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No place like home
Page 9
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When L Radley hears drivers moaning about theirfamilies she knows they don't mean it 1Wre the reason for doing the job.
Driving Carl have a dramatic effect on family life, especially if you're a distance drlver. Those of us with dependants at home tramp for one reason. We may joke about how four nights out a week is the secret to a happy marriage, but that's mostly just talk. We're rough, tough truckers, and we can't be seen to give a damn about home and hearth.
To uncover this secret softer side, give a driver who has been out all week a job that ensures they won't get home until Saturday morning. Even then you have to peer through the bluster to get to the truth. I was talking to a friend at about 3pm last Friday afternoon. He'd been out for the last three Fridays in a row and very definitely had his 'home' head on. Come hell or high water he was going to be in his own bed that night "cuddling up to my miserable bloody wife". This is the wife he's been married to for 20-odd years, and for whom he works his backside off, week in, week out. He's got a very nice house, but it sure isn't there for his benefit. He's always away in the wagon paying for it.
It's the same with kids. A lot of my non-driving acquaintances have no idea howl can call myself a halfway adequate parent when I'm only ever there for a maximum of three nights a week. But that's why they're only acquaintances my friends are all just as far up to their necks in transport as I arc, and can work out for themselves how my children live in a decent-sized house with a decent-sized garden, have clothes that fit and new stuff whenever they need it, are well fed, and have the luxury of one parent at home all day most days. Granted, that parent also does some work from home, but that provides the extras.
Somewhere under our rough, foul-mouthed, unkempt exteriors beats the heart and soul of an industry that, despite appearances, is all about families. Just don't expect us to admit that in public.
"He's got a very nice house, but it sure isn't there for his benefit he's always away in the wagon paying for it"