Yesterday was a bit of a rest day. A rest from driving a least although I worked my back side off catching up with jobs at home. I finally fell into bed after another 24 hours awake and slept from 8pm until 3am when the alarm signalled the start of another run to Sydney.
My first two drops for the day were marred by an inaccurate load plan and a poorly loaded trailer. I struggled to find the location of the correct pallets for each delivery but finally got it all sorted although my load was now filled with empty pallet spaces which makes for a nasty load if you have to break suddenly. I hope this wouldn’t be an issue…
As I ran down a slight hill toward the tunnel that runs under the Sydney Airport runway, I took my right foot off the accelerator and allowed the truck to coast on the jakes. As I approached the slowing vehicle in front I attempted to apply the brake only to find my foot was firmly attached to the base of my seat. In a quick moment of panic and unable to kick my right foot free I used my left foot to apply the break (having had to visibly locate the brake pedal for my left foot!), the old left foot is a bit of a bafoon and a real ham fist when it comes to braking and the truck hesitated abruptly. I managed to slip my shoe of and regain normal operation of the controls. Upon further examination I found that a spring from the underside of my seat had hooked itself in the little pull tab on the back of my boot thus securing it firmly to the seat base. I’ve now cut the loops on both of my boots so it can’t happen again.
Then at my last drop off as I approached the address on the paperwork I didn’t like the look of the entry so I pulled up and went for a walk to check it out. The owner assured me that all was good and semi-trailers come in and out all the time without a problem. I wasn’t overly confident but chose to go in having seen that I could indeed get myself out when required.
The driveway was a steep drop with a right hand turn as soon as you are through the gate. I knew I ran the risk of the trailer hitting against the cab at the top and that the guards over the drive tyres could scrub on the trailer so I eased her in very slowly. Bugger!… one of the guards managed to hook up on the I-beam under the trailer and bent itself beyond use. I had to borrow a crowbar and a forklift to straighten everything out enough to stop the guard from scrubbing on the tyre. Oh well that guard was almost two weeks old now.
This is the yard in question and I’ve overlayed a truck to give an idea of the scale.