New Year, New Job, New blog...

... British Trucker Abroad

Another new feature on Flickr, image embedding.

The latest feature on Flickr gives users (or anyone else) the ability to embed pictures directly into websites. It adds the title and their own Flickr logo to the image, BUT it seems to make it easier for people to steal the images and use them elsewhere, although if they are a business there is a chance that they will get caught out by a copyright violation claim.





Is this a good or a bad thing?

It seems they are going the same direction as Panoramio did when Google got their hands on them, and as someone who used Panoramio and was quite pleased to see my images on Google Earth reach over 4,000,000 views, I soon changed my tune when I was finding them all over the web on travel sites etc.
My option then was to delete my account at Panoramio, so, will the same happen with Flickr?

Brighouse Victorian Christmas Market

Lost soul.

I'm feeling a bit like a lost soul right now after returning from a nice holiday at the Fiestas in Benidorm which was really up tempo, to come back to grey Britain.

Saw great live music from Orquesta Birmania...

These guys above were on a professional stage in one of the main streets and were a real treat.

There were lots of things happening in the old town including live music at some of the Penyas. We came across this singer and guitarist on a back street and they were fantastic, a great voice and a massive catalogue of music covering Spanish Pop to Led Zeppelin! Great entertainers with boundless energy.

The end of the Fiestas are marked with a giant firework display on Pontiente beach.

The day after the Spanish events is the Brits Fancy Dress Street Party in Benidorm New Town which, this year, was attended by an estimated 25,000 holidaymakers many of whom donned costumes and joined in the fun from just before lunchtime continuing right into the night at the many bars.

So, why a lost soul?

Well, as the opportunities for well paid work here are pretty dismal and the trucking industry continues in a downward spiral to the lowest possible wages the option of going back to Canada is very tempting , but after seeing our granddaughter most weekends it would be very hard for Cath to make a move again, even for a short term of 2 years, so... who knows what will happen in the future?

Interlude.

I ran a little slideshow of my pictures on the big screen whilst I was working the bar in France, I'l just do the same here for a while...

Click here to buy prints from my on-line gallery

Back to reality.

The summer passed very quickly in France and we are now back in dull, grey, miserable Bradford.
I may post some pictures which I took throughout summer in the Loire Valley at a later date when I have finished editing them.
 In the meantime, this is what brought us back from Canada, our beautiful Granddaughter.

Et ceux qui ne font rien ne se trompent jamais.

I may continue this blog but in a re-named form (when I think of a good name for it) when we return to work the summer season in the Loire Valley at Le Moulin Fort in May.

In the meantime I have been busy working out of Leeds for a machinery movement firm driving two different trucks, and old DAF ...

and now a newer Mercedes 16 litre V8.

This March has seen us have a nice dump of snow up North, so it'll be nice to be heading south.

New Grand Daughter

This is the reason we came home...

 Somewhere way back in this blog I mentioned that my Gran and Grandad emigrated to Canada in 1911, then returned to England. They went back in 1913 (shown here) and were listed as 'Returned Canadians', I wonder if they had citizenship?

They returned to the UK once again for the first world war and never went back to Canada although my Grans brothers stayed there and made good lives for themselves.

One year on, and time to go home.

In October the one year work permit which I had from Watt and Stewart expired and rather than take a new 2 year permit which was offered we decided to decline it and return to the UK.

When we went home in April for a break we learned that our son and his wife were expecting a baby in December which would be our first grandchild, and Cath feels that she may not want to return to Canada afterwards.

This was a very hard decision to make, and we may still want to return at a later date, but, the work permits, or rather the LMO which is required to obtain a work permit are not easy to obtain for small companies, and if I had taken it, then not carried on working I feel it would have been very unfair as the company have treated us so well during our time in Canada.

Coincidentally, as I gave my boss the bad news he was able to change the name on the LMO to allow someone else to start working for him, whom we had met that same day, and who are also bloggers, Tom and Elisa. We wish them all the very best with a great company.

Douros' Bar Claresholm.

In the picture above are, Stuart from Oz, top lad and soon to be leaving Canada, Canadians Bob White and Jim Casey, fellow Yorkshireman Nick (Toe Tappa) Pritchard and the Irish lads, Mick Mc Garry, Mickey Treanor and Andy Sherry, along with me, Cath and Veronica.

Before we left, a little drink was taken in Claresholm which gave us chance to say goodbye to some of the great people we have been around this year, it's just a shame that some people were down the road at that time so couldn't join us, but that's the thing with long haul trucking, it's very difficult to arrange social events.

Mick and Martina took us up to the airport, with their kids and it was a very sad time for us as we have got close to the family during our stay, since arriving on the same flight as Mick in 2011 and we will miss the whole family.

Ethan Mc Garry's first Ice Hockey match.

We also managed by pure luck to meet up with Dave Caldwell in the Flying J at Calgary, and then a few weeks later Garren Perkins spotted us heading north on our last run back to Canada and we managed to stop for half an hour for a chat. Who knows, we may be back to Watt and Stewart in the future, never say never.

Dave Caldwell and me in Calgary

Garren Perkins and me in Montana.

Garren Perkins and me in Montana with his truck.

There were also quite a few people we both wanted to meet up with in Lethbridge, but never quite got around to it, so maybe next time.

Our total mileage from October to October, with a holiday off in May was 128,000, not a bad total, and we have now driven in just about every state in the union, except Hawaii, Alaska and the few little ones to the North East of New York.

I'll leave you with a few recent pictures, starting with our last load from Conrad coming off the trailer in Claresholm.

Getting the straps off, ready to unload.

Cath showing how big the tyres are. There's a  27" overhang on either side of the deck as well.

Dusty doing his thing.

Bob White getting his load sorted on his Super B.

Cath looking through the tyres in the Yard.

Our last load south went here in Wyoming.

Last load south for us, bags for the mining industry.

Last load south for us, bags for the mining industry.

The town in Wyoming where we shut down for the night after unloading at the mine.

Taken in Lavina MT on the way back north on our last trip. We were running empty to Conrad MT to pick up tyres.

Chaining slippery empty steel reels in Texas.

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas, mouth wateringly delicious, I could eat their brisket every day!

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas

Somewhere along a diversion route USA

One of our last mornings at The Lazy J in Claresholm, thanks to John, Lorraine and family for looking after us for a year.