Shorty

Okay this en't going to be a long trip, well it's not long in a lot of respect. Let me explain.On the Tuesday morning rang Dispatch and was told to go in. When there Ron asked if I could do him a favour and take a trl from our yard to a Home Depot store in Dartmouth, drop it on a door there, then go and pick a chassis (sorry skelly) from just down the road. But then he said I'd have to shut it up to 40'. WHAT? A shorty. Now I dropped the 1 off at Dartmouth and the guy there was originally from Ipswich, been in Canada 5 years. God dawn, go and pick the chassis up and the boss there came from Aberdeen, moved over here in the 70's. I'm thinking of moving, too many expats here : ) . Anyway went down to the container terminal in Halifax and got my can on, a short, short contaner of 40 foot. Oh shit it looked so funny sat behind my "Lady". It was also sat on a tridem axle chassis, it'll be 22 wheels and rolling, but oh boy do those close axle tridems drag, especially when so close to the tractor. Anyway set off from Halifax and started my journey to the Mitchelin drop yard in Saint Laurent, Provence of Quebec (812miles local run). Now I'd got in mind where I was going to stop that night, a truck stop just outside Riviere de Loup, PQ. Now don't know if I've explained before, but when we climb hills and mountains and the speed drops below 70km we have to put our four ways on. Now I was climbing up his hill, dropped my 4 ways on, all good, till I reached the top and went to turn them off. All of a sudden the turn signals are flashing from one side to the other, ABS lights on, panel lights flashing on and off," mmm I thought something wrong" . Pulled over to the side so I could have a look outside and see what was gooing on. Well the tractor thought she was at an 80's rave. Turn signals flashing from one side to the other, marker lights flashing and head lights on when they were'nt turned off. Turned my attention to the trl and she was at a different party, heck marker, brake and turn signals going off to a different beat. Well pulled the suzy in case it was the trl causing the problems, but no, the tractors still looked like she was on acid dancing to the Beasty Boys. Well never came across this before. The place I was planning on stopping was only 40 mile away, it was'nt dark yet and there were no scales ahead, so I decided to run up to there with my mobile disco. Who wants to call roadside assistance when your sat in the middle of nowhere. Got to the truckstop and rang Penske, nice guy, gave him the details where I was and the problem, he said he'd put me on hold while he finds someone. Now after a few minutes he comes back to me and says" i think I've found someone, but do you speak French because I can't explain to him the problem" Told him if they were selling beer I could order a large glass of lager, plus mussels and fries. "I'll try someone else he said, get back to you". It did'nt take him long to get back to me to tell me he'd found someone and they'd be with me with in 15 mins, but they only spoke little English. Did I really care what language they spoke as long as they understood Freightliner. Well the guy was soon there, he could'nt miss me in the park I was the one with the light show. He spoke a little English, but kept scratching his head, checking this and that, making phone calls then decided I need to take the truck to the workshop 10 mile down the road. He'd follow behind with the beacons on. Got down to the garage and pulled straight into a bay. Now the mechanic they put to work on her spoke no English at all,  but through sign language I explained I was going to bed till he was done and left him to it. Just gone midnight he knocked on the cab door to tell me he was done and show me the problem. Badly corroded battery lead and a corroded main fuse. All sorted I pulled out of the bay and stayed in their parking lot for the night. Now the next morning it was a straight run to St Laurent, even the traffic in Montreal was good. Left the container in the swop yard and hooked up to a proper trl, an mt 53'. Got a message to head to Laval (12 miles away) load that trl then take it to our Terminal in Concord, near Toronto.  The trip to Concord was a good one and arrived there 9am the next morning. No sooner had I dropped the trl a message came over the qualcomm that there was a loaded trl there for me to bring back to Dartmouth NS. Lovely, it's nice when there's no hanging about, I was soon hooked up and on my way back to the Maritimes. On the way back I got the usual message "what were my plans once back in the Maritimes". If I was going to head straight back out it would mean me reseting my hours on the road. So I was faced with a choice, reset at home or the road. No brainer "reset my hours at home" was my reply. No problems, Chris replyed he'd book me off till Monday. Jobs a gud un. Another weekend at home. So Friday afternoon saw me back in Dartmouth and by 530pm I was home and finished. Told you it was a shorty. Catch you all soon and take care