• Is this really the chairman of TIP Europe I see before me?
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Whatever happened to the immaculate and impressive lines of Jim Cleary's expensive, pinstriped suits?
They have been replaced, apparently, by a new company outfit which includes anorak, waterproof trousers and TIPlogo sweaters.
It is all part of a three-year programme to improve the trailer rental company's corporate image. Some 2200,000 has just been invested in new and upgraded branches.
Good idea. Come to think of it I could do with a new set of Hawk plumage for the winter months ahead.
• This is probably the most profitable truck running in Britain today. It earns 2425 per mile (2266 per km) with a fuel consumption of 0 litres/100km (Ompg just for the sake of accuracy). The only problem is that operator Lynx Express, the National Freight Consortium's parcels arm, cannot keep the profit.
The 21,700 income has been donated by the Lynx employees who pulled the Seddon Atkinson unladen artic over a four-mile (6.41cm) course to a 24,400 appeal fund for twoyear-old Samantha Renke of Leyland in Lancashire. Samantha suffers from a rare brittle bone disease and needs the cash to buy a special electric wheelchair.
• Christmas is coming, the turkeys are getting fat, but all across the country there are hundreds of people worried witless. How, they are asking, can we avoid seeing the umpteenth repeat of The Sound of Music on the television this coming Yuletide?
The obvious alternative is to corral the family to play a board game, like Monopoly, Cluedo or Trival Pursuit. The trouble with this strategy is that the board games seem to run almost as predictably as the Christmas film fare. There is always some conniving uncle who buys up London while playing banker in Monopoly, or some astute aunt who makes Miss Marple look like Scooby Doo, and recently I've encountered tiny tots who have learned all the Trivial Pursuit answers by heart.
What is needed is a new board game which preferably provides Commercial Motor readers with an in-built advantage. This year we think we may have discovered such a game in the form of "Overload", devised by John Tye, a driver from Manningtree in Essex.
In Overload up to six transport operators are given the task of transporting 10 loads one at a time around the game board. The problem is that four of the 10 weights exceed the payload of the truck. Operators have to get round the course without falling foul of a police car or various weighbridges.
The Hawk and a few trucking aficionados have played the game which certainly makes a welcome change from the runof-the-mill Christmas distractions. It is slightly worrying that 40% of loads carried in Overload's make-believe world exceed the payload of the truck, a scenario we trust not played out in the real world. Nevertheless, the game offers a stimulating break from the road, especially if the player who takes the policeman's role is as hard-hearted as possible. If you fancy rolling the dice with Overload, call John Tye in Essex on (0206) 392248.
The game costs 214.99 (including postage and packing).