to sugar beet projects on the Prairies, or to internment in a POW camp in Ontario. A few men at the McGillivray Falls, just outside the quarantine zone, were employed at a logging operation at Devine, near D'Arcy, British Columbia, while those in the other Lillooet Country found employment with farms, stores, and the railway. Tashme, on Highway 3 just east of Hope, among the most notorious of the camps for harsh conditions, was just outside of the exclusion zone. All others, including Slocan, were in the Kootenay Country in south-eastern British Columbia.

Most people of the 22,000 Japanese descent who lived in British Columbia were naturalized or native-born citizens.[1] Those unwilling to live in internment camps or relocation centres faced the possibility of deportation to Japan. On February 24, 1942 an Order-in-Council passed under the War Measures Act giving the federal government the power to intern all "persons of Japanese racial origin."

In early March, all ethnic Japanese people were ordered out of the protected area, and a daytime-only curfew was imposed on them. Some of those brought inland were kept in animal stalls for the Pacific National Exhibition at Hastings Park, in Vancouver for months. They were then moved to ten camps in or near inland British Columbia towns, sometimes separating husbands from their wives and families. However, four of those camps in the Lillooet area and another at Christina Lake were formally "self-supporting projects" (also called "relocation centres") which housed selected middle and upper class families and others not deemed as much a threat to public safety.

“ "It is the government’s plan to get these people out of B.C. as fast as possible. It is my personal intention, as long as I remain in public life, to see they never come back here. Let our slogan be for British Columbia: ‘No Japs from the Rockies to the seas.'" ”
—Ian Mackenzie, MP

Camp Conditions
The living conditions in the camps were so poor that the citizens of wartime Japan even sent supplemental food shipments through the Red Cross. During the period of detention, the Canadian government spent one-third the per capita amount expended by the U.S. on Japanese American evacuees. The BC Government refused to fund education for young Japanese Canadians.[citation needed] Then the Federal Government stepped in and helped out the Japanese and arranged classes from grades 1-10. With the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the United Church high school became a reality so grades 11-12 came into effect as well. The first place to get a school up and running was in Lemon Creek.

Leadership positions within the camps were only offered to the Nisei, or Canadian-born, Japanese, not the Issei, the older generation.

Canada sold all of the Canadian born internees' worldly possessions. In 1943 the Canadian "Custodian of Aliens" liquidated these worldly possessions without the owners' permission. The Custodian of Aliens held auctions for these items. These items would range from farms and to houses, to people's clothing. They were sold quickly at prices below market value. The money that was raised from these auctions went to the realtors and the auctioneers; then it went to paying for storage and the handling charges. While under the Geneva Convention prisoners of war (POW) didn't have to pay for their camps.

Post-War
After the victory over Japan, the federal government moved to evacuate Japanese Canadians from British Columbia all together. Evacuees were given the choice between deportation to Japan or transfer to areas east of the Rocky Mountains. The majority opted to remain in Canada, and moved to Ontario, Québec and the Prairie provinces.

Following public protest, the order-in-council that authorized the forced deportation was challenged on the basis that the forced deportation of the Japanese was a crime against humanity and that a citizen could not be deported from their own country. The Prime Minister referred the matter to the Supreme Court in what was to be the first case heard in the newly constructed building housing the Court.

In a five to two decision, the Court held that the law was valid. Three of the five found that the order was entirely valid. The other two found that the provision including both women and children as threats to national security was invalid. In 1947 the deportation order was repealed, after 4,000 Japanese Canadians had already left the country. On April 1, 1949, Japanese Canadians regained their freedom to live anywhere in Canada.

Banking for immigrants


Okay dear readers its education time again. It looks like 3045 is all better and sat out on the truck lot waiting for me. My next little excursion is down to Bakersfield with a load of meat which wont be ready till tonight so im keeping busy by updating the blog and were off to view another house this afternoon.

When we were doing our research back in UK, one of he things we looked at was banking, the world is a much smaller place these days thanks to the internet so we started the ball rolling before we left.

Now remember, i am no expert and im telling you excactly what we did, it might not be the best option for everyone but it worked for us.

The bank we chose was the Royal Bank Of Canada, because it has lots of branches, lots of products and a very nice user interface for internet banking. One thing you need to be aware of over here is the fact that you have o pay to bank over here, at the momen we pay about $30 per month for the VIP option.

Before we started anything we contacted our bank in UK and explained the situation and asked them for reference letters, this they couldnt do but gave us the details so our new Canadian bank could contact them directly.

Next i joined the Experian website so i could get a hold of our national credit rating, i think this cost about £15 altogether (please note i keep swapping between £ and $), i printed this off and put it in my immigration folder.

I then printed off bank statements for all our accounts and our credit card and they went into the folder too.

Next i phone the RBC in Lethbridge and made an appointment for or recce trip last May so we could go in and set everything up.

When we came over in May we saw a personal banker and set up the VIP package with a checking account, a savings account and a creditcard account and also set up an account for Luke too.

All the paperwork went in and we were issued with temporary bankers cards and our propper cards were posted to our UK address, they came about a month later.

One point to note is that over here we have a different banking system to europe and i found that my UK debit card wasnt accepted an sometimes i couldnt use my UK credit card so it was a case of keep drawing money out at ATM's. Having the temporary RBC checking cards really made life easier.

Okay, all was going great till i started going to the States, i couldnt use my bankers card except at ATM's so i was forever drawing cash out and the ATMs at the truckstops charge you a ouple of bucks per transaction. I had to keep using my credit card and keep switching money about online, it worked but it wasnt ideal.

A few weeks ago i asked the RBC if i could have an American Dollar account, its just another checking acount that runs along side existing canadian dollar account, it costs about $3.50 per month to run unles you keep $750 or so in it and i have a separate bankers card which i can use anywhere south of the border.

Now i carry about $100 of each currency in cash for things like tolls where you cant use a card, everything else is swiped, the advantage of this is if H&R manages to lose my reciepts or i am reimbursed incorrectly then i have my bank statements as an extra proof of purchase.


One of the reasons i have written this post is beacause i have heared some real horror stories of people not being able to open accounts, having to pre-pay on credit cards and all sorts of stuff.

The way we did it, we ended up in the top 20% credit rating of all Canadians, not bad for somebody without any Canadian credit history.

Remember folks, its all in the planning................................................

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

How to speak any language in 30 seconds

Those of you who know me are now waiting for the punchline...........

Believe it or not i am actually being serious for once, i just had an email from Steve & Gail who live in Ontario. They wanted to read Javi's blog but its all in spanish, okay this is a little tip for everyone.

Go to this site.........

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

and paste in the whole article and set the thingymabob to spanish to english it will translate it to you..........

Okay now every one can go to Javi's site which is at

http://doingmyway.blogspot.com/

and say hola..................................................

ADDED LATER

Thanks Shortcut

Here is a comment Shortcut left this morning and i thought it was important enough to bring up to the main article....................

1 Comment -
WritePostCollapsor();

Show Original Post

Shortcut said...

Better still

Just go to Google Translate

http://translate.google.com/translate_t

and copy and paste Javi's blog address

http://doingmyway.blogspot.com/

and hey presto Spanish to English

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Looking at houses


Okay breakfast done and coffee drunk, we said goodbye to Graham and dropped him off at his truck so he could go bearing gifts of strawberries to the good people of Saskatoon.

Next it was a drive round to a house we were going to view, this was one of the origional houses from when Raymond was founded, the house was 104 years old and was full of character

Here it is if anyone is interested.


We werent sure even before we saw it but we had not looked at any older houses and we had to look before we could discount the idea. We were surprised because it was so homely inside, frame was sound, re wired, replumbed and it was just so nice.......... and cheap.

It needed a lot of work doing, porch and side house needed replacing and the lean to garage needed ripping down and starting again. The lot size was huge and it definitely had potential. The furnace was older than me an it would take a lot of decorating.

Over here you can get the home inprovements written into the mortgage so this was a definite possibility, it was a real blank canvas and has loads of potential.

Trouble is with being away all the time, i wouldnt have the time or even the inclination to do all the work, a DIY nut could have a field day in there but as for me, i am moe DIW (do it whenever)

Its not been struck off the list just yet but i dont think we will be putting an offer in.

While we were looking round i had a call off Sean & Angela, i bumped into them first at Avon in New York, then at the Husky while i was busy shovelling down a platefull of poutine.

They had just got back in to Lethbridge and i had asked them if they would like to come down to Raymond for a visit and Angela could see what a Canadian house was like. Well they came down and we had a great chat and some ribs and wings, hello both and i really hope you both enjoyed the evening as much as we did, shame you couldnt have met Graham but he had to do his strawberry thing.

Well thats about it really, ive had a few days off, ate a mountain of wings, ribs, sunday dinner and a load of other stuff. The old batteries are recharged and im ready for my next little trip, i guess i had better phone in later and find out where i am going.

Oh yes, id better point out that i am back to single driving now, the team thing was just to rescue that load and get it into Pittston. I quite enjoyed it really, not sure if if i would do it all the time but i would consider it.

If there is anyone out there who is coming over and considering team then heres my views for what theyre worth.

It is hard but satisfying work, you cover some hellish distance in a short time, for example it took Sean and Angela (only Sean driving) 9 days to do the same job that we did in less than 5, even when you consider that the pay rate is a lot lower you can still make roughly the same money as a single in a week or month. Sleeping in a moving truck is difficult at first but after a few days you get used to it. Remember the truck wont stop except for fuel and opening the back doors so food, bathrooms and showers are done on the run.

Your choice of co driver is also important, you both need the same drive, stamina and work ethic or i can a lot of arguements especially when you are tired or when the pressure is on. Privacy is minimal and tidiness is paramount. When i drive, everything has a place and everything is in its place so if i need someting i can just grab without taking my eyes off the road.

John worked really well with this and he just mirrored everything i did, we even used the same size clipboards for daily logbooks and logbook archive, all that moved when we changed shifts was the position of the daily logs. Bearing in mind we were thrown together at the last minute and its the first time either of us had driven team, it worked really well.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

We had Gremmie for Sunday Lunch

Met Graham at the world renowned Ramond Truck Plaza ?????

Whopped his ass (he beat me on the last game) at ping pong

Held his own at Pool


Now we cant lose Gizmo in the dark

He tasted just like chicken !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok folks, dont worry Gremmie is safe and sound, it was just a play on words from the title, we fed him, got him drunk and we hope he had a great time. We even let him choose the video we watched which may have been a mistake, "Happy Feet", i ask you.
Anyway, before he starts moaning that we didnt feed him well i would like to point out he managed to munch his way through half a sheep and even tried to fight Gizmo for the bone, good old Gizmo held up the Lomanovskis reputation and managed to fight him off.
And before he starts spreading malicious rumours about drinking me under the table i will point out he fell asleep on the sofa after a couple of Jack Daniels.
Next morning was a joint cookathon when Graham and i prepaired 3 monster fryups for Graham, Luke & Lyndon (Jan wasnt hungry) even in the absence of any Canadian Bacon.
Seriously Graham, thanks for a great evening, we need to do that again sometime and i have to admit, you aint too bad at table tennis.......................

What is "Team Driving"

Okay i just done my first stint as a Team driver, for those of you out there who only read the last post (you lazy buggers) heres the back ground...................

There was a meat (frozen) load coming out of Brooks on Saturday and had to deliver in Pittston on Wednesday morning, it was a tight schedule and a "Hot" load. Phil (Montedarlo) was the lucky pilot who got this mission but unfortunatly had problems on take off and had to abort, limping into Lethbridge, coughing, spluttering and farting (and his truck wasnt much better either Haha, sorry Phil).

I was returning from a successfull delivery and backload from Portland Oregon, i'd crossed the border and was cruising north on 2a up towards Edmonton AB. Apparently i was the only one in the area who had hours to go back into the States so i got a message to spin round and make good speed back into Lethbridge. I did a 180 and 2 hours later i dropped my trailer full of whatever in the yard and went to the crew room to see what the news was.

That was where i met Monte and we had a good if not brief chat, apparently his chariot was screwed (and still is, i spoke to him on MSN last night) an he couldnt even shift the trailer axles.
We went out to have a look and between us we moved them and he dropped the trailer.

I parked up as i had done some serious distance that day and went home, next day jumped in the truck and went round to scale off and the brakes just didnt feel right. I went round to the shop and was told the inards were all frozen up and the only solution was to put some airbrake antifreeze in and park up in the warmer shop for a couple of hours. This solve dthe problem but meant i missed the meat inspection.

Now we had a problem, the load was desparatly late and needed a "Team" just to get there on time, meat inspection wouldnt open till the next day at 16:00. That was when i had the idea of running Team myself along with John Penney. A few phone calls later it was all organised so i called H&R to give them the good news.

Next morning i met John at the truck and we made our trip plans.........

Driving "Team" means there are 2 full time highway drivers and 1 truck, the drivers drive full shifts so the truck never stops except for fuel and opening the back doors, it can be very tiring if your not used to it (as we found out) but you can cover some hellish distance, its a great way to get loads over a great distance in a short time.

The shift system we used was a simple 10 on, 10 off and it worked pretty well although its difficult to balance the day and night driving out, on the last night i really struggled thru some pretty horrendous weather but in the end we did it.

Now bear in mind we left on Monday lunchtime to get to Sweetgrass meat inspection for 16:00 and we landed back in Lethbridge last night which was Saturday at about 18:30. Here's the week's itinerary.

Mon 10:00 - Met up at truck.
Mon 16:00 - Meat inspection Sweetgrass.
Wed 12:00 - Delivered Pittston Pensylvania.
Wed 18:00 - Collected Avon New York.
Wed 22:00 - Crossed back into Canada.
Thu 09:00 - Cleared Customs at Fort Erie Ontario.
Thu 12:00 - Arrived Mississauga Ontario.
Thu 20:00 - Scaled off new load for Calgary.
Sat 15:00 - Delivered Calgary Alberta.
Sat 16:00 - Left Calgary with load for Lethbridge.
Sat 18:15 - Dropped loaded trailer at customer in Lethbridge.
Sat 18:30 - Wives picked us up at Lethbridge yard.
Sat 18:35 - Shook hands with John and went our separate ways.
Sat 19:15 - Got home reached into fridge, grabbed a cold one, and chugged it in one.

That was basically it.......................................

Hello To Everybody at Wincanton

There i was, minding my own business, sat in the TA somewhere in New York State when the computer flashes, beeps and a name comes up from the not so distant past. It was Jamie who works (sorry i use that term very loosely) behind the counter, booking us drivers in and out and recording the tachograph information. Basically trying to look busy all day i guess.

Anway i read the message and what was even better was the fact that he was on MSN so we had a great chat, usual stuff, everything and nothing. Jamie it was great to hear from you again and i hope everything is going great for you both at work and at home, by the way do you still live in Wales...............................

I said this earlier on in the Blog but i will say it again, i loved working for Wincanton in Gloucester, thats the reason i gave up the agency work and decided to get a real job, the work was easy, the drivers easy to get on with and the office staff friendly, helpful and great to work with. I even include the people i had "little quarrels" with from time to time, heck thats what our industry is all about isnt it?

I have started to get the odd email from people there, or should i say i get emails from the odd people there (haha sorry Dougie i just couldnt resist that one, an email is on its way to you buddy and how can i pay you for the coffee i owe you, do you accept traveler's checks. I was asked at immigration about that when i left UK but i lied and told them i had bought you one back so they let me out, i guess i could apply for diplomatic immunity now)

Somebody told me that Ian Cheape has had a little browse of the old blog too. hi Ian if your out there, hows it going bud, had any more vacations to Warsaw ?????

Okay,who else have i spoken to, Tony Beales, how are you matey, havent heared from you for a little while, how about getting off your ass and dropping me line, I phoned Kev Driscoll up a few weeks ago, sorry if i woke you up mate, time zones and all that.

Hi Ash, i know you read his so there you go theres a mention for ya, its about ime you dropped me a line too, haha.

Jon & Nick where are yoouuuuuuuuu !!!!!!
You left a couple of comments and an email then disapeared into the ether again, let me know when you are over (if thats still the plan) ithink you got my contact numbers but if you need them just drop me a line.

Anyone know where that old Scallywag Fred Bennet is these days, it would be great to hear from him again. As a matter of fact it would be great if anyone reading this who does know or remember me would just leave a comment to say hello.

Anyway this is Lyndon from Canada signing off, safe Journeys everyone......................

Javier Encinas - A Spanish view on Immigration






Javi is a Spanish truck driver who presently works in Ontario, he used to have his own truck an worked out of Barcelona until he discovered the "Great White North". He did what most of us did, sold up and shipped out.

Excuse my poor memory Javi but when we met up at customs i had just woken up and the old brain wasnt firing on all three cylinders (or should that be four). I know you said you came over last year but i cant remember when, by my very rough calculations it must have been about October, im sure you will correct me if im wrong.

We used to correspond by email last year when he was thinking of coming over here so i hope i was of some help. Thats all water under the bridge now and it looks as though he and his wife have settled in nicely now.

By the way our meeting was completely by chance, John (my co-driver) and i had got into the customs complex in the early hours on the "Off Chance" that we could resolve certain customs problems we were having then press on into Mississauga.

Well it wasnt to be so we parked up for 4 hours and got some sleep without the engine running (bliss). Next morning i left John to do the pretrip and paperwork and i was going to toddle off to the customs broker and see if we could sort this mess out.

As i jumped out of the cab and spun round there was this happy smiling face grinning at me, and that was Javi. Apparently he also pulled in with customs problems, recognised 3045 and parked next to us, i asked him why he wasnt banging on the door to say hello and he said he didnt want to wake me up, What a gentleman, LOL !!!!!!

Now Javi has also been running a blog site for some time now, check it out here.


Thanks Javi, you never sent me the link, i had to google it, got it now though.

Anyway it was great to finally meet you and i got your email buddy, you'll get my reply in the next couple of days as i want to ponder it a little before i send.

Safe Journeys and stay in touch.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

3045 night collections





These pics were taken while we were being loaded at the Kraft place in Avon New York, i was messing with camera settings to get different effects. Look at the snow in that last image

Monday, March 17, 2008

Cadburys Flake





This post is for Jim and anyone else who didnt know what a cadburys flake was.........

It is a really nice, crumbly chocolate bar that has been around in UK for eons. Its possibly the nicest (and messiest) piece of candy the company has ever made. if youve never had one then you are missing out.

As well as eating like a normal candy bar it can also be stuck in a snow cone (ice-cream cornet) and normally drizzled in a sauce, normally rasberry or strawberry, i dont know what this would be called in the States but in the UK its called a "99", dunno why, maybe it was because a one time thats how much it cost.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Lyndon Goes Team...........

Yep its true, due to unforseen circumsatnces Lyndon has volenteered his services to go "Team" and save a load.

As you know, last night Montedarlo (Phil) broke down trying to collect a critical meat load that needs to get to Pensylvania by Wednesday morning. I was asked to abort my Edmonton journey and scoot into Lethbridge to provide the exta power, all went well till this morning.

I got to the truck this morning, logged on, colleced the paperwork and backed under the trailer to do my pre-trip checks. Everything seemed good so far so i sent my "Loaded" macros and went to drive round to the scales. This is where the problems started, trailers brakes were very weak and the combination was unsafe.

I did a few emergency stops to make sure it wasnt my imagination but there was definitely something wrong. I had 2 choices, go and hope for the best or go get it checked out. I decided on the latter and limped into the shop.

The fitter there confirmed my suspicions, the trailer brakes were working but no where near as powerfull as they should be. I was told to park in the shop where it was warmer and copious amounts of antifreeze was poured into the braking system.

2 hours later the brakes were working but the problem was i had missed meat inspection and it doesnt open till 16:00 tomorrow, bearing in mind the load needs to be at the customer on Wednesday and im not leaving till Monday lunchtime, the distance is 3590 kms or 3 days and 8 hours driving for a single driver.

I made a suggestion and it looks like we are running with it, i am going to be running team which means 2 drivers and 3045 will only be stopping to take on fuel, i reckon that we can do the trip in 41 hours straight driving which means we should be there at lunch time on Wednesday.

Ive never done this before so it should be fun, not sure when i will be able to get internet connection so please bear with me and i will update whenever i can.

Stay tuned, this should be interesting.............................

Pensylvania or bust


There are monsters up in the mountains and they are killing the animals there, the RCMP are trying to control the monsters but it looks like the monsters are winning.

Jan wont let me have one of these, loads of trunk (boot) space but not so easy to park at Walmart
A Truck stop in Washington


This is going to have to be a quick post coz things have been happening pretty quick around here:

3045 and i made good time getting back from Portland (very good actually) and were racing towards Edmonton then the computer beeped and i got a message to spin round and head for Lethbridge and rescue a load from Brooks.

Well i spun round (in the middle of the road) and when i got back to the Lethbridge yard there was Montedarlo (Phil). He had broken down and limped into town with a load from Brooks and it was going to Pensylvania, it had to be there for Wednesday.

I dropped my trailer, we had a little chat, very nice to meet you at last Phil, then we moved his trailer axles and i went home for the night.

Woke up this morning and its going to be another hot load, not sure if i got enough hours to get it there but time will tell.

Life on the edge eh?

Aaron The Trucker (and film maker)





Okay so you know im in Portland Oregon and im collecting in Portland too but tomorrow evening, so what shall i do in the meantime.............

As if there was any other option, if your in Portland you have to meet Portlands own prodigy film-maker, editor and budding soap salesman.

Who else could i mean but Aaron the Trucker............

Okay so how do you contact such a celebrity a short notice, i decided email.

So i sent the email and waited, and waited, then finally went into the Flying J facilities and succesfully managed to stick a paper bath mat to a mirror (sorry cleaning guy) this was my tribute to Aaron, i was in his town so i would create an artistic masterpiece.

I actually created a bath mat stuck to a mirror but i filmed it all the same.........

Anyway next day i had a phone call and we aranged to meet at Jubitz truck emporium for a chat and some coffee, that was a fantastic plan as i had to get the trailer washed out as there was about half a ton of potato starch all over the trailer floor.
I spun round to Jubitz, drove thru the wash and parked up.......
My plan was to get food and coffee but Aaron had already thought it through and turned up complete with camera and all the tripody things that go with it.

To my surprise i was presented with a gift, 3 bars of Oregon Soap (hope that wasnt a hint) from one of his business enterprises. After a split second decision i returned the compliment with a special chocalate treat that you just cant get in the States, most Americans have never even heared of them.............. Cadburys Flakes.

Its dificult for the average "Limey" to comprehend a whole nation that have not sampled a "Flake". We who were bought up with those adverts from the 70's, and a "Mr Whippy" ice-cream isnt complete without a flake, strawberry juice and crushed nuts.

Anyone who is about my age will remember the old playground joke whereby if you ever saw another kid with an icecream you would ask if they wanted crushed nuts for that.
What normally ensued was a naive nodding of the head (by the victim), a swift kick in the balls, he afore mentioned victim wrything in pain and the ice cream aquires a new owner.

Oh, we were such scamps then....................

Oh dear i digress

Yes Aaron it was a great honour to meet you at last bud and i really enjoyed filming the interview, i really cant wait to see the end result.

I totally agree, next time we will have to grab some food next time though, but are you sure that the Sugar Shack doesnt sell candy................

Take care matey.
Lyndon.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Memories of Pitter Patter


Wow i had a fantastic nights sleep last night. It was absolutely throwing down with rain last night and i could hear it on the cab.

When i was a child we used to go caravanning all round UK and one of my fondest memories was of sleeping to the noise of the rain landing on the tin shell of the van. I used to fight to stay awake just so i could listen to it, unfortunately this struggle would only last for about 2 minutes then the next thing i knew it would be morning again and everything was fresh, you could smell the grass and the trees. You could hear the birds singing and the chink of a metal spoon on the side of a cup that told you that mom had just made some tea.

Damn, that memory just cuts through time, it reaches out through the years of driving, serving my country, meeting my wife, being a father myself and takes me right back to that old battered little white caravan that we used to drag around behind a Ford Zephyr, a Sunbeam Rapier or what ever car we had at the time.

sorry, words escape me ..................................................

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Washed Out In Washington






Woke up this morning at Ernie's Truck Stop in Moses Lakes to a very wet and miserable Thursday 13th, last night i sent a message saying i was going into the delivery at 07:00 unless told otherwize. I did my pre trip inspection, did my paperwork, sent my morning macros, had a wash, drunk a tin of milkshake then stared at the computer screen in disbelief. My new appointment was 14:00 local (15:00 Albera time).

Buggershitbuggershitbuggeryshit & shittybugger, that had just screwed my day up completely so i kicked off my sneakers, climbed on the bed and pulled the sleeping bag over me. Just as i was dozing off (2 mins) i heared a faint beep so i pulled the satellite over so i could read it without putting my glasses on, the message said.

"oops sorry that was the Vancouver, del asap and get to Vancouver"

Well that was good enough for me, i kicked off the sleeping bag, pulled on the sneakers, gunned the mighty detroit and screamed off the truck lot and into the delivery yard which was 10 mins away.

Once there i got tipped within the hour and headed west to Vancouver. I got into the next delivery, backed on the door, the 1 skid came off, doors were slammed shut then it was back round to he TA in Troutdale to fuel up then a quick hop next door into the Flying J to claim the last parking space again in the name of the "Big Red Team".

My paperwork is done ready for tomorrow.

Im showered and scrubbed all my important little places.

Stuck the disoseable bathmat on the mirror so i could photograph it for you.

Cleaned the mirror after said bathmat stuck to the mirror.

I havent eaten yet but i have got $16 worth of J vouchers so double steak and eggs might just be in the offing tonight.

Ive alredy got my next job which is collecting for Sobeys across the other side of Portland and im taking that up to Edmonton where i am planning to try and get a load back to Lethbridge, reset and straight back into the States.

As usual we will see....................................................

Jonny Likes Popcorn






Went back to the truck next morning and Jan & I were sat in the cab chatting and a familiar face appeared next to us. Jonny Goulding drives 3059 and we hadnt seen him for a while, Christmas in fact when we sank a bottle of Jack Daniels between us and made fools of ourselves at pingpong.

Well Jonny was heading down to Sutherlin in Oregon with some Pinto Beans so we decided it was convoy time again. I said my goodbyes to Jan and waved her off then we grabbed some fuel and headed east for Crows Nest Pass and Eastport into Idaho.

Just short of Cranbrook Jonny got pulled in at the scales for a routine level 3 (paperwork check) so i trundled on a few miles then pulled over to wait. He must have been only in there 5 mins as he soon came round the corner and pulled in at the turnout.

I made up some popcorn and offered Jonny a bag, as you can see he got quite atatched to it, well till the contents had gone anyway.

The border crossing was pretty unaventfull and we parted company at Ritzville when he turned south and i carried on west to Moses Lakes.