Recently, I seem to working on Saturdays quite often.

As it happens, this suits me quite well because my wife works most weekends. She's a Cook/Housekeeper in a large house in the Surrey Hills. Her employer actually lives in London and, with the exceptions of public holidays, usually only visits her Surrey house at weekends. As a consequence, since my wife is working, I might as well, too. So, I'm quite happy to work on a Saturday or Sunday.

This Saturday's job involved me driving my own car to Guildford and taking a taxi, a train, the tube and a short walk to a bus garage at Holloway in north London.

From there it had been intended that I drive a bus up to a coachbuilder's factory near Sheffield. Unfortunately, however, I had barely gone half a mile before experiencing serious problems with the gearbox and I struggled to get it back to the garage - where it was decided to abort my journey and call in a breakdown truck to tow the vehicle to Sheffield.

Before, leaving, I enquired what had been the reason for taking it to Sheffield. "Oh, it had a gearbox problem." the engineer informed me, cheerfully - prompting me to wonder why, on earth, they hadn't hired a tow-truck in the first place. As it happens, they now have two accounts to settle because you can be sure that my company will want to cover my hours and travel expenses - not to mention the cost of the hire-car which had been put into South Anston for my anticipated journey home.

Anyway, I used the same means to get back to my own car as I had to get to Holloway and arrived home in time for a light lunch before a visit to the golf course for some well-needed excersise.

On Monday, I had been expecting to go Guildford at about lunch-time to collect a hire-car from another driver and use it to go to Purfleet, in Essex, to pick up a bus which was bound for Perth. However, due to a series of quite bizarre circumstances, the other driver was delayed by several hours and, by the time, the hire-csr finally became available, it was early evening and I decided to go home in it and leave the Purfleet job until the following day.....

........and, so it was, at a little before 8,00am on Tuesday morning I arrived at Purfleet to collect an elderly single-decker which, according to its appearance, had seen better days.

It was probably its somewhat dilapidated condition which attracted the attention of a couple of VOSA officials who were loitering with intent in a lay-by on the A14 just north of Huntigdon in Cambridgeshire.

The fundamental purpose of VOSA is to identify vehicles which might be unroadworthy. They have the power to impound vehicles which don't meet the required standards and, perhaps because of this, the lorry-park into which they escorted me for their inspection, was soon being abandoned by most of the trucks who were there when we arrived.

From my own vehicle's point of view, the only fault they noted on their report was that the fuel filler-cap was missing. However, the cloth which had been used as a temporary replacement was considered adequate for the journey to Scotland - but would need immediate repalcement when the bus got to its new owners.

As is often the case, it had been decided that I would meet up with another driver who was bringing a vehicle down from Falkirk and we met at the Knutsford services on the M6 and I exchanged the dated Dart for a brand new double-decker which was going down to a garage in Tottenham.

I suspect that plan A would have been that, having delivered the bus, I would have made my own way home by public transport. However, the office 'phoned to ask if I could collect a bus from a garage in the Docklands area which needed to be taken to Guildford. However, it wouldn't be ready until the following morning; so, I would have to find somewhere to spend the night.

As had been the case last week, I was experiencing difficulty in finding somewhere which wasn't fully booked. So, I had to ask the office to try to book accommodation for me through the interenet and I ended up staying at The London Gateway service station on the M1 just north of the capital.

Sadly, the close proximity of the hotel to the mainline railway into London meant that I didn't enjoy much sleep that night and I was quite happy to get up quite early on Wednesday morning in order to compete the delivery into Tottenham.

Enquiries at the bus depot led me to believe that using public transport to get the Docklands area wasn't quite as simple as I had imagined and I ended up discussing terms with a London taxi driver. Fortunately, he agreed a fare which turned out to be significantly less that it ought to have been and the fact that, in any case, he was on his way into London at the start of his working day meant that the cabbie wasn't too disappointed.

The bus I collected was was a single-decker and, on my way to Guildford, the office 'phoned to ask if I minded going 'oop north' again for another job later that day. I didn't mind. so, having collected the hire-car which was waiting for me at Guildford, I went home for a light lunch and a change of clothing before driving across to Sutton, in south London,  to meet up with another driver who was delivering a mini-bus into a local council depot.

Stopping off at a transport cafe near Peterborough for a meal, we shared driving duties during our journey to Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, where we had been booked us in avery nice hotel our company use quite often. After checking in, we had a drink at the bar and, I spent some time watching the semi-final of the European football before going to bed.

At 8.00am on Thursday morning, we joined another three of the company's drivers at the coachbuilders factory on the outskirts of the town and I was fortunate enough to be the first to be allowed to leave - in a brand new single-decker.

My good fortune, however, didn't last very long because, although I took a route I had used in the past - through an industrial estate - one of the roads had been completely  'closed off' and, in attempting to turn round, the 'overhang' at the rear end of the bus came into contact with the tarmac at the entrance to the unit into which I was reversing and I returned (full of contrition) to the factory.

Evidently, the damage could not be repaired at short notice and, after a few 'phone calls, it was decided that I should use the hire-car in which we had arrived to drive to another factory near Sheffield to collect a similar bus which was bound for a bus depot in Uxbridge.

Later, after a fairly routine journey south and as the London rush-hour approached, I was delighted to discover that the driver who had driven up to Scarborough with me (who had also been allocated a bus for Uxbridge) had waited there in order to give me a lift back to Guildford and the completion of this little excursion.



What a nice young man!

On Thursday, the office 'phoned to ask if I was available to work over the weekend - which I was. However, on Friday morning, since they hadn't called - and because I had recently taken up golf again (more about that, later). I was toying with the idea of playing a few holes.

Wishful thinking!

A little before 9.00am, the office 'phoned to ask if I could make my way to a council depot in Essex to collect a damaged mini-bus which needed to get to a coachbuilder's factory near Sheffield for urgent repairs. An e-mail followed with names and addresses and, an hour, or so, later, I set off in my own car towards Guildford.

Using a public car-park at a railway station isn't always a good idea because I can often (at little or no notice) be away for several days at a time. So, I have an arrangement with a major bus manufacturer which enables me to park at their HQ in Guildford - whether. or not, I'm actually delivering one of 'their' buses. On this occasion, as it happens, the customer is part of the same group.

Anyway, from there, it took a taxi to the railway staion, a train to Waterloo, a tube to Stratford, another train to Ilford and another taxi to the council depot.

Although the damage to the rear-end of the mini-bus was quite bad, the council engineers had done the best they could to make it roadworthy by patching it together with gaffa-tape and, at about 1.00pm, I headed north.

On the way, the office 'phoned again. Another driver had collected a new double-decker from Falkirk for delivery to the Tottenham area and, since he lived near Sheffield, it made sense for him to terminate at South Anston and for me to take it on to London. At the same time, they mentioned that there were a couple more jobs they wanted me to do on the following day and they offered to arrange for a hire-car to be waiting for me at Tottenham.

The new bus was waiting for me when I got to there and it would have been about 6.00pm. when headed back towards London.

My original thoughts had been to get close to London and stay in a travelodge. We often use this type of accommodation because parking buses outside Bed & Breakfast establishments isn't too easy. However, probably because it was a Friday, all the places I usually use were fully-booked and I carried on to Tottenham - where because I was a hire-car, I found somewhere to stay which was quite close to the bus garage.

It would be about 8.00am on Saturday morning when I left the hotel and headed up towards the MIRA, vehicle testing centre near Nuneaton. I was collecting the LHD double-decker I had taken there a week previously. My departure was delayed a little because there was a car rally taking place in the grounds and, as a result, a security vehicle escorted me to the exit.

From there, it took less than an hour to get to Graysons, a leading air-conditioning company who had recently moved to new premises in an industrial estate near Birmingham International airport..

As usual, there was a hire-car waiting and I headed north again to rendevous with another driver who was collecting a single-decker from Falkirk. It was going to Guildford (where my own car was) for PDI work prior to shipment to Hong Kong.

In the event, the other driver left Falkirk later than was expected and I had got as far north as junction 38 on the M6 at Tebay before we met. After exchanging the usual courtesies, we swopped vehicles and headed towards from whence we had come.

Before we parted, the other driver had said that on previous occasions when he had taken this type of bus to Guildford, he had not needed to re-fuel. My own experience, however, was that by the time I reached Warwick it was clear the bus needed more fuel. Unfortunately, however - and entirely unknown to me - this particular vehicle was fitted with a fuel-cap which required a special device to activate it and I had to call out an engineer to remove the offending cap whilst I put in some more deisel.

As a consequence, I was delayed the best part of ninety minutes. However, I did manage to get home in time to watch the last few minutes of the European football quarter-final and the whole of the boxing match between young Khan and some guy from Manchester who called himself Gomez - certainly, not his own name and not entirely appropriate for someone dressed from head-to-foot in a 'sparkly' outfit based on the Irish tri-colour.

Yesterday, having enjoyed two or three days of Lloyd staying with us, I resumed delivery duties and went to Guildford to collect a LHD double-decker which was bound for Canada. Evidently however, before being exported, it needed to go to the MIRA vehicle testing centre, in Warwickshire, for some wind-tunnel tests.

Before leaving, I noticed a group of bus enthusiasts looking around a vintage bus from the small museum the company look after and I was asked to give them a short demonstration run in the new bus. Having done that, I set off and, for a Saturday, made good time - arriving at my destination at around 1pm.

Normally, at this point, I would get into a hire-car and drive home. However, rather conveniently, another of our customers from Guildford had been demonstrating a mini-bus at a national mobility exhibition near Coventry. So, I took a taxi to Nuneaton, a bus to Coventry and another taxi to the showgrounds - arriving in time to have a leisurely cup of tea before heading back to Guildford.

It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that the company I work for receive more requests (often at very short notice) to deliver vehicles on Fridays than on any other day.

From a driver's point of view, this isn't an entirely welcome state of affairs because the roads are so much more busy than any other time of the week - and yesterday was no exception.

Probably because I live nearer to a major bus manufacturer's HQ, in Guildford, than any other driver, I seem to get more than my fair share of these 'late' jobs and, shortly before lunchtime, having collect a new bus, I set off towards Plymouth - just the sort of place you want to be aiming for at the start of a weekend!

As usual, on the road towards the west country, I had to contend with over-laden caravans, over-cautious weekend drivers and over-confident motor-cyclits - hardly any of whom had the foggiest idea of what it's like to drive anything larger than a white van - and I had resigned myself to a long and tedious drive with the prospect of a similar experience on the way home in a hire-car.

Fate, however, intervened because the office telephoned to ask if I could divert to a depot in Bristol - where they intended to carry out some alterations next week.

Naturally, I agreed and, at the same time, suggested that I would prefer to return from Bristol by rail. The upshot of these change of plans meant that I arrived home at about the same time as I might have expected to be leaving Plymouth.

This is my first attempt at 'uploading' a photo into the Blog section. It's of my sons and me and was taken at The Buxton Opera House where my elder son, Lloyd, was appearing for the first time.They were both born in the town and, because of that, Adam flew in from Bulgaria to mark the occasion.

Here's what the local press made of it........

www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/leisure/Delight-at-the-Opera-as.4155971.jp

It had, originally, been my intention to 'blog' each delivery I made. However, during the past couple of months, I seem to have been involved in 'family' matters more than would normally be the case. Next month, perhaps, I'll get around to being a 'proper' blogger..

For the time being, however (as I did for April), I'll just list the places I delivered to and from during the month of May.........   Leyland, Southampton, Hoddesdon, Luton, Guildford, Peterborough, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Birmingham, Alton, Blackmore, Newham, Willenhall, Haverhill, Chorley, Tottenham, Sandbach. Some of these places (Southampton and Guildford, for example) I visited on more than one occasion.

I also carried out some 'collection' duties - which involves driving guests of my wife's employer to and from Heathrow airport - amongst them a particular favourite, Shunna Pillay, whom I had visited in New York last October.