Good. I hate Fleet Services. In or about 1983 I stopped there fr breakfast and, aghast to find no trucker's area available, had to slum it with the public and pay outrageous prices for the eggs and b. Shaking from the shock of the bill I took my fry up, tore open the little paper packet of salt, poured it all over the bone-crushingly expensive repast and tucked in.
Sweet n Low tastes nothing like salt. Even when you try really, really hard to convince yourself that it isn't too bad, it is.
Its sole virtue was that for a long time it was one of the few service stations that had a McDonald's, which meant a chap with a 10 O'Clock appointment in Winchester, say, could make an early start and get a life-giving Double S&E McM prior to completing his journey.Originally Posted by Sir C
That is literally the sole good thing I have to say about the place. Although they did make one cross that stupid sky tunnel thing across the motorway to get to the McDonald's.
It had a mild 'gateway to the west' vibe about it; passing Fleet meant that the traffic would lighten and the road open out invitingly. A chap felt that now was the time to give her the gun and head off into the adventure that is 'Way From London'.
Of course I used to get exactly this feeling on those flyovers on the A12 when I was en route to Harwich, so my judgement isn't to be trusted.
Yes, back in the day, to get from here to Harwich or Felixstowe you had to go through the Blackwall Tunnel to the A12. Madness.
It felt like that at first, but then the road narrows to two lanes for long stretches, which rather spoils the effect.
Listen to us discussing roads and service stations like a couple of sales reps.
The three years I spent driving full time were easily the best of my career. One was given a task - take this car to this place - after the completion of which one was freed from any further concerns or considerations. The job was done; there was no baggage, no aftermath, no worries. Most importantly, there was the open road and the radio for company. Joyful times.It felt like that at first, but then the road narrows to two lanes for long stretches, which rather spoils the effect.
Listen to us discussing roads and service stations like a couple of sales reps.
The only tricky bits were the regular brushes with death at the hands of exhaustion or Warsaw Pact security forces, of course.
Did you hitch hike to get back after the delivery ?
10 characters? Pile of cund.
I quite liked having to do long drives. It was the tedious business of actually having to talk to people at the end of them I could have done without.
Apart from getting home. Did you have those red number-plates that would be shown when hitching to prove you weren't an axe-wielding homicidal maniac? I used to be quite jealous of those in my hitching days, I must admit, as I was about to give up any hope of extraction from a roundabout on the M6 near Rugby and settle down to a night under the stars.
Yes. Trade plates pretty much gauranteed a lift from a lorry within moments of holding them out. I once got a lift from Newport docks directly to my front door. Mind you, long distance lorry drivers can be a very, very odd bunch. A Dutch driver once had me absolutely convinced that he was kidnapping me to give me a good búggering, as he absolutely refused to stop to let me out, until, for no reason at all, he pulled up on the A120 and demanded I leave. Middle of fúcking nowhere, it was.
Sure did. Combined with an Interrail pass I went all over the UK and Europe
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