Friday 4th January 2008: Okay, that's Christmas and New Year out of the way and our New Years resolution here at FND is to try and keep up with this diary/blog which I have sadly neglected like an abandoned puppy at Christmas. Anyway, onwards as the weather continues to hinder us and after the brass monkey cold of yesterday, we have fog and that horrible light drizzle today. Another side effect of this time of year are the sheer ammount of deliveerers that are away and a large number of those left have doubled up this week. Ironically next week it's all back to normality as the kids return to school! Finally, I was laid low betweeen Christmas and New Year with this bug that's been making headlines on the news. I'm not ill often but when I am it's generally a cracker so thanks again to all those who helped me out and constantly nagged me to go home as I tried (and failed dismally) to work my way through it.
Saturday 5th January 2008: ? Papers in very early today which was great for a weekend day and just as well as the freebie DVDs are back on show with the Mail and Telegraph both starting various collections today. Other than that, it was quite a good morning with very few problems apart from the continued strong winds and patchy rain.
Sunday 6th January 2008: Very cold this morning although the main van turning up at 3:40am warmed the proverbial cockles somewhat! My early morning collegue overslept today and as he turns his mobile off overnight I couldnt raise him either. Our early adult gave me a hand finishing off the inserts and sleepy then joined us at 6:15am, an hour and three quarters late! This did psuh a couple of my drops back a little time wise but it all got sorted eventually. I am having major computer problems at home so a word of warning to anyone changing to Vista and is also using an old-ish router as part of their network as Vista doesn't like them!! Bloody Bill Gated has a lot to answer for!
Tuesday 8th January 2008: We have a new van driver who is having a few problems with the barcode scanner which they use to scan the bundles on and off of the van but I've seen some of the long term drivers have problems with that so I'm sure he'll get used to it. Both vans arrived at the same time today, just after 4:30am but everything was here and no problems to report. I've got my Vista/Router problem solved after a weekend of changing settings, tweaking this and that and getting advice from the Internet, none of which worked so I gave up and bought a new `Vista Compatible` router. I don't blame the router manafacturers as my old one was made before Vista was even the brainchild of a big wig at silicone valley and worked perfectly with XP. I blame Microsoft for releasing a new operating system which is incompatible with older routers! Anyway, I'm off of my soapbox now through fear of vertigo!
Wednesday 9th January 2008: At 9pm last night, the clouds burst around East Somerset and I thought we were going to be for a morning of rain today, however so far it's drizzly on and off but nothing major. The main batch of papers were in at 4:20am so the new driver is defintely getting into a routine. The Sun and Times were a bit later but only a few minutes after the big lot.
One of our lads was ill today however he's been doing the round for a good few months and I cannot recall him being off before so no problems from us. I always watch the news before going to work first thing and today was no exception although it's dominated but the American election roadshow which interests me as much as underwater tiddlywinks. Apparently we have another eight months of this. Spare us please and just let us know who will be the new president rather than all the yawn inducing build up.
Thursday 10th January 2008: Standards in today and, at the risk of tempting fate, it's been the best part of a year since
they were late in so well done to them for sorting it. Papers nice and early with the Sun and Times not long afterwards although
the weather continues to work against us with very strong winds not helping. Yesterday's ill lad is still off and another lad overslept
and couldn't come in so we had a bit to get sorted although all was done by 8am.
Friday 11th January 2008: Papers in a bit later today with the big lot in after 4:30am and the Sun and Times around 5:10am which
wasn't ideal. All the kids were in though despite heavy rain kicking off just after 6am which caught the early lot totally off guard.
One lad rang in after doing his round to say that he couldn't get to one house as their gate was jammed. I popped up there later and
he was right in so much that it simply refused to budge although a combination of brute force and a bit of gentile swearing eventually
got it shifted.
Saturday 12th January 2008: Whilst the weather is considerably better today - a bit cold but dry - the papers conspired against us with the main batch in at 4:45am which was okay but the Sun and Times not here until 5:20am! According to the driver they had to wait for the Times MAGS to arrive! The Times really need to get that problem sorted especially on a Saturday! Thatr pushed us back for most of the morning as we were then playing catch up. There are a fair few DVDs flying around as well with the Guardian, Indy and Tele all having freebies. The Tele in particular is a pain as the actual DVD is glued slap bang in the middle of the supps making it impossible to fold in half. Some of these distributors should try delivering 180 of them to see just how tricky it is.
Sunday 13th January 2008: Weather still wet and windy but the News of the World and Times were lovely and early as the driver was just pulling away as I arrived. The rest turned up just after 4am so pretty good all round. The Mail On Sunday have had a major revamp with the wafer thin Financial supp now incoporated into the paper and replaced with a thicker insert, imaginatively called Mail 2! The actual paper is thinner though so overall its around the same size but actually far easier to insert now. I had a round to do at a nearby old peoples block which is always nice in this weather as it's all inside. he Observer has a free book on the Body (oo-er missus!) today with the Mail giving away The Jazz Singer on DVD. Pride of place goes to the Times though with a free Wombles DVD to kick off a new kids collection that they are doing. I met the Wombles back in the 70s when they opened a new shopping precinct in our town although looking back I suspect it was just men dressed up in costumes... The trouble is all morning I've had the theme tune stuck in my head so altogether now, "Underground, overground, Wombling Free...." Well ahead of their time were the Wombles as they were recycling years before most of us!
Monday 14th January 2008: My day off today although as I was led in bed staring at the wall and wondering whether or not to get up (this was 7:15am), I had a text come through. Bottom line was that our printer had packed up and wouldn't work. Having got up here, it turned out that our little patch which we got from the internet hadn't opened automatically and the printer couldn't understand the DOS commands. A few seconds on the PC got it working and the panic was over. We did have one day when we had to hand write the round sheets so we really didn't want to do that again!
Tuesday 15th January 2008: We have a week of wet weather ahead of us apparently and it's certain raining hard this morning and hasn't stopped since last night. Papers were all in by 4:35am including the Sun and Times which turned up a few minutes after the main van. One of our lads is ill (and was yesterday as well) but all others are in so far so credit to them for that. Todays' Weetern Daily Press has a 64-page insert inside which made them thicker, however they as well as the Tele and Times came in quite wet so whilst sorting the rounds out the back, I had a batch of papers piled in front of the heater desperately trying to get them dry. Of course they end up feeling like crisps once they are dried out!
Wednesday 16th January 2008: Denise was away yesterday and for the next two days so I did all morning from 3:30am to 1pn which made for a long morning but it flew by pretty quickly. First thing the Sun and Times were in first with the main van not long afterwards and the weather has dried up (for now) so not too bad all round.
Thursday 17th January 2008: Main papers in early today although the Sun and Times were later at 4:50am. Two of our lads were ill today and not in but we battled through regardless and all rounds were done and dusted at a reasonable time. If working right through until 1pm isn't tricky enough today, I've done serious injury to my right hand today in the shape of TWO (yes 2) paper cuts! One is in one of the joints of the fourth finger and the other is in the gap between thumb and forefinger. Any sympathy gratefully accepted. As I type, one of our lads has just rung to say that he went to a certain house today and as he opened the gate it fell off of its hinges and he was literally left holding it! Not something you see every day!
Friday 18th January 2008: Papers a little bit later today but nothing major and both vans were here within five minutes of each other. Whilst I was unpacking the mags on Wednesday, I spotted a headline halfway down the pile on a mag which was partially obscured. The headline simply read, "Bum of the Week!" Thinking it was a top shelf mag the likes of which we no longer stock as we no longer have a top shelf, curiosity got the better of me and I fished the mag out to discover that it was NME (New Musical Express) and that the full headline actually stated, "Album of the Week!" We all make mistakes don't we.
Saturday 19th January 2008: Papers all in by 4:45am with the Sun and Times beating the main lot by a few minutes. It's still a bit damp and windy out but nothing compared to what we had earlier in the week. The Sun are doing a free light bulb promotion which involves some retailers giving the things away when they buy a paper. As a largely delivery only set up, we haven't got any but we do have a number for our customers to ring to claim their's. I've already tried it out and its easy enough with you needing to leave your details after various automated beeps. One of our lads has just rung in to say that he cannot do his round as he is locked IN his friends house! Different!
Sunday 20th January 2008: Both vans in early today with everything here before 4am. Just as well in a way as one of our adults
who does a huge ammount on a Sunday is ill and the chap who does a big round down the town centre is also away. I did the latter
and had the foresight to take a torch as there are a few older houses which are pitch black on that round and whilst some have security
lights, they don't always ping into action when you expect! All went well though and I found myself shining the torch into trees to see
just how powerful the beam was! Ah, took me back to Charterhouse camp during my schooldays when we had an unauthorised torch shining
competition in a nearby field. One of the kids took his dads industrial style torch (although it was more the size of a suitcase!) and
won easily!
Tuesday 22nd January 2008: Not the best of starts today as we had a power cut at home resulting in me being up from around 2:20am with a torch in one hand and the phone book on the table to find their emergency phone number then some candles ready for when my wife and daughter get up. I was told that `no-one else had reported a fault so far!` - not totally surprisngly for that time in the morning. Sadly despite it being pitch black aside from a torch and teelight candles, our two dogs still thought things were normal and did their best to get under my feet and quite how the little buggers didn't trip me up at the top of the stairs is anyone's guess. My wife eventually texted at 5:50am to say that it had just come back on as she was lighting the candles having just got up! Anyway, onto work a bit earlier than usual and thankfully no problems apart from one lad not in due to being ill overnight. Our till, which must be close to being an official antique by now, was playing up a bit today as well although it seems to be okay now. Yesterday was supposed to be the most miserable day of the year apparently. Today hasn't got me swinging from the rafters singing Zipp-A-Dee-Do-Dah at the moment either!
Wednesday 23rd January 2008: We had electric when I got up today which was an improvement on yestesday so when the main van pulled up at 4:15am all looked good. Unfortuntely, the Sun and Times continued their recent trend of being late and turned up almost an hour later. Whether the Sun waited for the late news about Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) who died last night, then who knows however they do seem to be the only paper that have it. One of our lads has a habit of not checking his round sheet or at least forgetting when customers are away and has subsequent being delivering to a former customer who has sadly passed away. We'll do our utmost to drum it into him this morning! Oh and we've now had three dry mornings in a row which I think is a record for 2008.
Thursday 24th January 2008: Standards in today although I had my doubts when I couldn't see them through the security grille
of the shop up the road. Main van was nice and early although due to a packing error we were missing a full bundle of Mirror
which eventually got to us at 6:15am via the Shepton Mallet driver who brought them from Bristol for us. Oddly enough, despite all
the hassle that it caused, we still had all the invoices and paperwork done earlier than usual on a Thursday, although I daresay
later today I'll remember something urgent that I should have done and didn't do. Never mind, it all comes with old age I guess.
Tuesday 29th January 2008: Opps, sorry about the last few days. Nothing major went wrong I just forgot to keep our reader updated. Anyway, main van was in early with a different van as the gear box had gone in his usual one. Sun and Times were lagging and arrived at 5am. Whilst doing the rounds up in the quiet out the back, I could hear an occasional creaking/squeaking sound which I thought was one of the wooden benches when I thumped papers on it until the sound appeared when I was stood away from the bench. It was too loud to be a mouse unless Roland Rat and Minnie Mouse had got together to produce some sort of hybrid, however eventullay the source was revealed. Our halogen heater on the floor was on revolve and brushing against one of the bench legs at the end of one of it's turns! These things are sent to confuse us.
Wednesday 30th January 2008: Sun and Times in first today with the main lot quite late, arriving about 4:50am. When he arrived, still with his replacement van, we opened the back door and were attacked by the bundles of papers as they toppled out! Cue some colourful language from those of us closest to the van! Prior to all that though, whilst walking one of our dogs before going to work, he had a habit of stopping, looking behind him and then staring seemingly into space before walking on. He did this three or four times during the walk so obviously something caught his attention although I never did figure our what. Maybe it's aliens! Where is Sigourney Weaver when you need her?
Thursday 31st January 2008: Well this wasn't good. Sun and Times in first again which brings hope of a return to the pre-New Year
days, however although the main van arrivd at 4:30am, he brought bad news with the Mail on re-run. Further midcommunications
conspired against us and we didn't get them in until 8:45am which was far too late for the kids and left the remaining adults
200+ to get delivered. We were all finished by just after 10am which was excellent considering the circumstances. I later
found out that the clutch has gone on the car of one of our early adults although she had previously booked the rest of the week off
anyway. All told though, not a morning we want to repeat.
