They ( the DVLA) weren't happy with my medical report when I applied to renew my HGV licence, so they told me I had to go for a treadmill ECG. My Doctor did tell them I was very fit for my age and the peripheral vascular disease In my leg was well managed, but they weren't happy and booked me in to have it. These last few weeks I have been doing hard dog walks of over 2 hours up hill and down dale, in the meantime I have shifted over 24 ton on shovel and barrow doing my garden refurb, so feeling quite fit, although quite concerned. The nurse called me in and told me take my shirt off and asked how often I worked out. Never , was my reply, but I do walk the dog and enjoy gardening. Do you swim then? she asked. No, was my reply and she attached the probe things to my chest. She then explained the procedure and asked if I had been on a walking machine before. No! She looked astonished and gave me a demo. I thought it was straightforward enough. The Doctor came in and explained I would have three minutes walking pace, three fast walking and three fast uphill. no rest between, was I ready for that? I said yes and away we went. I have to say it was easy and we had a chat about the referendum. I never broke sweat once through the whole thing and wondered why I prepared so much. I asked the Doctor why it was so gentle and his reply was " You are not the run of the mill 55 year old lorry driver. Most of them come here break out into a sweat after three minutes and ask for a break. One guy could hang his belly on the front handle and stopped after three minutes and gave up, I had to fail him. His Doctor had passed him fit and it later transpired he had gone to another Doctor and got his HGV examination there. I passed anyway, They can test me every week if that's all there is to it. Carry on trucking
I had one of those 'Race Track' ECG's done some years ago when I got a heart infection. I remember the doctor at the hospital pushing me to the limit, but testing was worth it and told me I was 100% even though it was painful for my heart. Sadly for me, my insulin ran out soon after the infection and I have been a type 1 diabetic since and restricted to a 3 year period driving licence, renewed subject to passing a medical.
I did mine about 3 years ago, just as I started the "running up hill" but, the phone went and the doctor left, after about 10 mins on that setting I was bushed, I just jumped off, he didn't come back for nearly half an hour!
Trying to Mick. Absolutely shot this week mate, but hoping to get back into the swing of things monday
I bought 14 ton bags of sand gravel etcetera. 140 9" concrete hollow blocks. Overloaded a small truck with slabs that should have held 3 ton. Loaded and unloaded that.moved a 50ft x 5ft crazy pave path and reused the slabs on the other path. We reckon that was about 8 ton in total work. I shifted a 40ft x 30ft flower bed that was a foot higher than the path and used that soil to build up the new patio. Filled the new 30ft x 12 ft patio with garden rubble and took down a two ton garage wall to backfill the drainage holes in the process. Built 180 ft of fencing with concrete posts and gravel boards. Built a 20 x 10 x 1ft high concrete base for the summerhouse, levelled the new areas for lawn and got rid of two truck loads of waste to the tip.reused 2 ton of large rockery stone from the old rockery around my pond..... Probably more like 30 ton plus. I feel tired thinking about it now. In the meantime I rebuilt the little shed and laid the base for that and painted the old fence on the other side that I didn't replace
