BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 60
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BY THE HAWK
• One of the most unusual career changes in the road transport industry must be that of Stephen Geddes. Six years ago, when he was running WEC Transport, a light haulage firm in Greenock, near Glasgow, he received a call from God and became a monk.
Now, Brother Stephen teaches at Fort Augustus Abbey, a boys school on Loch Ness side, set up to prepare youngsters for the priesthood or monastery.
These days, his fellow monks come from all walks of life, and include a former train driver, printer, student, schoolteacher and bank assistant. However, serving God does not necessarily mean giving up one's job and taking holy orders: "I chose to search for God and to serve Him in a particular way by prayer, but every vocation is a calling. The haulage driver has a caning. Wherever you're happiest, you're answering God's call," he says.
The abbey itself is in danger of closing unless it can recruit younger blood. Fewet school leavers are choosing the monastic life, and apart from Brother Stephen, in his forties, many of the monks are wellpast retirement age.
A recent publicity campaign, well-aired in the media, resulted in a flood of applicants, but several of the new entrants found themselves ill-suited to the physical and spiritual rigours of the abbey regime.
It was built in the 18th century as a Hanoverean fort during the Jacobite risings, and became a monastery in 1880. The original designer was "another road man", the military highway engineer General Wade. • The Hawk is preparing a visit to the Frejus Tunnel in the French Alps. The tunnel links France and Italy and by all accounts (our own Geoff Hadwick, CM features editor recently went through the tunnel with a Martintrux Scania 142 and remarked "Some people prefer the Mont Blanc tunnel as the road on the Italian side is better but the Frejus route was perfectly efficient with little or no congestion") it's a good route.
The reason for this trip is to investigate how good the tunnel is and subsequently question the FTA and the RHA on their reasons for rejecting a proposal from the tunnel's admin people to offer association members as much as 25 per cent off the price of using the tunnel. Mmrnm. I wonder why. All will be revealed in due course.
• Jonathan Ross, host of Channel 4's chat show The Last Resort, is the son of a haulier.
Other famous people linked to the haulage business are Dolly Parton whose husband is an owner operator; Gerard Depardieu, French film star, used to be a truck driver as were the late Rock Hudson and Elvis Presley.
Closer to home — Roger Hunt, 1966 World Cup England team member, runs a haulage firm. Alan Gilzean of Spurs and Scotland is linked to the industry while the Princess Royal, Anne holds a HGV class. Let's not forget Des O'Connor, who is sales and marketing manager for Montracon Trailers.
• David Perry, environment officer at British Railways Board sent out written invitations to last week's best station awards held in the choked up Smithfield area of London. Perry strongly advised using public transport to get there.
Most heeded his advice, while Perry himself did not. The party over, he came out to find his car had been damped. • There are fewer things in this life as pleasant as a visit to one of Britain's stately homes. A quick trot round the master's library, a stroll round the rose gardens and a picnic of water cress sandwiches in the grounds afterwards.
Picture the scene as my dear wife and I load up the car and motor down to Brockett Hall. It's closed they tell us — some sort of jeep test day and we cannot come in at all.
Well, the sandwiches were getting soggy, the tea was getting cold and our mood gets darker. We headed off into the grounds regardless.
Settled in a pleasant spot 'neath a beech tree, we opened the Thermos and unwrapped the sandwiches when a big Land Rover flew out of a bush and over our picnic.
There was no peace after that — Mitsubishis, Dacias, Fiats, Isuzus, Laths, Mercedes, Multicars, Nissans, Subarus, Suzukis, Toyotas and Volkswagens all came roaring, bouncing and skidding past wiping out our little feast.
I was furious. My wife and I managed to ambush one man (as he bounced over a bump, we grabbed him by the throat using our parasol and yanked • I am an unabashed socialite, and I just love a good party. Clubs are my speciality though. I did not learn much at school or college, but I joined all the right clubs and societies. Membership of the chess club, for instance, brought me into contact with all the right sort of people. Joining the Freemasons, for instance, rocketed me to the top of the cut-throat world of transport journalism. Need I say more?
Imagine my delight, then, to hear of a new club I had not yet joined — based in the road transport sector too. The club, known to its intimates as the Whaco club, is a shady orga him out through the window) and demanded an explanation.
The small man (we chose him for his size and expected no resistance) blurted out: "It's Off-Road 87!" We pointed out to him that it was not Off The Hawk's Sandwiches, was it? "Manufacturers bring their 4x4s for the press to drive round a short course".
A quick look round confirmed this. A Mercedes G Wagen had been backed into a tree and was being assaulted by some loud types in an effort to get it out. A Toyota Landcruiser had fallen into the offroad equivalent of the Florida Everglades and a Multicar and Subaru were rushing around rescuing everyone.
We let our prisoner go when he told us he was a PR man — we know when we're beaten.
nisation recruited from the ranks of Britain's international hgv drivers.
The name is an acronym for "We hate all customs officers". How cruel I thought. What sort of a twisted mind could devise such a body? Oddly enough, a rules and membership sheet has come into my possession. It mentions dark secrets about how to get rid of troublesome flesh particles on your front bumper and contains an allegorical warning. I quote "it is a good job Noah did not try to berth his Ark in Dover because British customs would have changed the course of nature — all of the animals would have been extinct before they got clearance." Clearly the twisted minds behind this new society are full of frustration.
Just one thing worries me. Whaco members dearly think one creature would have survived the Noah's Ark disaster, namely Penguins. They are mentioned everywhere.