New Trick for an Old Dog...

It's been a change of scenery this week as I've taken a few days away from the usual day-job learning how to drive a fork lift truck.

I had been looking forward to it anyway, but it turned out to be much more fun than I expected. There were three of us on the course, all learning from scratch, all approached it with the same sense of humour and all just there to for CV fodder rather than any desperate desire to drive fork lift trucks for a living.

Each day was a gradual progression:
Monday we learned how to manoeuvre the truck both forwards and in reverse, initially in a straight line, then in clockwise and anti-clockwise circles and finally a tight figure of eight.
Tuesday we moved on to the hydraulics, how to lower and raise the forks, tilt them backwards and forwards to the appropriate levels.
Wednesday we built the test course and had a few practise runs as our instructor was called away for the day
Thursday was the first test day where we completed the practical test, theory test, pre-check test and I'm pleased to say we all passed.
Friday was the chance to re-run the practical test again to try and improve our scores, which again, I'm pleased to report we all did. Personally, I was delighted to have knocked a further couple of minutes off my time and with 16 less penalty points to come out top of the class. Little things eh?

So as a qualified counterbalance fork lift truck driver, I'm now trying to get a reach truck conversion course organised to expand my repertoire still further. This would seem all the more possible now they've announced that I will be staying with the company now for a further month until the end of February...