Sometimes I Think I Have A Rotten Job

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Sometimes I think I have a rotten job. Usually it is on days when the sun is shining and I am stuck in the workshop pushing tiny components into circuit boards when I could be out in the field with one of the growing fleet of tractors. Or may be its when it is a cold crisp morning, with a frost on the land and a couple of acres need ploughing. I have been known to moan a bit on a freezing cold day, with water dripping down my neck as I struggle with tiny components in the field. This has got worse now as age has caused me wear different glasses when working with tiny parts and it is difficult to see where they go when you drop them from frozen fingers.

Other times I know I have the best job in the world. I realise this when it causes me to take journeys like I did last week, the 26th of June 2008.

As I have mentioned, I have been working with Team Sprayers of Ely on a sprayer boom with variable geometry. This is to enable parts of the boom to be angled up to 18 degrees out of horizontal to allow the distance above the crop to be maintained when spraying in valleys. It has always been possible to angle the whole spraying boom, in the past, but that has meant that as one end of the 24m boom goes up, the other end dives down. Not quite what was needed.

Adjusting the sides of the boom independently does away with that problem but it means that, when folding the boom, the outer section must always fold first and the boom must be fully raised before it arrives at the stowage supports at the tractor sides. If it is not done correctly you could end up with a spray boom stuck up in the air some distance in front of the tractor. The sort of thing that causes Health and Safety officers to reach for the charge sheet!

The same thing occurs when unfolding it. Once it is moving back into the normal working position and unfolding to its full 24m, the boom must drop into its horizontal position by the time it is fully extended.

This was the problem given to me to sort out. How to make the boom fold and unfold, in sequence, automatically, with the operation of just one switch in either direction. All in 3 weeks and to have it working for the big Cereals Show in Lincolnshire in mid June, then straight from there to the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I will not dwell on the number of ice packs on the head and the frantic rush to produce a circuit, circuit board, assemble it, test it and get it onto a machine secure in the knowledge it would do all that was in the specification. Team were developing the boom design and I had to cope with changing specifications in the electrical control functions as well. All good fun for all concerned.

That was until the day we came to fit it to the machine and we realised that the sensors being used to ensure the boom was fully raised before folding, were single function normally open contacts when we needed normally closed contacts. This was two days before the first show. The sensor suppliers could not get the type we wanted in time for them to be fitted for the first show so, back to the icepacks and a temporary solution was devised. This would enable the machine to be demonstrated and the new sensors would be available for fitting in the short window between the Cereal Show and transporting the machine north of the border.

Of course, as Robbie Burns put it “the best laid plans of mice and men oft gan a glais”. The sensors were not available for fitting in the few hours between the sprayer arriving back at Ely and being loaded for its trip to Edinburgh. So I would have to go up to install them and finalise the new unit after the Show, in the dealer’s premises at Kelso.

This was no hardship although it meant a long drive. I had spent quite a few harvest times north of the border. When we developed automatic speed control, “Optimatic”, for Claas combines back in the late 1970’s our bad weather testing was done on a farm near Edinburgh so I was no stranger to that area. Our development of “Ritehite” as a drop-limiting device for potatoes being loaded into trailers from the harvesters was done in association with Grimme and was sold in large numbers by both their agents and, in later years, by Reekie of Forfar. So we had travelled Scotland and loved it. I always dreamed of retiring to a small farm near the Black Isle in the north, on the east coast and raising potatoes. But that was a dream that never came to fruition and, with the demise of the British machinery manufacturing base and the takeover of companies by others, we found ourselves working for companies based mainly in East Anglia. Not a bad thing I suppose. The dream of retirement north of the border gradually dimmed and since the middle 1990’s we have not made the trip up the A1. A trip that at one time, I was doing on a weekly basis. Memories faded.

So, last Thursday, Rover was loaded with tools, a few parts and the new sensors and off we went. We had booked to stay at Berwick on Tweed, just on the English side of the border. Ann and I had not visited the Northeast of the country before so we were going to take a gentle trip home on Saturday and Sunday, crossing the North Yorkshire Moors and keeping close by the coast.

I am sorry but I am going to bore on about the British Isles and its great beauty.

We decided to leave the A1 at Scotch Corner and make our way up the A68 to Jedburgh. This was always our normal route to Edinburgh as it crosses the Cumbria countryside, some of the finest in the world. But my Ann-Ann navigation system does not let me take the easy route and soon we are climbing steep twisting roads with sheep making suicidal dashes across our front. It seems it is true! The ultimate goal in a sheep’s life is death!! They jump from outcrops into our path or hide behind large rocks and dash out as we pass! But we manage to miss them all.

The weather was very changeable but this adds to the beauty of the area. The huge cloud formations sweeping in across the wild heather and hills are something that has to be experienced. Nature is wonderful!

The road winds into the distance and I feel all the tension of the drive along the motorway washing away as I gaze in awe. Even just this area South of the border takes my breath away.

Eventually we reach Carter Bar and cross the border into Scotland. It’s a strange thing that in my lifetime Scotland has become a foreign country. Our “great” (?) prime minister, Tony Blair, whilst trying to bring us closer into an integrated Europe, has granted Scotland its own parliament and it seems to be moving towards devolution from England. I just do not understand a politician and a political party that is hell bent on destroying our heritage.

At least, since leaving the A1 the views and the splendour on view has not changed.

We make our way by Otterburn and the Keilder dam and water sports areas and on to Jedburgh where we stop in a factory shop selling tweed clothing, whiskey and souvenirs for a coffee. It proved to be a bit expensive as Ann saw a lovely shawl, I saw an Arran sweater and we needed a bottle of special whiskey for a customer.

Whilst we were looking around a voice says “I recognise that face! What are you doing here”? It was one of my customers who owns a manufacturing company in Doncaster. He had been exhibiting at the Highland Show and had taken a few days off to go fishing up beyond Inverness and was heading back home. It’s a small world. To meet up with someone you do not expect to see miles from where you would normally expect to find them is strange. We escape the shop with our wallets lighter than when we went in and set of for Kelso. We are not due at the dealership until 9am on Friday when we will meet up with Team’s service representative who is there to instruct the dealer staff on the intricacies of this sprayer. But to ensure we are not late we want to find the dealership before driving on to Berwick a short distance away, for the night.

We locate the dealer and feed the information into the Ann-Ann navigation system now it is off to find our hotel in Berwick about 20 miles away. We are again lucky it is by the side of the main road and very easy to locate, a quick shower and off to town to find a restaurant for our evening meal.

Berwick is a strange town. It has great potential to become a tourist attraction but it seems a bit “seedy”. The centre has been spoilt by a range of modern shops mixed in with the old buildings. We were a little disappointed but perhaps it was the grey and damp evening. The quay area, which in a Dutch town would be full of boats, is bare. Just a couple of old boats. But what a beautiful bridge! Dates back to Roman times according to the tourist information. It is one of three within a few hundred yards.

A more modern one now carries the main road, and in the background is the magnificent railway viaduct.

This part of the town was made famous by one of Britain’s industrial artists L.S.Lowry, who painted industrial scenes around the Manchester area in the 1920’s and 1930’s. This area of Berwick featured in one of his paintings. Lowry was the subject of a pop song in the 1970’s that described his famous style of painting figures. “Matchstick Men”, the song contains the line “he painted matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs” and it describes the great numbers of bent figures depicted leaving the factory gates. It is very evocative of the time and, having seen the original, extremely moving.

Next morning we set of early for Kelso and the dealers yard. Our colleague has already arrived and the sprayer is mounted on a Renault tractor. A slight modification to the filter on the intake of the sprayer has to be made and I have to change the sensors and take out the temporary modification. This work is soon done and we move the tractor and sprayer out into the yard to unfold the booms and check the electrical valves. It would be a shame to drive all the way back to Norfolk only to get a call saying something did not work.

The sprayer unfolds and that is when the problems start!

As the booms move away from the side of the tractor, the auto drop function does not operate. The boom will not come down into the working position. It unfolds at full height.

Still, I have to admit it looks pretty impressive as it does, but what can be wrong? Then the boom starts to drop and I breath a sigh of relief. Must have set the timer with too long a delay.

The boom is now in the correct position to spray so we start to check the other functions. Nothing will work! We have a boom unfolded to 24m in a rather small and busy yard, with forklifts, trucks and lorries being loaded with chemicals working all around and we cannot fold the boom. Its an accident waiting to happen and I start to imagine one of them colliding with this rather expensive mass of steel and plastic pipe.

We stop and consider the position. Got to work something out quickly. I remove the cover from the distribution box so that I can see the LED’s on the circuit board put there to help at times like this. We try the circuits one by one and they all work. The board lights up and the solenoid valves can be heard operating with a healthy “clunk”.

OK. That means we have a hydraulic problem. We change the hoses on the spool valve and put the return hose straight back into the rear axle, Still no movement when we operate the controls. The pipes from the tractor to the sprayer do not seem to flex as pressure is applied but we have got to get the boom folded.

We try to fold the boom by assisting it with a man at each end but that does not seem to help. We are still stuck. I suggest lifting the sprayer on the hydraulic arms and moving it closer to the fence so helping to protect the boom and giving more clearance around the sprayer in the busy yard.

The tractor will not lift the sprayer! With the booms fully extended the leverage is too much for the Renault. The driver wonders about the oil level in the hydraulics. “It worked alright yesterday when we used it on that sprayer over there”. I turn to see the sprayer he indicates. It is nowhere near the size of this one and we have not got water in it yet.

The oil level is low in the hydraulics so the driver goes off into Kelso to find some oil. He gets back about an hour later with a 25ltr can and we carefully transfer its contents into the tractor. When we try and lift things it still won’t budge. So much for our easy little job and a trip up to Edinburgh in the afternoon!

Finally we manage to convince the driver that his French steed is a candidate for the knackers yard and, after some frantic phone calls and a further two hours wait, a big Massey comes into the yard. Now we have the tricky job of taking the Renault off the sprayer and putting the Massey on. All with the sprayer booms extended and a sprayer totally un-balanced and liable to fall over with an expensive crash.

We commandeer a forklift and support the centre of the boom whilst we change tractors. All goes well and soon the Massey is powering the boom folding it and unfolding it. Everything works perfectly and we start to feel much relieved.

The next blow falls! We check the powered valves that turn the spray on and off. It is then we discover that someone has hit or dropped the control box in its journey from the showground. One of the switches is broken and another bent. This is not noticeable until you try and use the switch concerned.

So here we have a unique control box, no spare switches, its Friday afternoon and all the spares are 400 miles away! We get on the phone to Ely and they get a new panel on a special delivery to arrive Saturday morning. Ann and I agree to wait until it arrives and then change it, bringing the damaged one back with us to repair. It is now late afternoon so we clear up and head off for a little tour on the way back to the hotel.

And look what we found just over the border.

Could this be just the place for me to retire to!

Saturday morning sees us back in the dealers yard early. We park up and leave our mobile numbers with the office. Ann spent some time in the town yesterday and noted that there would be a farmers market in the town square, so we decided to have a look whilst we are waiting for the special delivery to arrive. Sure enough we get there just as the market is being set up and wander round the stalls. Immediately we see a bread stall next to a cheese stall and all thoughts of our waistlines fly out of the window. “We will just have some of this for our dinner and tea” says Ann as she buys three types of cheese and crusty sour dough bread. It’s a pity Rover is not equipped with a fridge as the Scottish meat looks absolutely wonderful. There is no way that we could get it home though.

Kelso is a beautiful town, so quiet and friendly. Groups of people stand chatting on the street corners debating the state of the nation and how their gardens are producing. We feel quite at home as this happens every weekend when we go to our field. It is not long before friends and neighbours gather and the talk starts. Bit like Fordson Tractor Pages!

We walk through the ruined abbey and churchyard to a lovely café for a coffee. Next door is a pottery displaying local pots and ornaments. Fatal to the wallet to go in but we do. After about twenty minutes we leave again with wallets lighter but with two items that will remind us of our visit. My choice is an abstract object made from local clay and wrapped in oat straw before being fired. The patterns on the clay struck me as soon as I saw it.

Ann’s choice is again an abstract but this is a globe made from different clays from the borders. She loves the colours that are enhanced by the firing. These are not painted but both are the natural colours of the clays in the border areas.Feeling rather pleased with our purchases we walk to the river bridge and look down the valley of the River Tweed.

Although the weather is not brilliant and sunny, it is dry and the sun, when it comes out is warm. We make our way back to the dealership pausing for a time in a little garden with seats overlooking one of the many churches in the town.

The spire of this one rises against the skyline and can be seen for miles. It has been our ideal marker as it is within fifty meters of the dealer.

Once back in the yard we find that the promised delivery of a spare board has not arrived. The courier decided they would deliver on Monday not the requested, and paid for, Saturday morning. So we are stuck. Our hotel is booked for the evening so there is nothing we can do but leave the box and get back to Norfolk where the panel will be waiting for me to repair. The dealer mechanic is quite happy to fit the spare when it arrives so I leave him my numbers and some rough drawings and we take our leave.

Once again we head for England and Carter Bar, the border. Once again the Ann-Ann navigation system goes into “cross Country” mode and it is not long before we find ourselves heading up and down steep hills and across open moor land.

The cattle we pass look well fed and peaceful in the lush grass.

Streams gurgle down the hillside beside the road. We stop and break open our bread and cheese lunch. It is everything we could wish for in this calm quiet and beautiful country.

Sunday finds us back in England and on the east coast. We have come to the town of Whitby, a seaside town with a historic connection with Australia and New Zealand. Captain Cook set out from here in ex-collier ships built for the coastal trade.

We wander round the dockside where a memorial commemorates the shipyard and its place in our joint history.

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This sculpture depicts the type of joints used throughout the ships and also the wooden tools, plates and drinking vessels that were used in those days aboard ship. I am really grateful that the Stena Line has improved things for our trips to Holland!

Even this early, the day is warm and as we walk along the quay we see notice advertising trips out into the bay to see the dolphins and possibly whales. Being intrepid adventures in the mode of James Cook we pay our money and are soon sailing out of the harbour.

As we pass out of the entrance the sight of the “Endeavour” returning from her epic voyage meets us. At least that is what Ann says.

Don’t think that this one is the real one though.

The cruise around the bay is very pleasant but we did not see any wild life. There were powerboats and racing yachts a little further out to sea and these probably scared off the poor creatures with all their rushing up and down. Still it did give us a chance to photograph the abbey ruins from another aspect.

Strange to think that nothing much has changed of that view since James Cook last saw it as he set out on his voyages of discovery.

Back on the quay we see the future (at least if oil prices keep rising), a beautiful Sentinel Steam Omnibus stands hissing quietly to itself as it waits for passengers to take a trip around the town.

Further down the quay is a fresh fish shop and the produce offered there is fantastic. A fridge in the Rover would not have been large enough for this trip, we would need a container! But we do purchase a dressed crab for tea. It will go well with the bread from Kelso. But now its lunchtime and we head for one of the many fish restaurants on the quay.This looks great and tasted even better! And Henk …..

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