Certificate

In the ten years I've been a busdriver, I've received three certificates of a "damage-and-traffic-fine free year of driving". The first time I had actually hit an Irish car that year, so wasn't really entitled to it, but my boss couldn't be bothered to get it changed. The second year actually was good, but last year once again, I had had some damage. Not much and nothing compared to what that bus had to endure a few months later: total loss and the driver unfortunately lost his life.

But, I know that next year I will not receive my fourth certificate, because today, thanks to some idiot who put his car within an inch of my coach, I had some damage! Fortunately I'm really quick in filling out the insurance form, but still...

I'll be glad when this week is over!

D is for...

I've been reading a few blogs lately that have a returning theme every wednesday: ABC is for... I thought it was a great idea and will post them as well from now on. So, here goes!

D is for Dublin

I love Ireland and have been there about a dozen times now. And every time I went to Ireland, I went to Dublin. Sometimes only for about three hours, sometimes about six hours and once actually two whole days. It's home to Croke Stadium, where the big hurling matches are played, Guinness, Trinity College and night-time scare tours including how to rob a grave. I never went to the bar in the picture, but there's time still!

http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/

Old rope!

The day went well for me. Right up until the point where I was going home. I was driving along, radio on with lovely 60's music (it's 60's week). All of a sudden as a lorry passed me, one of the side hatches flew open! I slowed down immediately and parked halfway on the grass. I put on my safety vest and went outside. No chance of closing the hatch again. At all! So, I got the coach moving again at a snail's pace and moved to the nearest emergency spot. There I started the process of removing the bar that held the hatch in its place. I was hammering away while traffic was swishing by at a speed of about 50/60 miles an hour!

The hammering didn't work. I got the spanner and managed to get the top loose. But unfortunately the hatch still didn't close. I couldn't get the bottom loose, but help was at hand: the ratcatcher! He tore the bar off and the hatch could close. I locked one side of the hatch, but the other side didn't have a lock anymore. In the end we used a piece of rope. I had to go back to the mechanics to get it fixed properly. In the process I was home nearly an hour and a half later. My hands were filthy, I was quite cold and my clothes need a wash!

On the bright side: nobody got hurt and no vehicles were damaged.

PS: the ratcatcher is someone who goes around the countryside, especially near dykes and levies, to check on holes made by muskrats that might damage the structure ànd cause flooding!

Photos

A colleague of mine has taken quite a few photos over the past few years and when I lost all my work related photographs, he offered to put a lot of his on a cd for me. Today he gave them for me and I've just gone through them. Faces of people who don't work at the company any more and some who aren't even alive anymore. And an occasional photo of myself, which was great.

So, especially for me: Mara the busdriver. The early years!

These pictures were taken during a summer barbecue at a former colleague's place. The thing in my hair was a cause for much ridicule and I was actually forced to have it burned the week after. The mechanic did however give me money to buy a new scrunchie, as long as it wasn't as gaudy as this one! I was sorry, because I loved it!

A picture of me during the first staff outing. It wasn't organized by me then, I only started the year after. We went to one of the Dutch islands and scared the designated driver of the day by telling him we would miss the ferry back. It was also the day I finally got my contract: indefinitely! I was a happy girl that day...

This is the very first bus I ever drove on. It was horrendous! The gear stick was very hard to use and after only one week, my shoulder felt like it had been through the wars. After a while though, I got used to it and was fine. The airconditioning was a Belgian one (window and roof hatches opened). One day the bus wouldn't start and was jumpstarted by a bunch of colleagues pushing it. That same night it wouldn't stop and I had to stall it! It was sold six months after I started working for the company and I got a better coach!

Across the speed humps

Whenever there's two drivers doing the same thing because the group is too big to fit in one coach, there's one who will lead and one who will follow. Both yesterday and today it was my colleague who was up front, which in one way is great, because I don't have to decide what route I want to take. On the other hand, with all the traffic lights, speed humps, roundabouts and other traffic, it can be quite tricky to keep the other coach in sight. Especially since the colleague I'm talking about is one for the shortest route. Which hardly ever involves motorways...

Today was another one of those days. This morning we left together, but after only a few miles, I had to struggle to keep him in my sight. And then he took the route: littered with villages (30 or 50km speedlimits), speed humps and roundabouts. Awful!

When we had the group on board, he wanted to take the smaller roads again, because there's a bottleneck which always causes traffic jams during rush hour. I so didn't want to do that, but in the end I was lucky: he took the motorway and the traffic jam was not too bad.

This afternoon we have to do the return trip and once we've dropped the group off, I will take MY preferred route home: one village, no speed humps and about fifteen roundabouts. About 20 kilometers longer, but it takes the same time to drive it.

Shorter doesn't always mean quicker!

Eel

I love to eat fish and I only ever do so when out to dinner. So, it was a perfect opportunity for me to eat fish when I went out to dinner with my parents a few days ago.

For starters I had a plate with three different types of waterfood (by lack of a better word): smoked salmon in huge quantities, Dutch shrimps (they are small and brownish, but quite tasty) and last but not least smoked eel. It was beautifully presented and it tasted yummie. For the main course I had ordered salmon in sesame seeds and some Japanesy sauce. My mum had ordered the stewed eel and so had my dad. My dad started digging in and loved it, both my mum and I took a few bites, looked at each other and then changed plates: much better! Not perfect though, because I don't really like anything but smoked eel and this was stewed and quite salty, so not my favourite.

Dessert was quite a disappointment. There was a lot of choice for both the starter and the main course including seasonal variations, but for dessert there was a choice between ice cream, ice cream, ice cream and chippolata pudding. And not even seasonal variations, just canned fruits and factory ice creams. Bit of a shame!

We had a nice time though and it's always nice to have dinner with other people instead of on my own (which happens quite a lot, even when I eat in restaurants). And having fish was definitely a bonus!

Weighty matters

Originally the new title of this blog referred to my quite hefty orange tomcat named Wuppie. Having him lie on your feet (yesterday morning), will definitely let your feet go numb.

But not only Wuppie is quite a weighty matter, there are of course also the less physical and more emotional matters that can carry a lot of weight around. Deciding to emigrate is one of those matters and a lot of emotions are part of that decision. Not only on my side, on the side of friends and family as well. Their disbelief (a colleague just the other day), their hope I will decide not to move and all other emotions concerning my intended move. The fear I have of doing the wrong thing just to prove other people wrong. The fear I have of remaining single and ending up a lonely old woman with a gazillion cats. The fear my life doesn't turn out the way I would like it to. But also the joys of family and friends, even if they do drive me around the bend on occasion! The joys ànd anguishes of my job, dealing with strangers on a near daily basis.

Of course all that doesn't mean that I won't be penning any nonsense anymore. Because let's face it: a bull in a china shop is also a weighty matter and can make absolutely riveting reading!!!

Winter

We've had ice in January and now we have snow! Not much, perhaps a centimeter at the most and unfortunately already melting, but snow nonetheless. It started last night and by the time I left for work (9.30pm) the roads were beginning to turn white. The cycle paths were even worse, but I made it. I drove to the starting point and found that even the bigger roads hadn't been salted yet. So careful was the main word.

By the time I had arrived at the starting point and was ready to load a bunch of builders on the bus, the heating on the bus had packed in already. Fortunately I was prepared and had dressed in more layers than ever. After an hour (hard work) and only one little trip I went back home. The main roads were a bit better, because they had been salted, but after wrapping myself up and climbing back on my bike, I found the cycle paths were even worse. They had been salted, but at midnight there's not that many people about, so it was hard going. Staying in the car track made it a bit easier, but it still took me twice the time it would normally take.

Right now, most of the snow is already gone or it has been turned into slush. But we had snow!!

Say cheese!

Well, these are my teeth! They might not win me best teeth awards, but so far not a single cavity!! However, the dentist did see something that had him worried a little bit. When you look at the bottom row, from right to left, you see two molars and then something else. What is the something else? The dentist didn't know, so he sent me to the dental surgeon.

The dental surgeon made short work of the whole thing: you had a molar out when you were a child, then there was a small infection, that healed, but the place of the infection still shows. That's all!

In and out in under fifteen minutes. And because we were in and out in under fifteen minutes, the parking was free.

It was a good day!!!

Pink

Yes, it's pink. Not as pink as I feared, so I want to give a huge thanks to Anvilcloud who gave me the proper code!