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Pity the poor lorry driver! |
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Thursday, 07 August 2008 |
My wife and I were driving back from deepest Ardeche to our
home near Annecy. It being around midday we stopped on an
aire de repos to prepare a meal in our caravan.
We chose to eat sitting outside at some lovely shaded
wooden tables and benches set out for the purpose. Our meal
was disturbed by a continual rumbling which in the end I
investigated. I discovered a huge refrigerated lorry: a small
proportion of the noise was caused by the refrigerator on the
front of the trailer; most however came from the lorry’s
engine which was running. The driver and his companion
were, like us, sitting at a table having a leisurely picnic. I
asked if they had a problem with their lorry and was told
roughly: “Heavens no! It is terribly reliable.” I asked why the
engine was running. Looking at me as though I was a fool,
they answered: “To run the air conditioning of course!
Otherwise when we get back in, the cab will be boiling hot!”
I know diesel engines use relatively little fuel when
ticking over, but it seems to me to smack of hypocrisy when
lorry drivers are making life miserable for people by blocking
traffic while they feel free to burn fuel unnecessarily.
Faced with exactly the same problem, I had simply
opened the two kerbside doors and the roadside windows, it
took about three minutes when we started off to get the cabin
temperature in the car comfortable.
So when I see lorry drivers on TV moaning about fuel
costs I hope they will forgive me if I switch off!
Best regards,
Richard Chandless
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