Friday 14th March 2008: Sorry about that lack of recent entries during March. It's been hectic with a big turnaround of new deliverers starting for a number of reasons. All the new ones seemed to have settled well enough and we hope that their initial good work will continue as I'm sure it will. In the last two weeks we've had a Mail re-run, a bundle of Mail sent instead of Express and those very nice people at the Western Daily Press cutting us down by 45 last Wednesday when we only actually returned eight! And all of that is really the tip of the iceberg. Never mind, hopefully from today we'll be a bit more regular as things begin to settle.
Saturday 15th March 2008: Not a good morning today with the rainy weather only the start of things. The big load of papers was
first in but not until just before 5am thanks to the Daily Mail delaying things with a late arrival. The Sun and Times were even worse
and got to us at 5:45am. We found out from the driver that the Times lorry was held up on the motorway due to an accident. The rest of
the morning was playing catch up really although all the kids were in without any problems and all the new ones that have started
(four this week!) have done superbly which is always a bonus.
Sunday 16th March 2008: The road which I drive out of to get onto the main road is currently undergoing some roadworks and
overnight someone felt it would be a god laugh to move some of the signs and almost block the road. Luckily they were considerate enough
to leave just enough room to get past, although had it been an emergency vehicle then they would have struggled. Papers weren't too
bad today with the NotW and Times nice and early and the big lot in just after 4:30am. Ironically just as I began to unload the van,
a chap came up to me and asked the classic, "Any papers in yet mate?" The constant rain is causing havoc around town
with Wallbridge flooded and closed off meaning we had to go onto the by-pass and in the `back way`to get to four of our calls. The
river is also extremely high in Willow Vale, Welshmill and Spring Gardens although
the forecast says that the rain should stop this
afternoon. The chap who does the big round in the town centre had booked today off during the week and at the time I thought that I
would cover it and have a nice stroll around. Of course, I didn't plan for the rain and got back looking like someone from a
synchronized
swimming team only without the grace and poise! All this plus a deep, meaningful discussion first thing out the back whilst we were
doing the inserts about Good Friday. Best to leave it at that really.
Monday 17th March 2008: The first of two successive Monday's that I am in (usually my day off!) due to various staff hols, in today's case
one of our early adults. I was in purely to help get the papers out of the van and then go out on rounds as would a `normal`
deliverer so that suited me fine. The weather was better than yesterday as well and both vans arrived at the same time, just after
4:30am. Not sure whether it's true but we are hearing rumours of another
convenience store in the town closing down shortly. Sadly
it won't be long before Londis, Smile and McColl's have the monopoly. Still, at the moment none of them in the town want the
general hassle of actually delivering papers!
Tuesday 18th March 2008: Wow, early papers with BOTH vans arriving at 4:15am!! Equally we were expecting a heavy frost today according to the forecast but that didn't materialise either so all told we had an excellent start to the day. Our early adult is still away (back tomorrow) and we are grateful to the extra help that we had over the weekend to cover.
Wednesday 19th March 2008: Our early adult was back today and with him came early papers (4:10am) and re-runs! Yes, the good
old Daily Mail was up to it's tricks again and were late in. They eventually arrived at around 6:45am which wasn't too bad from our
viewpoint but did mean double runs for our early brigade as it always does with re-runs. The day got progressively worse on a personal
level as a routine hospital check up ended up lasting six hours although the outcome was significantly better than we'd originally thought.
Add to that a parents evening at our daughter's school and it meant for one long day, not helped by my finishing reading my book
in the hospital well before we actually left and ended up having to read leaflets to pass the time. Next time I'm close to finishing
a novel, I'll take another one just in case. Anyway, enough rambling and back to the papers. As one chap said to us earlier on, why is
it always the Mail's that are late. No idea really but with that in mind, we do have a friendly message for those involved with
distributing the Mail to Bristol - Get yourselves sorted!!
Thursday 20th March 2008: On the good news side today the Mail was on time. Sadly the Mirror Group papers weren't, resulting in the Mirror, Independant, Racing Post and Daily Record all on re-run. Whilst there aren't as many of these as there is with the Mail but this was counter-acted by them not arriving until 7:30am. Some of the kids were off of school so that helped and I was extremely grateful to those that waited for them all to come in. Two successive days with re-runs, tomorrow is Good Friday so it has to be better surely?
Good Friday - 21st March 2008: Gone are the days when Bank Holidays meant early papers. The main lot were in at 5am and all was on board although ironically the Mail and Mirror were the last two in according to the driver. Add to that the Sun and Times arriving at 5:35am and whilst we didn't have the re-runs of the last two days, it was still no fun. Things actually began badly when I shot bolt upright in bed thinking that I'd overslept. Only whilst getting out of bed and grabbing my glasses did it occur to me to look at the time - it was 2:20am!
Saturday 22nd March 2008: Bit of a panicky start today when we had no pre-runs (usually all the inserts and mags are delivered overnight), however we later found out that one of the drivers let them down at the last minute so everything came with the main papers which arrived at...3:45am!! By then, the Sun and Times were already in so the horrors of the last three days were firmly consigned to the `crap days `file. I had a chat with the wholesalers about a seperate matter and was told that the publishers printed early last night due to a Bank Holiday. Well, if they can do it because they want to get hom eearly, surely they can do it on a more regular basis and help us out! We'll see....! Finally, the Bank Hol weather is well down to usual standards with cold wind, rain and even a snow flurry as we were unloading the van.
Sunday 23rd March 2008:Easter Sunday and as I type it's just finished snowing for the last 30 minutes or so! People complain that we never have w White Christmas these dasy however if you up by 8am, you'd have seen a White Easter! Before this belated excitement, we had nice early papers with everything in before 4am. Next Sunday when the clocks go forward will be a different story! Whilst dropping the papers out to our local Premier Inn on the by-pass, I met a famous person in the shape of Lenny Henry who of course is currently promoting the group of hotels. Okay, it was only a lifesize cardboard cutout but the yellow plastic duck was real!
Monday 24th March 2008: Bank Holiday Monday and as usual we open purely to get the rounds out and to give people the chance to buy a paper if they want one. Ultimately it was very quiet and uneventful. One of our newer lads overslept and was very apologetic when he arrived. I was in on what should have been my day off for the second week in a row but spent half of the time reading Forever Odd by Dean Koontz! This was after I'd done all the work which had to be done naturally.
Tuesday 25th March 208: Back to normality today thankfully although the Sun and Times caught us out by turning up at 4:10am whcih was great considering how they've been lately. The main van turned up at 4:30am which got us off to a bit of a flyer. With me working all weekend today seems normal however many early customers are coming in having had a long weekend off and their comments have ranged from how they hate Monday's (Yes, I know it's Tuesday!!) and to how they had a drab Easter weekend at the seaside in the cold and rain. Almost made me gald to have been working throughout.
Wednesday 26th March 2008: After the bad three days of last week, things have U-turned this week and, at the risk of tempting fate, are going swimmingly so far. The main van was in just after 4am today with the Sun and Times only half an hour behind so with all in by 4:30am, I was back in the office after setting the rounds up not long aftet 5am which is superb. Even the weather is in our favour with no wind or rain and only a bit nippy (Am I allowed to say that in this P.C. age?). Still, lets just hope that this isn't a prelude to another dodgy spell, especially with international football tonight.
Thursday 27th March 2008: A nice still, quiet morning with the papers a little later and the Sun and Times getting back to
bad old days and arriving at 5:20am. That aside, no major problems to report apart from yours truly forgetting to put the Telegraph's
onto one round. The new(ish) girl doing it thought that they were late and didn't say anything. Still, it was my fault and I hold my
hands up!
Friday 28th March 2008: Wet, windy and generally horrible today but all the papers were in before 5am. Whilst checking them
off the van, I spotted that we had no full bundles of Mirror and only had 36 instead of 160 all told. Bristol got it sorted for us
and we had the missing ones in by 6:45am and all delivered within the hour. These things are sent to try us.
Saturday 29th March 2008: Now this was good with all papers in on a Saturday by 4:15am and the early adults all out by just after 5am which for a Saturday is remarkable in itself. With everyone out, I heard a distant argument gradually drawing closer which turned out to be two chaps on their way home from a night our `discussing` which papers they want as they really wanted the Mirror, Sun and Star but only had enough money for two! Eventually one of them found a tenner in his pocket (wish I could do that!) but even after leaving they were still arguing between themselves about which two they would have bought if he hadn't have found the note! Ah, the joys of the aftermath of a night out! Finally, a joke from a customer so I take no responsibility for this. Heather Mills(-McCartney) has started to spend the £24.3m divorce settlement from Paul McCartney and has bought a plane. Rumour has it she'll still wax her other leg!! Boom, boom.
Sunday 30th March 2008: I hate it when the clocks go forward. The loss on an hours sleep can be counteracted but it always
results in late papers as the wholesalers always work by the `old` time until all the papers are out. This is understandable to be
fair although it would be nice if the publishers could print an hour early to make up for it but it never happens. Subsquently
our papers arrived at 5:45am (BST) which then resulted in a knock on effect throughout especially for our early Sunday lady who is
usually on the road by 5:30am and wasn't out today until almost 6:45am. Finally, credit to our paperboys/girls, all of whom remembered to
put their clocks forward and, apart from one, were all in on time.
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