PeteB

Heaps

We were both awake early, Caz was off to see an old workmate her new baby while I collected a road tow from the local dealer.mthen I head down to Shepshed to sort out and load the Q7. I'm taking it back as it got sold to us. But I'll leave the battery monitoring ECU in place so it starts and runs. She is inches too wide to fit between the posts on the trailer so one comes off. Once all our kelter is removed, load, strap and set off for Oldham. The weather gets worse on the way with torrential rain and high winds. I park a street away and drive into their yard. I'm met by a young lad who will not sign for it. So I start to photograph her and another chap appears. He also refuses to sign. I just say that I got photographs of it being there and in good nick! He tries several times to hand me the keys, "let's talk", blah blah blah! "Sorry chap, the time to talk was last September, I've done what the bank has asked me to do and they have refunded my money". He looks mighty shocked and I walk away in the rain. Shame, it could have been a long term ride! Will start to search for another in a week or two. Surprised that Wales beat Ireland so easily and even more surprised when Scotland fought back and we only just got a draw! World Cup is around the corner and we need to improve massively to have any chance in Japan!

Caz away for her last shift at 3:30. I'm away at 8 to train some more people at Network Rail at South Milford. Then to see a few people locally before heading south to the factory. I drop if the trailer that I dragged around Scotland with the little tractor mounted in the busted pallet. I grab the large Tri axle and after a bit if banter, head home. Caz's mini is due an MOT while we away so I load than on the trailer as Caz is too tired to drive it to North Nottinghamshire. We had a quite night and in bed early. Tomorrow/today is the day I got to return the lemon Q7 and leave the owners club! I would rather be at a pub to watch the rugby! Good luck England and good luck Ireland and Scotland! I just thought, the Q7 is quite a long car, I wonder if it will fit on the trailer!?!

Giles

That's me back home! Away from the hotel in good order and seeing rail people in the Glasgow area! One chap is busy dealing with an incident but has time to see me. The incident involves a road/rail Landover crew cab which is allowed to carry five in the cab and six in the back on rail as a crew delivery bus has got badly damaged and a couple of people injured. It transpires that it ran into a stationary road rail rubber duck (wheeled excavator). The electronics show it was travelling at 40mph when it should be at 20 max! Now looking to see if the in cab camera reveals any horse play etc! The duck wasn't damaged but the Landrover suffered slight structural damage but major panel and component damage! After visiting a few other people, I headed home, spending a lot of the drive on the phone. Tom had asked me to help him get the engine over to his but has gone boozing instead. He tells Caz that he has to go out tomorrow and Saturday too! I do believe that he is finding a taste for it too! Caz was in bed when I got home, she got up later for tea and will be in bed soon ready for her last shift before holiday! Whoopee!

Force

A decent night's sleep in a Travelodge in Perth, one of the Travelodge joints that has a decent pub restaurant next door. A few email meant a delayed start and I had to rejig the load on the trailer. Stuff on wheels can bounce about and the pallet under the tractor powered unit had shattered, leaving it wandering around wrecking the bed! I photographed the wreckage and sent in an email asking for a better method of carting these about. They will look into it, again.... After a few sales calls in the Perth area, I met an old friend for a spot of lunch then headed for Bishopton, west of Glasgow. I had to stop to make a few phone calls but spent decent time with the dealer reps to organise the introduction of a new chipper. Good bunch of people who really want to do more for us. Then off to another hotel that I booked in Arusha this morning. Only, I made a mistake. In my haste, I booked for April 13th!!! Good job that they had a room available as I really wasn't looking to traipsing about trying to get a room! Caz is worried that I might get "voluble" at the weekend when I take the lemon Q7 back to the rogue garage on Saturday, she doesn't want me to go alone! I've had to promise that I'll park the trailer not far away and drive it to their lot, get out, take pictures and walk away without voicing my opinion on their collective parentage, slipping into the vernacular and generally acting the disgruntled thug! It could easily go that way after 6 months of being pished about!

Rail

Hard slog today. Started with a disaster, the breakfast chef didn't turn out so had to do with toast! Aftercare few emails, I headed to Forfar and the dealership there. I had to collect a tractor mounted chipper and go over a few things with the dealer owner and his sales staff. The chipper should have been bolted to a pallet, but that was a cheap one which was broken, the chipper had at some point been damaged after falling off the forks of a lift truck! Not happy, even less so to find that it hadn't been used either and the Rep had gone 'to make few calls.' strapped iron the trailer and got the boss out of a sit down with a Tier 1 product Rep. I get on with him and we don't feed each other froth! Quick couple of questions/answers and I'm away. I decide to take the Old Military Road over the Cairngorms - job perk! Cracking drive but it cracked the pallet even more! Drove through rain, gales, sleet, snow and bright sunshine! On getting to the first island at Inverness and braking sharply, the chipper shifted and the little one behind that fell over with a load crash! Right in front of a Policeman! Quickly nipped into the nearby Tesco carpark to stand things up and restrap everything! Meeting in Inverness was good to get support going forward then in due time started out for Perth! Truly vile weather again, driving my rain, sleet and heavy snow. Standing snow and slush along the A9. At one dual carriageway section, with lane 2 covered, an impatient lorry came racing past, throwing waves over all the cars! The idiot could have caused an accident as I couldn't see anything for several years and the car in front of me was a timid driver! At the hotel now. Family upset as sisters delightful terrier got spooked by another dog and ran into road and got killed and her other dog got savaged! Poor folks! They rehomed this terrier from an official rehoming spot on a Greek island. Caz's application for a contract shows that there are dozens of applications and only one 2 on 6 off role! The rest are 2days,2nights and four off!

As usual, Caz away early. I'm up and gone in reasonable time, packed for a few nights away. I drive, slowly, to the office to collect a couple that fit on a small trailer, get involved in various discussions, then head north. I got to be in Edinburgh for 16:00 but the SatNag tells me that that is a tad optimistic! I drive from Alcester to Colinton Road in 6.5 hours with only a stop for fuel and a toilet break! Got to Edinburgh for 17:05, which ain't a bad trawl! Customer is a decent spud. He works for the Army Reserves as Phys Ed type thing for a couple of days and does tree work when he can! Once that is done, drive for another 90 mins to a hotel in Dundee. After a quick supper and a few txt messages with Caz, fall asleep. Awake in the wee small hours now! A call to the bank today and they tell me to return the lemon Q7 to the garage who sold it to me and that should bring that saga to an end. On the look out for a decent Q7 again. Hopefully one without issues.....

march

Sorry folks, technical difficulties etc meant that I never got to do the last few days. Friday had Caz go at 3:30 and back at 17:00. I went early enough to Alcester then after the usual chatter etc, take a new unit to Hire Equipment in Ludlow. They traded their 2017 unit for something slightly bigger. Good people and a pleasure to do business with them again. After some more chat and froth in the factory and around, I head home to spend a couple of hours trying to get to grips with Unimog pickup arms etc. That never happened with the plethora of week end calls. I'm off to Scotland next week and that puts pressure elsewhere. Caz wanted to get away so I packed the laptop and we headed north to Wood Lane. I was shattered after the hassle and miles of this week so fell asleep in a chair while the box was being laughed at after supper. It was like I had had a soporific! Could not keep awake! We discovered that the internet was down - no cable up there - and the phone signal was worse that usual. I nearly went off to the local McDonalds to do my stuff! On the thought that it would be back, we stayed where we where. amazing how bereft you feel once tablets, smart TV, phones etc do not work! No ebay dreaming, no emails, restricted messaging blah blah blah. Critical time for me with a trip on and Caz has been asked to apply online for a contract.....That and her online login was busted and the office isn't manned to re-jig stuff was most annoying. At least I got to watch the rugby. The Scotland/Wales match was epic with Wales becoming lousy in the second half while Scotland were dominate. The England match was as expected. The weather was lousy so even the dog was not sure about stuff outside but he still got stir crazy! I refitted the busted/repaired ECU into the Corsa with no real expectations of instant repair. I wasn't disappointed! I was really, the re-worked ECU now has a different set of symptoms and still the thing doesn't work. I hope that I can contact the firm and talk it through with them. Hopefully, they will be on point - I would hate to go through another Section 75 clawback! The weather on Sunday was still appalling, so glad that the rugby was on again. Ireland were rampant! A team, while the french looked like they rarely played together....The internet was still down, phone signal too poor to hotspot too. Try it! A weekend with plenty to do with no outside comms.....Nightmare!!! Talking of Comms, it is always an issue at work. Some people are too busy with their stuff to bother with it, others like to keep it to themselves, others are open and tell everyone everything. One or two forget what it is that we do and how we do it! Anyhow, Sales Dept are often the last to be told and we constantly !Removed! on about it. Promises made to reform and a Comms Commissar put in place. We had a not uncommon situation on Friday when I and the Comms Commissar had a discussion about a needy person being lent a machine in my control as a 'used' unit. Planning done and and discussions had! I found out the Engineering/Development have took it to bits to use it as a test bed donkey! Important though that is, it is even more important to talk about it and decide what is happening with all departments before it is took off my list (and that general stock list). Their's was a blank look from the Tech Manager etc - as if to say 'I know that I have screwed up, but, I'm too important to be involved in this discussion, after-all it is only a salesman who suffers'....Then there will be a look of 'do you know how important my work is in comparison to that of a mere salesman! For some reason, in the UK, Reps are quite often looked on as 'overheads' rather than 'Wealth Makers', we are often seen as 'burdens' rather that 'Assets'. Most annoying... especially when they are always after me for forecasts, numbers, crystal ball viewings etc....They are salaryed or paid sheltered from the shocks of daily life while we get paid on results!!! whinge over.....

Drag

An awkward day! Caz back home at 4 and I didn't sleep well! Off at 7 to Dunnockshaw bro meet a rep at his premises. We have to hang one and a Unimog then train the council staff! It was an odd sale via a tender document and they have ours already, but several questions and the offer of a demo/site visit went unanswered. Anyhow, got the deal and the first and second attempts to do this died as the Unimog was broken and then their tractor was dead! Got there this morning at 10 and the first thing the rep says is "it don't fit!". They have the only 'Mog that I have seen with a non adjustable rear linkage and it is about 3" too wide!!! I now got to organise two new pick up arms or have the chipper altered! The next job was to take a new unit from the dealer to a customer in Bury. But they decided to delay delivery until next week but only decided that last night! Grrr! I pulled into a service area to make a few calls and lost 2 hours on non productive stuff about a used machine being taken to France by an ex pat and the legalities of that. Another frustrating set of calls that change next week's diary and the weather was absolutely vile, making driving a chore! Caz doing 4:30 - 16:30 tomorrow, do looking forward to doing nothing of consequence over the weekend!

Match

Caz home at five, I'm up at 6:30! Left the house at 7 for the two hour trip to the demo at Easingwold. The traffic was awful! M1 had a long stretch up to the M18 which was 20mph with signs saying beware of the traffic heading towards you!?! Then the A1M was shut so a lot of standing traffic or people like me following their satnag! Good demo and had a laugh so hopefully got the deal! Then headed down too Hull to show some experienced users how to get on with their new chipper. Good bunch and we had some common contacts so had a laugh and remember various folk in the rail deveg world. Head back towards Selby to another customer to collect some parts sent in error, again! Right annoying! Then back to Shepshed. Tom and Pip here for divorced Dad's Wednesday supper! Caz gone to a 12 hour night shift again! Glad I got the demo done this morning as the rain came down like stair rods this aft! In the bean bag watching tripe now, got a couple of emails to do though!

abbreviation

Caz pushing the boundaries! They screw up and didn't look at the schedules, she went in at 4 and came home at 9. Slept and then went back in at 16:30 until 04:30! She'll be right tired out! She also had some tough news on the house purchase - the Solicitor smells a rat with this one, something to do with rights of access around the back gardens - looks like the one neighbour has rights across two gardens but Caz won't have access to hers! Plus the Solicitor is asking for a breakdown of works done and the costs associated as it got sold last year for close to half what Caz has been asked to pay......It may mean a very thorough survey - far more thorough than a standard home buyer thing to make sure that the cracks haven't been plastered over! I spent the day at the desk trying to get to the key buyers etc at these National Accounts - almost flying blind as my colleague has done nothing for the last six years and I been stretched a tad thin with my workload! Hard work and very tiring too. Found out the a premier machine that got 'sold' in September has been left.....the buyer gave his order and now will not take it. Right annoyed as we could have sold it twice since and one of those would not wait for a new one and went to a competitor! I do dislike that kind of thing...Twice it has happened to that Rep too! I circulated the records from the sales meeting and will probably get a cold shoulder from a couple of people that got criticised for poor communication internally. It needed to be said. Even the most minor thing needs to be talked about then we can decide who needs to know. I hate it taking a call from a new machine customer asking where the locking ball hitch is, as it was on the demo unit - 'we deleted it as it saved £20' was the reply internally - but it says in the brochure that it is fitted!, a shrug and they walk away. Quite often, UK Sales Reps are not looked as the wealth creators but as an overhead, and treated badly. Quite often, we call ourselves 'The Mushrooms', fed on muck and kept in the dark..... Got in the garage and sorted out these plugs and wiring to a satisfactory level, now got to fit these lamps to enlighten the bench top - leave that for another day. Now in the bag with a wine and tripe tv! Still ebay dreaming about getting something to blat up and down!

Acronym

Caz away early! At this rate, she will have paid for this house in double quick time! I had to write up the sales meeting which was a an awful lot of copying and pasting! Still took hours to add the additional notes and action points that I had written down! I sent it off for the Sales Director for him to authorize circulation and hopefully it is what his recall is too! That and a rook of planning do do with these National Accounts took care of the day! Still in a spin over how little my colleague has achieved in the last 7 years not going to any of them! Oh well. Caz off to bed soon as she got a 01:00 alarm! She finishes at 09 and is back on in the afternoon! I got a chiropractor appointment then will head off to go to the head office of a couple of firms in the South of England! That'll be strange traipsing along my previous well trodden paths!

Bar

Slow and quiet today. Caz away in the small hours and I eventually got up at nine. I decided to to fit a new socket and some bench lights in the garage. I don't know what I've done but they don't work! I stopped for a while at dinner and carried on until the rugby started but still haven't sorted it out! All I done was snip a cable, use a junction box to extend and the stuff won't work! Totally illogical and baffled by it! Watched a fair bit of the Words v Newcastle match until Caz came home. After a cup of tea and chat, she away to kip while I ponder some work stuff and get the Sunday roast started! Got a big pork joint in. Enough for 8, or do the sticker says, that sorts out a few nights onwards then! That red S4 gas broken £3k now, I'm right tempted but I got to get some space made etc! I'd love to that a blast up Santa Pod against Tom's ricer burner!

Entrance

Ant

I did wake when she went, but not for long! I got up earlier than usual with a determination! Bit of housework and stuff then into the garage. I got the Focus on ramps and crawled underneath to get the tank out. I was amazed how rusty it was underneath! The corrosion was endemic! The rear subframe and suspension was truly shocking in that the steel was delaminating. I think that the years of rural driving and rarely being cleaned followed by standing has done for the old girl. I had intended to fit a new fuel pump, give her a right good clean and advertise her for best offer! After seeing the delamination, I doubt she'll MOT so we decided to sell it for scrap to clear the space! I got around to sending off the Corsa ECU, so hopefully, that will get sorted soon enough and that will get sold. We decided to wait until we get back from a break to do that and flog the various mowers blah blah too. I might even set out to clear some space in the garage and make space flogging the huge compressor, various V8 blocks and BW gearboxes! Both cars got a trip to the wash - at £6 or £8 a go, they do a great job, far better than the local coin ops! I had a little nap while the rugby was on an we decided that as I was recording it, we would get a quick walk in before dark. Oddly, Caz's exercise App showed that she walked some 3.5 miles the other day while we walked an extended version and it was only 3 miles!!! Still thinking on the Q7 replacement, a Disco 4 would be good but more than my pittance budget, she got caught looking at Q7 stuff again so you may have to put up with my ramblings! Tom got another Legacy scrapper! He hates the Lexus so got this for the engine for his red one and move on the Shed Lexus! I got to thinking and eBay dreaming and a red S4 Avant with bad paint is currently sat at £2,350! Now that would be fun but I need to make space! Anyone want to make a good bid on Sweet Sixteen?