Easy Access, Fast Fill
Β© Bad Hobbit - 2023
Having to refuel has always been a pain for haulage drivers. It takes quite a while, and often even getting close enough to a pump with a big artic can be a pain. Some filling stations used to have signs saying "Easy access, fast fill" to encourage drivers to fill up there. If you weren't limited by where your firm's credit card would be accepted, it was usually better to seek out these places when fuel was running low. I'd finally managed to fill up at a place in Sevenoaks and arrived at my last destination for the day, a seriously big house near the village of Wrotham - pronounced, oddly, as 'Root-um' - in Kent.
Delivery lorries have become quite sophisticated in the last twenty or thirty years. Mine was fitted with a crane jib and a small forklift truck, so I could unload the pallets of bricks, breezeblocks, sand and cement on my own.
But, see, that meant I had to do it
on my own
. In days gone by, the driver would have had a 'mate' to help with all that stuff. Instead, I not only had to drive the lorry but I also had to work the crane and then use the forklift to stack the building materials. Sure, I made a good job of it, but it was hard, hot work. It didn't help that it was a seriously warm day in July, and I'd already done three drops. Fortunately, this was my last call of the day, and when I'd finished, the truck would be empty.
It seems the guy who'd bought the materials wanted to build a garage for his three - yes three - vintage Jaguars, parked beside the drive. So part of the problem was making sure I kept well away from the cars while I was unloading. The other problem was that he wasn't there to supervise, so his wife was giving me instructions, and I'm not sure her heart was in it.
"Yes, over there somewhere," she said, waving vaguely toward the side of the drive when I asked for the best place to deposit all those pallets. She didn't seem particularly interested; she was dressed in scruffy clothes and wore gardening gloves, so I assumed she had different hobbies from her husband. Fortunately, the area in front of their substantial house was huge, so I was able to stack the materials neatly without trashing a flower bed or scratching a Jag.
I retracted the crane jib, stowed the forklift at the back of the truck and then went to get the wife to sign the docket.
"Off back to the depot now?" she asked as she signed.
"No. I've got another load to pick up in Maidstone in the morning, so I'll drive over there, find a Travelodge or something and get a meal."
She looked me up and down. "Oh. Well, if you're not in a rush, I'll be cooking a paella in about half an hour. My husband called to say that he's staying in Town tonight." Her face took on a strange expression. "I have the ingredients for a meal for two. I'd be happy to share."
"That's very kind of you, missus, but I'm absolutely minging." I sniffed my armpit. It wasn't nice. "I need a shower and a change of clothes pretty soon."
"Well, that's easy. Why not use the bathroom upstairs? I'll get you a towel. And while you're at it, if you leave your sweaty clothes outside, I can pop them in the washer-dryer, and they'll be clean for you to wear tomorrow. I'm pretty filthy myself - I was at the gym this morning and I've been gardening all afternoon - so I was going to shower in our en-suite, then come down and cook supper. If you're finished before me, help yourself to a beer from the fridge. Would that suit?"
So I was standing in this amazing kitchen in this enormous house, and I was just being offered a shower, laundry services, a free home-cooked meal and a beer. Sounded good to me.
She got me a huge fluffy towel, and I went into the big bathroom - bigger than my bedroom at home - undressed and left my dirty clothes outside the door. (I'd brought my overnight bag from the cab so I had clean stuff to put on). The big, walk-in shower was amazing; the water flow was much better than I'd have got in a crappy Travelodge, and I felt much better by the time I'd finished, dressed in a clean t-shirt and jeans. When I returned to the kitchen, she wasn't there, but I could hear the washing machine in the adjacent utility room. I opened the enormous fridge and saw a selection of beers. I chose a lager, opened the can and sat on a stool.
The wife arrived about five minutes later. She'd clearly washed her short, blonde-ish hair and put on a dress, rather than the shapeless outfit she'd been wearing before. I guessed she could have been anywhere between forty and fifty-five - bear in mind I was twenty-one then, so no great judge of women's ages - but she was clearly in good shape. She smiled at me and reached out her hand.
"We haven't been introduced. I'm Penny." She had what I would've called a 'posh' voice, which wasn't surprising, given that the house must've been worth well over a million - and this was fifteen years ago. I noticed she was wearing lipstick.
"I'm Dean," I replied, shaking her hand and smiling back. "I really appreciate this, you know. I was expecting to eat at a Wetherspoons tonight."
"I'm hoping that I can cook something a bit better than what you'd get there," she replied, going to the fridge. I looked down, noticing she had a nice arse and good legs, if a bit muscular.
"You said you'd been to the gym this morning. What was that about."
"Exercise, of course. I like to keep fit. There's a class they do there, with weights. I find it helps me keep in shape. What about you? You look like you work out."
"Yeah, when I can. Mostly circuits and machines in the gym."
"Seems to be working for you." She smiled again. "Could you get the paella rice out of that cupboard above your head, please?"
I was astonished that there were four kinds of rice, in special jars. I found the right one and passed it to her.
We chatted as she cooked. I was fascinated by the care she took with the meal. She had it ready in about fifteen minutes, and then we were sat at the table with two dishes of paella, salad, warm bread - and a glass of Sauvignon.