The whole story
Introduction
Who am I?
Good question, I suppose that I am an average guy, getting on in years now, nobody special, I’m 73 years old, overweight, greying but still full of life and still ready for new ideas and opportunities, I have been happily married twice, I have two happily married sons, and two wonderful, blue eyed, blonde grandsons, I didn’t do well at school, I could have done better but I didn’t want to at the time, looking back, I have no regrets and a lot of experience now, in many different things.
I found myself in a difficult situation and decided that it was time to change, so I did, and now I feel that I have learnt many lessons, some of which I feel, deserve telling, so that others may benefit. I decided that I would do something that had never occurred to me before and that was to write my story, not from the beginning but from the point where everything changed, and I mean everything from an old ordinary life to a brand-new life, one that I would never have dreamed of in a million years!
So, here goes!
The Mystery of Unusual Opportunities
Life and Loves of an Ordinary Guy (Part 2)
This is not an ordinary auto-biography, it is story about a dramatic change in the life of a far from extraordinary man and what happened to him in a little over a decade of his life, a life that has some way to go yet!
Some would say that it was a series of coincidences but others sincerely believe that God had a lot to do with it!
Chapter 1
I was not HAPPY! I was sitting on the bunk in my truck in a car park on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Stafford, not far from the M6 motorway on New Year’s Eve 2009!
What had started out looking like an easy day had turned into a nightmare! I’d turned up for work to drive my truck, early in the morning of 31>st December, at our large depot warehouse in Haverhill, the dispatcher had given me a straight run, drive a large chilled load of fruit juice and yoghurt from the local depot up to a logistics centre in Newcastle, unload, call in at the company’s regional distribution centre there and bring a load of dairy produce back home in good time to get home and celebrate the New Year of 2010.
I had got up early as usual that Thursday, 31>st December 2009 and was looking forward to the celebrations that night with my wife and family, I was feeling quite cheerful, my start time was 04.30 am. so I’d set my alarm for 02.00, enough time to shower, grab a bite and hit the back roads to the depot, I really enjoyed the back roads, I could have some fun on the twisty lanes through the quiet sleepy villages without worrying about any traffic, there was never anyone about, nevertheless I still needed to be careful, you never know what might be round the next bend! But it meant I could drive a little more aggressively than during the day, I liked to test myself on the twisty roads and often liked to try and beat my fastest time from home to work.
This morning I’d managed to do it with a minute to spare, impressive, “it’s going to be a good day!” I thought to myself. My old car was nothing special but I was pretty good at getting the best out of any vehicle, I could drive and enjoy just about anything, I didn’t much care for flashy cars, they attracted to much attention, I enjoyed getting the better of other drivers with the skills I had learnt, in cars that didn’t look fast.
So, I was clearly in a good mood when I arrived at the desk of the dispatcher, exchanged a little banter, chatted with one or two of the drivers who were also in that morning, then took the keys to a truck and headed for the yard to do my daily checks on the truck. I was unusually thorough this morning, I felt on top of the world, paid extra care and even ran the truck through the wash so it was looking good, I parked up and ran upstairs to get my paperwork and the trailer number.
