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Spent some happy days at moorbridge..

Tadpoleing when young and chasing a

gorgeous gypsy girl called Shelagh.

When she found out i was fairground stock..all was good.

Stroll up to the swingers ( forest hotel )

For lemonade and crisps.

Often the camp elders would flog homemade pegs or the like.

As a youth i pumped petrol at the shell garage at Moorbridge..spent most of my pay on 8 track cassettes.

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Living almost opposite Marshalls yard was brilliant the yard man knew i came in for a nose...and often scrounged a lift of a trunker.

They did a night run to old Swan i think in Liverpool..imagine that today..mind you i was picked up outside the lido in case the gateman was watching.

I was right up the top of the A66 one time..a red unit and a 40 ft stopped..a lift to my doorstep.

Great memories of Moorbridge.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/5/2018 at 1:05 AM, IAN123. said:

Living almost opposite Marshalls yard was brilliant the yard man knew i came in for a nose...and often scrounged a lift of a trunker.

They did a night run to old Swan i think in Liverpool..imagine that today..mind you i was picked up outside the lido in case the gateman was watching.

I was right up the top of the A66 one time..a red unit and a 40 ft stopped..a lift to my doorstep.

Great memories of Moorbridge.

One of my first wagon driving jobs was driving a daily trunk to Old Swan in Liverpool, Some firm that manufactured heating appliances. Talk about union rule & one man one job, soul destroying sometimes !

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British Leyland or BMC later BL whatever you like was even worse. Strict union rule there too, I used to carry walnut veneer dashboards packed in crates there for top of range BL cars, Vanden Plas etc etc.

Fork truck driver stopped unloading me one day because the bell sounded for his lunch break & he made the quickest move all day. Leaving one crate behind on the back of the wagon, I went to pick it up & all hell broke loose, if I removed it myself it could have caused a walkout ! No kidding, I think BL workers were worse than the dockers, & that is going some.

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Love it Catfan. I hope i was the total opposite..knew a driver had to get off.

Only once did a driver cross me..the late Don Green from BFI...taking a box to Greenwich..his trick was to back under hard whilst i was in the trailer with a small lift truck Once too often...

He was a 'regular' man when it came to going to the stalls..so i removed the light bulb over trap one...stretched pallet wrap over the bowl and put down seat... and waited...saw the overalls draped on the deck...under the door ..and i rammed a brush handle in the door handle!

Came back after lunch..he was 'in trouble'...never backed his ERF into the pin again.

 

 

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My early wagon driving days were much more enjoyable than the latter ones. No silly tachographs just a manual entry written log book, ahh those were the days. No Working Time Directive, CPC madness & Gestapo like DVSA stormtroopers. The old time MOT men were much more laid back unlike the present day counterparts who will issue a FPN as much as look at you. Talking to a coach driver recently & he got a £60 FPN for having a 44 minute break instead of 45 minute break. Thank you digital tachographs, NOT.

I really am glad I have retired, all the fun slowly disappeared over the years.

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On 24/03/2018 at 7:49 PM, catfan said:

My early wagon driving days were much more enjoyable than the latter ones. No silly tachographs just a manual entry written log book, ahh those were the days. No Working Time Directive, CPC madness & Gestapo like DVSA stormtroopers. The old time MOT men were much more laid back unlike the present day counterparts who will issue a FPN as much as look at you. Talking to a coach driver recently & he got a £60 FPN for having a 44 minute break instead of 45 minute break. Thank you digital tachographs, NOT.

I really am glad I have retired, all the fun slowly disappeared over the years.

It's just the same in the quarrying industry Mick, it seems that every other week you were put on some training course or other with young graduates fresh from university telling us old hands how to conduct ourselves in a quarry, I think after 43 years in the industry from finishing my apprenticeship through to site fitter then area fitter and into management I had seen or done it all,they should be listening to us, once had a "new manager "type bloke on site and we didn't have much gravel on stock but plenty of sand,he asked why are we still producing sand when we have enough, I told him that it was the nature of the raw material deposit, he asked why don't we just dig out the gravel and leave the sand until stock levels are lower,he couldn't grasp the fact that both sand and gravel are together in the deposit and need to be separated in the processing plant therefore producing both sand and gravel for the stockyard.

All this CPC,FPN,WTD are all job creations thought up by some faceless and sometimes brainless autocrats who have never been in a HGV or in a quarry or any other industrial environment in their lives,

All the "new" training is designed to take the responsibility away from the employer and put it on the ordinary worker,the bloke who is doing the job,therefore "if someone gets hurt it's their own fault, we gave them the correct training"

 

Rog

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I blame computers for a lot of the unhappiness.  (Not to mention the American litigation culture, Rog.). When I started with EMEB back in the mid 60s our foreman issued us several work orders each day.  We were then free to organize our route and deal with 'em as we saw fit, and according to customer requests, morning visit etc.. We'd put the time spent on each job adding up to an eight hour day.  Tea, and coffee breaks up to our discretion.  

 

Once the the computer came along.  Time out, time driving to job, time spent driving to next job.  Actual time on the job.  It would take half an hour a day trying to make it all add up.  Not to mention traffic delays and other unforeseeables.  The job was never so enjoyable again as it once was.  We all felt like we just couldn't be trusted anymore.

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  • 2 months later...

Moorbridge known to us locals as ''Jelly lake'' on account of all the Frog spawn.....got shot in my ankle by travellers or whatever they're called........when i tried to stop em shooting Frogs.......brave boys...........

I was about eight.

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Loppy, in our childhood days, they were known as Gypos.  Usually going door to door selling clothes pegs or lucky heather.

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8 hours ago, MargieH said:

 

You were a brave little boy, Ben... I really mean that!    I love that you were standing up against mindless animal cruelty...

 

Thanks for that Margie........can't stand cruelty in any form especially Animals......,should be a Veggie really  ,once saw a Cow put down....i walked in on the act without realising....really upset me for weeks.......not only Animals but always stick up for the underdog....probably why ive lost most of me teeth........lol

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I don't think anyone was keen on them.  Kind of scary, they looked like they could put a curse on you if you didn't buy from them. 

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Moorbridge is another location that has completely left my memory, I can't think why. I used to travel past the golf course every day. Many thanks for the mind-jog.

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15 hours ago, notty ash said:

B8 bus at the side of Golf Club.Did this bus pass through Bestwood village?..strange for a DMU to be there.

Yes, past the edge of Bestwood on the A611. Starting in Mansfield through Rainworth, Blidworth, Fishpool, (Ravenshead) Papplewick twice, Hucknall, Bestwood, past Bullwell Forest Golf course, along Hucknall Rd until it met Mansfield Rd and on to Huntingdon St.

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3072565772_1b7823a7de.jpgWhat a feat of engineering..the Bulwell Viaduct was exciting when i moved there..even though disused.3072565274_56e2e84921_b.jpgNever used the Lido much..preferred Marshalls or scrambling with a fag on.3072566436_d33a505ffc_b.jpgSpanning Hucknall Lane and Bestwood Rd.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 10 months later...
On 3/2/2018 at 9:17 PM, IAN123. said:

As a youth i pumped petrol at the shell garage at Moorbridge..spent most of my pay on 8 track cassettes.

 

I remember there was a really pretty girl worked the till in Moorbridge petrol station who I fancied, I'd go for £1's worth of petrol as that's all I could afford, never got anywhere with her though...

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She assumed you were a cheapskate, and would only get half of mild if she went out with you ! 

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