In Cab Driver Training Finished

well i have just compleated my in cab driver training, this is mainly training you on the Can Com, and is where we get paid from and which it seems every large trucking company in Canada run, and also just to make sure your ok with the weights we carry, as most euopean drivers have not carried 44 tons of product in two trailers with a gross weight of 63.500kg. [super B] [8 axels]

the trucks take a long time to reach 100kph and take a long time to stop too and just keep rolling and you have to use your jake and not your brakes and really think about intersections and turning

Its so nice to have our stuff arrive from England at last

It seems such a long time ago now since the removal company came to pack our belongings to send on to Canada. It was monday July 12th and it has finally arrived, September 15th. I had to be at customs for 9.30 Mark was away working so it was down to myself to take all the relevant paperwork to John G Diefenbaker International Airport and meet our driver Rick. Our container left the port in Liverpool and landed at Montreal in The province of Quebec.Then from there it travelled by train .west across canada to Vancouver in The province of British columbia. Thus passing saskatoon which is in the province of Saskatchewan. WHY??? not really sure. Then from vancouver it came back again by truck via Edmonton ,swift current to finally arrive at our home on Wilson Crescent in Saskatoon . Our stuff had travelled 11,934 km, thats 6.4km to the £. The officer at customs asked me a few simple questions about the stuff we were bringing into the country and took photo copies of passports etc and that was basically it. I didnt even see the truck untill it arrived outside the house. It was one huge artic truck. Within an hour the stuff was checked off and placed in the house in whichever rooms i requested it to go. So now all i have to do is unpack it all. I have started on a couple of boxes and it feels great to have our own stuff at last now the house is starting to feel like our home. and one last thing we had NOT ONE THING BROKEN and marks tool boxes where so well packed he cant decide what to do with the crates.

Canada so far so good

This was our home for 7 weeks, this is the living area before we even had camping chairs.

This is the lovely bathroom
This is the kitchenette.

Well at last we are starting to feel like canada is our new home. The kids are at school and mark is finally starting work on monday.I am off to the local school to join the monday night yoga class and our house is starting to feel like our home.For the last 7 weeks we have been living in the basement of the house which is very nice with 2 good size bedrooms a kitchenette and a bathroom and living area a very nice space for anyone wishing to visit us. But we have been sitting on camping chairs and sleeping on airbeds and have had no tv so we spent every evening watching dvds on the laptop. we hired them from a little shop on the corner called buddies.Its just like the local shops in England but without the alcohol. In canada if you want that you have to go to a liquor store you cant even buy it in the supermarkets.It is also very expensive to buy so drinking is limited to the weekends only but that is not such a bad thing.I am finding the food shopping quite an experience too everything comes in bulk.I am guessing this is so you can freeze it for the winter months but it also works out alot cheaper to buy it that way.Anyway we have managed nicely one good thing was that the basement didnt take much cleaning i could do it all in half an hour lol.Whilst we were down there we tended to go out alot rather than staying in as it was very dark down there and not alot to do but it gave us a good opportunity to go check out some of the great places in and around where we are living.

At Last I Have My Class 1 A

Today i passed my pre, trip air brake practical and road test,and boy does it feel good,

i can now go out and earn some money.

well that is when i have done my in cab training and follow on time, but at least i will now get a pay cheque every two weeks.

I am not sure what other British drivers do to get there 1 A but here in Saskatchewan it ain't that easy as everybody i have spoken to has taken theirs at least twice and some even more.

Back in July i wrote my computer tests and passed all of them with no problem so i booked the road test pre trip and practical air brake and the test was set for August 27th @1pm bloody hell that's almost a month away, in the meantime i took the company's truck out for a spin,first just round the extensive yard, round and round and round, up and down the gears trying to get the hang of the 18 speed Eaton fuller box, then when a driver brave enough to jump in with me, we went out on the highway first out on the range roads and after a while into the city.

one of the training company's that i saw downtown was Maximum training and they had western stars and a couple of Peterbilts all long wheel base with full length trailers [53ft] and i thought that was just out of order in the city center i just had a lead hopper which was only about 45ft with the axles right on the rear should be a breeze [i thought].

mid month i spent four days down in Moose Jaw at the company school

on returning i carried on with my own training for the road test and pre trip until the Friday of my test.

Test day arrived and we set off for town and parked in the required spot and waited for the examiner to show up, next to me was a Peterbilt number 05 from Maximum training waiting too for a test, the two examiners arrived and we both set about our pre trip and air brake.

just short of two hours later i pulled up back in the bus terminal which i had left earlier

well sir you have a bit of work to do on your pre trip and air and i knew i had ballsed the road test up when i didn't stop at a right turn on red [just creep ed forward] oh well it was good experience but it don't pay the bills.

after a weekend off trying not to get two down hearted i went back in to SGI in Saskatoon to book another test in the next week or so.

Bloody hell September 23rd @1pm i really need to do something now, check for cancellation etc, so i went into work and talked with the safety guy, i had been thinking of taking a course now as i wanted to and needed to start earning, and that's watt he suggested to me .

Maximum training was booked there and then and i started a 5 day course the next day yes and in a Peterbilt too with a 53ft trailer.

Five days later i am sitting in the bus terminal waiting for my test in 05 but this time at the end i knew i had passed the air and pre trip its just the road test and it was a good to go ending

GOOD JOB

Thanks

Gary, Wayne, Brian