SLIPKNOT

At the moment I am on the UK leg of the Slipknot european tour.

a parmo adventure

How to make the National dish of Teesside!

Oh! those were the days!

British Railways

In the past couple of weeks I have been very busy driving around Europe. I have been double driving on the Gloria Estefan tour and the Madonna tour. The fist job entailed driving from Calais to Zaragoza in Spain, flying back to the UK and then a few days later flying to Alicante in Spain and then catching a train up to Valencia and driving one of the Madonna Steel trucks to the port of Ancona in Italy were it would board a ferry to Greece. Then from Ancona I jumped into one of the Budva advance trucks and drove it down to the port of Bari in southern Italy for the ferry to Montenegro. Job done, it was time to get back to the UK. the flights from Bari were full so it was a pleasant train journey up the Adriatic coast on a Italian Euro Star train to Bologna to catch a flight to Gatwick airport England, a six hour journey that cost 53 euro, the train from Alicante to Valencia cost 23 euros. That was the cost just turning up at the stations and getting the next available train! At Gatwick Railway station I purchased a ticket to Teesside in the north of England for £107!!! it was routed via Kings Cross. Arriving at Kings Cross, I was told if I wanted to board the 15:00 train I would have to pay a surcharge of £57 that would make it a grand total of £164 for a journey half the distance I had travelled by train in Italy. But if I waited till after 19:00 hours no surcharge would be necessary. All I can say is Rip-Off Britain is alive and well.

The Blue Canadian Rockies

Well I have just returned from a three week vacation in Canada, I flew from Calgary to Manchester yesterday on a very fast flight aboard a Boing 787 flying at ground speeds of upto 650 mph!8 hours wow! I always enjoy visiting North America, as I have a history of visits going back to 1972 (lost count at 25) and being based in England, I always find, going back to the Colonies is always a trip back to the future! If you get my drift!

Hannibal - The Opera

Simply the Best, thank you Ridley Scott and Hartlepool College of Art,aka, Cleveland College of Art, Middlesbrough.

Italian Belle Vista

Just a few of the shots I took on my last double driving jaunt through Italy. I also had the pleasure of travelling on the Italian rail system, clean, modern, cheap and very efficient, hang your head in shame Britain!!!!!

Double Drive Mania (The Willi Betz way is now a Rock And Roll normality)

Well I have just returned from a double drive that has lasted over two weeks and because of the new 45 hour weekly rest break for truck drivers, touring europe has changed! More and more tour trucks are double manned so costs go up and so does ticket prices and with the added cost of diesel the future looks grim! Driving out of Dover and heading up the hill to the M20 you would think you had arrived in a third world country with all the foriegn trucks parked by the side of the road and the litter and no toilet facilities the UK is certainly not a welcoming country for international or local haulage!