Delivery Driving & Exercise Diary 16.04.18

Decided to start posting daily again, but keep the entries shorter, more like a diary hopefully.

Got into the depot at 6:30am. Delivered and collected 100 stops with a total of 216 parcels handled. Left the depot at 5:45pm. 11.25hrs worked, ok.

Finally got back to weight lifting today.

4 x 20kg Chin Ups

5 x 15kg Chin Ups

5 x 10kg Chin Ups

Couldn’t quite manage the 5th rep at 20kg, but that’s to be expected seeing as it’s been about a month or more since I last did these. Left it at 3 sets and will do for the rest of the week when I do squats, overhead presses and push-ups.

Until next time…

WeeMike

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Weekly Delivery Driving Summary W-E 15.04.18

This week was the first full 5 day week for a few weeks due to Easter and man was it busy and it felt so long pmsl.

This week I delivered and collected a total of 505 stops with a total of 959 parcels handled and I worked a total of 58.5hrs across 5 days.

That makes week gone the 3rd busiest hours worked and parcels delivered. Yep busy.

Be glad to see some normality over the next few weeks, or at least I hope so anyway.

Didn’t do much exercise wise, just stuck to a few days of bodyweight stuff, get my body back used to exercising outside of work again, next week I’ll hit some weights.

Until next time…

WeeMike

Busiest Delivery Driving Week of the Year and Gardening to Unwind

This week has been bonkers. By far my busiest week of the year so far, but only on the hours worked, not the actual parcels delivered.

My breakdown for this week is:

I delivered and collected a total of 391 stops with a total of 830 parcels handled across 4 days, working a total of exactly 50 hours. Feck.

The double bank holiday weekend caused all sorts of backlog issues as well as nearly every private customer wanting their parcels at odd times of the day, meaning I had to crisscross my route every day.

It seemed that due to the bank holiday weekend people went silly with their delivery time requests and although the actual parcel numbers were about normal, the continually having to go back on myself meant added time to each day.

I worked 13hrs each day until yesterday which was only 11hrs, whoop.

I had the luck of being the last driver back to the depot on Thursday. Not sure what prize I won, aside from scowls from the warehouse and truck driver who were waiting for me to get back, sweet.

So fucking glad this week has been and gone. And that I live in a relatively quiet neighbourhood and have a garden full of plants that I can delve into and unwind on the weekends.

Got stuck into a few projects today, one being drilling holes into some galvanised zinc metal pots, so I could pot up some herb plants I got last week.

Now that the last sign of frost has gone, all our plants are starting to show signs of life again, which is nice.

Will be interesting to see what comes up this year from all the wildflowers I grew from seed last year. Which I planted a little late in the season to get a full crop from.

This year I’m growing some sweet pea’s from seed. I’m going to put together a small bamboo frame with some netting draped over for them to climb up, just got to find somewhere suitable in our small garden for them to go as there isn’t much space left from all the pots we have.

Also decided to buy a basic strawberry planter and pop a few dozen strawberry plants in. It will be interesting to see if I can grow any for us to eat, seeing as we’ve got lots of bird flying around the gardens where we live.

It’s nice to watch them feed on the neighbour’s feeders, but they are a little annoying when they come and have a scratch around our newly planted plants and throw dirt everywhere. It means we have to put chicken wire or netting over everything new we plant up until the plant is established.

Aside from carrying parcels I’ve only managed to get in two bouts of exercise this week. Both times I just did basic bodyweight stuff.

A few quick rounds of push ups, chin ups and squats. Just didn’t have the energy getting home gone 7pm to motivate myself to go lift any weights. Hey ho, it’ll do, fingers crossed next week is back to some normality.

Until next time…

WeeMike

Easter Delivery Driving Update

Man, I hate getting ill. Especially when it lasts so long.

I generally don’t get ill very often. Normally once or twice a year I think, but when I do get ill, it seems to hang around.

This time around it’s been a full three weeks. Sure this week I’ve no longer been bunged up and tired, but my phlegmy throat just won’t budge. I’ve been regularly waking up in the night in a coughing fit and nearly being sick because of the retching due to the phlegm in my throat.

I probably should’ve kept up my medicine taking a week a longer and it might’ve gone by now, but I stopped in the middle of last week thinking it had done it’s job.

Alas, not so.

I also don’t think my job has helped. Working nearly 12hrs every day, lifting and moving hundreds of parcels in dusty, wet and cold conditions probably hasn’t aided my recovery.

Anyway, it’s been another busy week delivery driving, not helped by the easter bank holiday weekend.

This week I’ve delivered and collected a total of 471 stops with a grand total of 843 parcels handled. I did this across 5 days working a total of 56 hrs.

So whilst it was less busy than last week, it wasn’t in the sense that for 2 days we had issues in the depot with the trailers being unloaded, which on those days made it manic in the mornings.

One day being yesterday. Having had Friday off due to it being a bank holiday, we were asked to go in Saturday to make next week less manic.

Yeah, that didn’t work.

Someone in authority didn’t think it was necessary to book a truck driver to move the trailers on Saturday morning, so 2 of the 3 of them had to sit in the warehouse unloaded.

A few of us drivers helped the warehouse staff unload the only trailer we could get to, but this meant most of us only had half our normal days parcels to deliver.

Great. Monday being another bank holiday means Tuesday and the rest of the week is going to be fucking stupid.

Not only will most of us have the remaining Friday parcels to deliver, we’ll also have the Sunday and Monday parcels too.

This will be on top of the normal Tuesday busiest day of the week parcels.

So 3.5 days worth of parcels to deliver in 1 day.

Yeah, not happening. Which means they’ll be spread out through the rest of the week, meaning it’ll be a busy one that’s for sure.

Oh well, it is what it is.

No exercise outside of work related activity. But I’m going to start again with some bodyweight stuff tomorrow and see how my chest and lungs feel the day after, then try and get a couple of days of some light weight lifting in next week to ease myself back into it.

For now, I’ve got 2 days off to relax. As much as possible at home due to the shitty weather though.

Rum drinking, gardening, reading, listening to music, drinking rum, watching football, playing computer games, a farm visit to top up our raw milk and local meat stocks and lastly some more rum drinking if I can fit it in.

Yeah, that’ll do nicely.

Until next time…

WeeMike

Weekly Delivery Driving Update

Decided to only write down a weekly summary of my delivery driving as it was getting a little tedious writing the same thing every day pmsl.

So without further ado.

This week I’ve delivered and collected a total of 501 stops with a total of 1016 parcels handled and I’ve worked a total of 58.5 hrs across the 5 days.

So yeah it’s been a manic week, the 2nd busiest of the year so far. Especially Friday.

Just when I was hoping for a quieter day, having gotten to the end of the week and already feeling tired from being back at work after being ill, still not fully recovered and I get in and get told that it was going to be the busiest day of the week, fucking a.

Oh well, I thought, head down and got on with it. And funnily enough although it was the busiest day on the parcel front with 117 stops, hour wise it was 30 minutes less than the rest of the week, so I was happy enough.

But glad to see the back of this week that’s for sure. Still not 100% better, still got a phlegmy throat and partially blocked nose, and had a number of coughing fits during the week after getting out of breath carrying various heavy parcels pmsl.

Had a relaxing weekend to help with my recovery. Did a little gardening and had a nice walk in the countryside, also played video games and listened to music. Chilled to the max, sweet.

Ready for next week and although it’s Easter and I’ve got Friday off, we’re all in on Saturday to clear the backlog and prepare for being off Sunday, then it’ll be recovering again on the Tuesday after having the Monday off too.

Personally, I don’t understand why we’re closing on the bank holiday’s, I’d rather work than not, having days off is fine, but not when it creates more work for the days you’re back in, having days off at the weekend is enough for me.

Anyway, is what it is. Fingers crossed I’m recovered enough sometime next week to do some weight lifting again.

Until next time…

WeeMike

Finally Succumbed to the Dreaded Flu Bug.

Some normality back today, back delivery parcels again and although I’ve only had 3 days off, it’s felt a lot longer.

I gradually got worse as last week went on and by Thursday morning I was ready to pack it in, but I soldiered on for another day. But when I got home Thursday night I was whacked. Fully bunged up, coughing and a banging headache to boot.

So Friday I took off. Which was tough to do knowing I’d not be earning any money for the day, but I had to think long-term and didn’t want to be ill for any longer than necessary.

And it turned out to be the right decision as I felt fine enough to go back to work today, I don’t feel as head fucked and I can think straight, plus my cough is nearly gone too. Still got a bunged up nose, but I can work with that fine.

Despite only having 3 days rest, which was mainly spent on the sofa, watching films and reading, in between severe bouts of coughing and sneezing, I feel like I’ve been off work for a week or more.

I’m not going to knock it, it’s not often in this job that I’ll get 3 straight days off.

Anyway, arrived at the depot for 6:45am today. 87 collections and deliveries throughout the day. Left the depot at 6:30pm, 11.75hrs, whoop.

Relatively quiet day on the delivery front, but yet still out for a full day. The deliveries were spread out, which meant a bit more driving, which was ok as I was happy to take it a little easier today.

I am pretty whacked tonight. My joints are aching and my chest is a little soar, I think from all the coughing the last few days.

Definitely not ready to get back to weight lifting pmsl. Think I’ll give my body until next week before pushing it through some weightlifting again, I might do some bodyweight stuff at the weekend, but I’ll just stick to lifting boxes all week.

Until next time…

WeeMike

Delivery Driving Whilst Bunged Up

It’s not been a great few days delivery driving. I’ve gone and got myself a bout of the flu.

I started to feel bunged up on Saturday afternoon, I could feel it in my ears and throat, then on Mothering Sunday I woke up fully bunged up and feeling like shit, perfect to go out delivery driving.

Thankfully because it was Mothering Sunday I mainly delivered flowers to happy, smiling mothers and it was a relatively easy day. But yesterday and today have been back to normal busy delivering and it’s not been great.

Maybe I pushed myself too hard the previous weeks, with weight lifting and the long hours delivery driving, but I didn’t feel overly whacked during the week, so I just think that I’ve been unlucky in catching someone’s bug.

Anyway, no exercise outside of carrying boxes all day since last Thursday, which has been annoying because I was really looking forward to this week and doing some squats and chin ups.

Hey ho, hopefully I’ll be better by the end of the week and can go again next week.

Until next time…

WeeMike