Used to drive HGV's....often hours waiting to get loaded/unloaded at depots etc...used to try and sleep when you knew it was going to be 1hr+, just made the day seem even longer tho!
Similar deal on an HGV job that I had, driving oil tankers.
When new transformers in power stations were prepared to go on line in the electricity grid, they were filled with transformer oil under vacuum.
This involved a large articulated van like truck, called an Ilovac, the front half of which housed the machinery for extracting the air from the transformer via hoses, this could take hours.
When the transformer was ready, a hose would be attached to a truck, valves opened, then the vacuum would draw the oil from the truck, into the transformer, this too could take hours.
The rear of the Ilovac contained a small laboratory, to test the oil, and a rest area, complete with stove, coffee making facilities, a table, and bench seating on both sides.
Sometimes there were 5 or 6 tankers waiting to fill the transformers, we’d all pile in the back where the benches, table, chairs and coffee facilities were, and play high stakes kalooki for hours on end.
Often we were there for 2 or 3 days, we’d drop our trailers and drive to a small motel, then return next day and go back to the card school.
