Back To School In Moose Jaw

This was a first for me, i had never done a orientation to a company like the one i did this week. Back in the UK when ever i started a new job you probably went in the Saturday before collected the keys to your truck ,ran through a few details with the owner or transport manager, usually just give them your P45 and bank details and pick up a new pair of gloves and a shirt or two if they could be bothered to supply them stow your stuff in a cleaned out truck, pick your trailer up if loaded and head off home , all on a Saturday morning.

This one was just a bit different, last week i was given a itinerary of what were going to do and on the bottom was a phone number of the guy i would be going with , he was on the way over right now and would be arriving in Saskatoon Friday or Saturday morning [it was Tuesday] and he was coming from Ontario.

Terry was his name and i rang him Friday to arrange a pick up on Sunday, as by this time he would be coming from Big River two and a half hours north of Saskatoon, and at the prescribed time of 6 pm he knocked at the door.

I kissed Louise, said buy to the kids and jumped in the chevy and we headed south to Moose Jaw where we had rooms booked in the comfort inn, ready for the 8am start Monday morning.

Tim Hortons must be the busiest place any morning of the week and with coffee in hand we headed for the purpose built training suite above the offices for a quick safety run down we got down to work.

The course content included;

1. Policy & Procedures for the group of companys
2. Transportation of Dangerous goods [TDG]
3. Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System [WHMIS]
4. Hours of Service
5. Payroll
6. In Cab Computer Training
7. Safety Management System
8. Smiths Training
9. Brake Adjustment/inspections
10. Back Basics[practical training in the yard]

As always with a group of people, after a while you realise there are a few characters , and with this bunch there was some.

Nine people in the group three from Europe [Irish, Dutch, British] fresh into the country, one guy from Finland that's been here for years and was the oracle, he knew everything about everything and he did, and one from Bosnia, who also had been in Canada for some time, all the others were Canadians, eight of us were drivers and one was a new safety guy for the group

50 Storys In 15 Months

Now you dont see it April 2009

Now you do July 2010

looking north from the tower there are men working on the top steelwork bolting new steel work in place

Now you dont see it Apiril 2009 looking toward the airport

Now you do July 2010, and there were men on the top of this too, we watched as steel beams were lifted right from ground amazing

Got Our Own Wheels At Last

Saturday Jak and me headed off to PBR auctions, located right at the north side of Saskatoon, we had been before to checkout what was available and see how much cars and trucks were and had decided once our money had arrived that's where we would get a vehicle.

Friday we had checked the stock out and had earmarked two vehicles one was a Chevy Colorado [ Isuzu Rodeo] which there were three but only one that we liked and the other was this

Dodge Dorango

9.30 prompt and the auction began, with our first choice coming through soon after, We had set our self a budget as what to spend so as not to go mad and end up spending to much, as we had to get it licenced the same day too.

Well it went right passed our budget and i didn't even get to bid
so we waited for the others to come and they went passed to, looks like the hire company will be on a winner again this week , then the dodge came along and the bidding started and i was listening to the auctioneer, might as well been in a foreign language cos he was talking so fast, but all of a sudden my right arm jerked up and i was away, no stopping me now Jak keep quite i need to listen and with a couple more nods of the cap and i had bought a Dodge bloody hell i thought lets go and have another look ,not sure why cos we had bought it.

Nice car , black and grey leather three rows of seats and just about every thing on it fully loaded as they say.

got the paperwork and headed to town to get it licenced

Now if i was back in the UK and just bought a car you would have to get it insured [ring round for the best quote] get some tax on it oh sorry sir its Saturday afternoon and they are all shut, not here in Saskatchewan one stop shop get the plates pay the money get the registration with my name and address on [they even had my picture on there computer screen when i gave them my SK licence ] and hey your ready to go which is just what i did