My story of trucking in North America: Back home for a while

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Back home for a while

Hi everyone.
Flew home last Friday and landed in Manchester early saturday morning. Jumped on the train which is just outside the airport and travelled 2.5hrs to Darlington.
Spent the first day at my brothers and slept forever when I went to bed on the night.
Have been through at my parents since and having a very restfull and relaxing time.
I need to have another blood test soon to find out if the meds I am on need adjusting.
I will be taking plenty of pictures and posting them soon. The blog looks very bare as it is so I will set about changing that.

4 comments:

mickfly said...: Hi Phil, Hope you're recouperating ok, and at least it will give you chance to go through your archives of photos and post some more shots.; September 9, 2009 at 6:17 AM
paul and alison said...: Glad to see your relaxing Phil enjoy it while you can, take care Alison x; September 9, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Hi Phil glad to hear you got back up to Darlington ok .Take it easy and you'll be back at it in no time.
YorkshireTipperDriver.Roland; September 9, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Dave Caldwell said...: Hi Phil, enjoy your time at home and recover fully before thinking about work.; September 10, 2009 at 8:31 PM

Your bank, its your choice.

I have already covered a bit about credit here but something has come to light.
When you arrive in Canada you will be taken to a bank and an account will be opened for you.
You are no way obliged to open an account at a branch you dont want.
I have had a few hiccups lately with ATB, the latest being having to wait 2.5hrs to have it authorised for me to be able to but my new laptop as I was going over my daily withdrawl limit.
If you are not happy with your bank then you can always change it, just as I am about to do

Rubbish pic but I have seen it

The Salton Sea is an inland saline lake, occupying the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink, part of the larger Colorado Desert in Southern California, north of the Imperial Valley. The lake covers a surface area of approximately 376 square miles (974 km²), the largest in California. While it varies in dimensions and area due to changes in agricultural runoff and rain, it averages 15 by 35 miles (24 by 56 km), with a maximum depth of 51 feet (15½ m), giving a total volume of about 7.5 million acre-feet (9.3 km³). Sea inflow averages 1.36 million acre-feet per year (53.2 m³/s).

Facts about Canada

Canada invented the baseball glove in 1883
Canada does not own the North Pole.
Santa Claus does !!
Its population equates to 3 people per square Km
Canadians rank 6th in the worlds standard of living
Canada has almost 2 million lakes
Cigarettes and Alcohol are cheaper in the UK
Hockey is the national sport
The word Canada translates as "Village"
it has the longest highway,7604km long
Canada has 42 National parks
25% of the worlds fresh water is in Canada
Second largest country in the world
There are 3 oceans on 3 sides
Canada hs the worlds longest coastline
population is roughly 33 million
6 million of those speak french
It has six time zones

Winter is coming and its serious

A few weeks ago my night heater packed in through the night. I woke at 2am and the temp in the cab was -2. I was freezing in my pants and summer quilt. I told a canadian lad about it and received the biggest bollocking. How was I to survive if I got stuck somewhere for a few days in temps as low as -30 ? Basically I would die so the need for proper winter clothing is essential and needs to be in the front of the mind of lads coming over in the winter time. I have added a list of what I consider essentials and a rough guide to the prices.

Bank accounts and Credit

When you arrive in Canada you will be taken to open a bank account which is easy enough. Unless you can prove your credit worthyness from the UK its unlikely you will be offered a credit card. You will need one in the USA unless you pay cash for everything. The answer is to put cash up front. Mastercard/visa will give you a card if you put say $500 up front so in theory you are spending your own money but it will build you a credit history in Canada. Its worth budgeting for this before you arrive over here.