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Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh - the memories


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Mr Beattie in the IRA used to refer to the post of "Hay's Lemonade Lorry Driver's Mate" as the ultimate career non-achievement!

I remember these lorries used to come rattling into various residential areas with 2 or 3 very cheerful young men in the cab, all smoking and shouting abuse at us kids as they drove past.

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Mr Beattie in the IRA used to refer to the post of "Hay's Lemonade Lorry Driver's Mate" as the ultimate career non-achievement!

Heigh ho neddy - rhubarb and bananas laddie - there are NO hammars in the even numbarred benches - mark it with ay bradawl laddie! :lol:

But to return to the OP, that really brings me back to the student summers of 1971 and 1972 which I spent driving a Bon Accord 3 ton truck round about Inverness and latterly the Highlands as far afield as Aviemore, Strathconon and Fort William as a sales promotion rep for Tommy Robb.

Ten quid a week and 5p a dozen commission for all new sales. I also used to go out on the lorry at times with a guy from Elgin called Bob who was rough as hell and then there was Jimmy who was BA's answer to Trigger. When Jimmy spoke, he used to make lengthy pauses between individual phrases which he used for thought and which he filled with a long drawn out "F***...ING". So you could meet him out on the road in his lorry and it would be "F***ing....any Bona Cola?... F***ing..... none left.....F***ing.... ALL DONE!!"

I was also told to try to sell the stuff to shops but usually got a pretty dusty response since they regarded Bon Accord lorries also going round the doors as unfair competition to themselves.

It was also at Bon Accord that I first crossed paths with Roy Lobban who was assistant manager there for a while.

At that time the lemonade was actually made in the factory in Anderson Street and from time to time there would be one hell of a bang when a bottle burst under pressure. Loading the lorries at the far end of the factory was also hard work. The Anderson St factory was downgraded to a warehouse a long time ago but I have a feeling the company may not exist any more even in Aberdeen or Dundee.

Tommy Robb, is certainly long dead - as indeed is his son Vince.

I think we were quite lucky for lemonade up north because apart from Bon Accord being pretty good, so was Cruickshanks and even Hays.... and of course the late and lamented MacKintosh's!!!

And to finish on a pedantic note for IHE's benefit... the score for Arbroath against Aberdeen Bon Accord in 1885 was actually 36-0!

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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I was there and I forgot that the last minute goal as I was leaving was disallowed for a dodgy offside decision.

What you really mean is that the total number of goals exceeded ther number of fingers and toes which even you collectively have so you lost count!

Great to see the old BA lorries, albeit rather more "modern" than the ones I used to drive. A lot of BA vehicles were "SR" registrations which was Arbroath in the old days - where the company was really based. In fact I think another name for it was "Inchcape Minerals".

The terminal "X" suggests about 1981-82 reg which was a decade after I worked for Tommy Robb.

And you will also notice that the date on IHE's Pomagne bottle is 1944 so it's reasonable to assume that he first discovered the stuff when he struggled off the Normandy beaches, laden with rifles, machine guns and other military equipment, in the June of that year - at which point Pomagne was still probably quite a respectable drink.

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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I was following a Macbraynes Bedford from Fort Willian to Spean Bridge yesterday. Brought back boyhood memories travelling from Fort Augustus to Inverness. Here is another AEC in good nick at the castle in 1994.

post-3683-0-09412400-1339538999_thumb.jp

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It's not the real Cremola Foam, the recipe for which is still kept secret by the original manufacturer (one of the big food groups). It's been revived by someone replicating a similar product using a similar name (Kremola Fizz or something like that). I did a lot of research on the subject after my favourite mixer for vodka disappeared from shelves!

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