It appears that things aren’t so bad, management have agreed to give the Pool their “duties” a week in advance rather than a few days before which means that we can join a “Mafia”. Every depot has one, my depot has two, the drivers give their work schedule to whoever’s running the Mafia and they then give everybody what they want. So if you are rostered to work earlys that week and you want lates the Mafia will arrange a swap with someone who is in the reverse situation. Similarly if you want a certain day off they will shuffle your rest days. Up until recently I’ve been independently taking night shifts from both Mafias and individual drivers as not many people like doing them but as of 4 July I will surrender my independence and become a Mafia Man. Eccellente!

Sadly Derek has gone the way of all fish. I'll miss the spotty little oik