Around 500 bikers helped a terminally ill mum fulfil a bucket list dream of riding pillion on a Harley-Davidson last weekend.

Being Harley-Davidson riders ourselves, as well providing specialist global motorcycle logistic services to Harley-Davidson owners, we thought we would bring you this truly touching story — We at Claridon are very proud of you Vicki and the riders and pillions too.

Vicki Stevens, 42, a mum from Waltham Abbey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. Although initially she was told she had the all clear, the cancer came back in June last year. It had spread to her brain, lungs and spine and she was told she had two months left to live.

After her secondary diagnosis, she created a bucket list of things she would like to do — which included a pillion passenger ride on a Harley-Davidson for her and 15 friends.

Thanks to Mike Grove, from Harlow, and Paul Middleton from Bishop’s Stortford, the dream became a reality last weekend.

Approximately 500 bikers met at a diner just off of junction 26 of the M25 on Sunday 13th May. It had been opened especially for the day by Dave Cordell, ahead of the bikers heading to Vicki’s home.

“We all waited outside and they turned up. You could hear them before they saw them,” said Vicki.

“It was so emotional. My neighbours were out and people I don’t know came to watch.

Vicki’s Story

Vicki’s first diagnosis came in October 2014, when she found a lump on her back.

“I had it checked out and found that I had triple breast cancer,” Vicki said.

“It’s one they don’t know much about and the most likely one you are to die from.”

The lump was removed and she was given the all-clear. However, two years later, the cancer returned.

“I was getting horrendous headaches and I just knew that it had come back,” she said.

With the cancer spreading to her lungs, brain and spine, Vicki is still undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She is also waiting for specialist trials to start at St Bartholomew's Hospital.

She doesn’t know how long she has left to live but she is staying positive and is starting to fight.

“There was no way I was letting cancer ruin my life and that of my family.”

“That’s why I want to do as much as I can and I am trying to be as normal as I possibly can for the boys.”

Vicki started writing a bucket-list of things she wanted to do with the little time she had left. One of those was to ride pillion on Harley-Davidson's with 15 of her friends. That is where Mike and Paul heard her story and answered the call.

Vicki Shuts the M25

Vicki, who is married to Carl, had wondered why there was so little traffic on the motorway before being told “they have shut the M25 for you”.

The bikes, sporting a pink ribbon in solidarity, were escorted by Essex Police from Vicki’s home in Waltham Abbey, across the M25, to the Harley-Davidson dealership at Lakeside.

“We’ve been saying Queen Victoria stopped the M25.”

Upon their arrival at Lakeside, a further 200 bikers made their way to the dealership.

Bikers from Manchester and Kent joined the ride, as well a rider who had left his home at 4.30am to take part.

At the Lakeside Harley-Davidson dealership Vicki was surprised with a lovely event including a live band, food, drink and even a performance from a local dance school.

Vicki described the bikers as her “heroes” and said that the day will be something she will always remember.

“There are no words. They are my heroes and I’ve told them that,” she continued.

“They have made my dreams come true and I will remember it for the rest of my life.

“It was just perfect in every way.”

Mike and Paul wanted to thank Essex Police PCs and Specials

“They were incredible on the day, keeping us all safe and organised. It was not only their skill and professionalism on the day but their attitude and manner to all the bikers and people on the day. They were first class and an absolute credit to their force.

SC Challis, an officer from Essex Police, mentioned how happy he was to be a part of such an amazing project.

Vicki is determined to live life to the full through her bucket list and have as many new experiences as possible with her family and friends.

The bikers even presented Vicki with tickets for two more of her bucket wish dreams — a hot air balloon ride and a trip to Paris.

Shipping containers are past the days of being just for transporting goods. Now, they are used to build houses, shops, markets and even hospitals. But, are container homes worth the effort?

We deal with hundreds of containers a day here at Claridon, and the topic of unusual uses for containers ends its way around the office quite a bit. One of the biggest uses for shipping containers other than shipping & storage is housing. Tiny Houses are becoming a bit of a trend lately and people are seeing container houses as a viable option into the property market.

Kreiger Containers started as just one guy in Houston, TX who decided to build a house using shipping containers.

This particular project was early on in the container house game. Step 1 was buying a lot of land for the house to go on. Then, negotiating with Houston council for planning permissions. Houston can get very hot and although containers houses have been done before, this was the first in Houston, TX. Kreiger told of the trouble he had with dealing with council mentioning that;

“they require in their online submittal to break up every single PDF into individual pages.

Just to be clear, that means that a 20 page set of plans needs to be saved and uploaded one page at a time… His excuse? Everybody else does it, so it can’t be that unreasonable.”

and;

“there is no UL design number/testing for container home fire testing.”

and that they;

“ did not know how to review a set of plans made from something rarely used in construction.”

Once planning permission was underway the next step was to have the containers shipped in and then set them down, resting on 10ft drilled piers. Kreiger noted that he used drilled piers as;

“Those piers are oversized for the house. Not only will it last longer than a traditional slab foundation, but it is also easier to repair in the event that the ground shifts (which happens very frequently with Houston soil).”

After adding in a roof, floor and framing, the next box to tick was insulation.

“I used standard R-30 blown insulation for the ceilings and R-13 batt for the walls of the home.”

After adding the front wall, some stairs and painting both inside and out the project was done.

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen / Lounge

Overall Finished House

Total Cost of Construction = $165,000

Now yes, you do have to commend the hard work and as properties go, this is a lovely one.

But was it worth it?

Probably Not.

Although it looks relatively nice, $165,000 is a lot of money for the effort of using used shipping containers. The main appeal of container homes is that they are assumed to be a cheaper alternative. However, this just isn’t the case! Welding is expensive. The containers still need to be insulated well, taking up space that is already pretty limited. With the price of land on top, this isn’t far off buying your own home, let alone just building using wood.

Another issue is the narrowness of the rooms. At 7" wide, finding furniture to fit in this place would be a struggle. Everything will have to be double-purpose and lots of hidden storage. These types of furniture can be very expensive as well.

One thing people forget about in this modern day and age when it comes to architecture is reception. No, not a living area; mobile and WiFi reception. This house would be terrible for getting WiFi, if it even got any. Kreiger even stated to the problems with WiFi and cell reception;

“Yes, there’s problems with both, but it depends on where. One side of the home just doesn’t get cell reception”

AND FINALLY, you may have noticed this straight away from the first picture and have been screaming at your screen since;

The stairs are outside.

Why would you plan a building with the stairs on the outside and NOT extend the roof over it. Yes, if you want to go upstairs you have to go out the front door, to the end of the property and climb up those long stairs. Don’t mind if you have rain or extreme heat you have to either endure it, or refuse to go upstairs.

There is quite a few issues with container houses. Could they be a viable alternative, maybe. Should they, we’ll have to see.

Let us know what you think about this container house and container houses in general down below.

Original Reddit Link — http://ow.ly/kRta30jWRqj

Kreiger Containers — www.kriegercontainers.com/

Overseeing a helicopter shipment can be a fun break away from the office, but it is also critical to keep a sharp eye and clear head to make sure no potential issues arise.

A client wanted this helicopter (pictured above) to be shipped from London, UK to Baltimore, MA. We were in charge of the shipment from leaving London to arriving on the ship in Southampton Docks.

As a logistics provider to NATO for 20 years, this isn’t the first helicopter Claridon have shipped and it won’t be the last. However, care, time and planning still needed to go into this shipment as much as any other. To make sure everything went smoothly our director, Mo, went out to oversee the project.

The helicopter was being kept at an airfield just outside London. Mo was there at 7 am in the morning to meet the maintenance team, the truck driver and the owners of the helicopter. After greeting them all and a nice chat about the weather, the first task of the day was due.

This was the first time we decided to use our custom wooden containers, made specifically for the rotary blades of this helicopter. Previously we had used pre-made containers, but the bespoke and unique finish just wasn’t there. You know what they say,

“If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

So we agreed for a specialised carpenter to meet us at the airfield and build the containers to our specifications. Above is the finished boxes ready for the rotary blades.

With our custom containers finished, the next step was for the engineers to carefully remove each rotary blade.

The blades are one of the more expensive parts of the helicopter and they can be easily damaged. Although the rotor on this particular helicopter can be collapsed into one above the tail rotor, they still need to be removed as there is still be a possibility of damage in transport.

With the expertise of the engineers, all four blades were off in under 45 mins.

As picture above, extra packing support was added in afterwards, keeping them tight enough to stay still, but not too tight that there was too much pressure on the blades.

After putting on some planks of wood for support and drilling the top in place, the custom containers were done.

Helicopters are much lighter than you think!

Easiest and safest way to get the helicopter from one hanger to next was to just put some wheels on it and give it a big push. The engineers, owners, truck driver, and even Mo himself grabbed on to a part of the helicopter and carefully pushed it to the truck.

Now, most people would lift the helicopter up by the main rotor system at the top. And, you can do this with some helicopters, but Mo knew this was not the case for this one. Instead, slings were put in place around the the rotor system, attached to the main body of the helicopter, and the crane lifted it up through this.

With an engineer at each side and two guiding the tail at the back, the helicopter was lowered into place on the truck.

Straps and ratchets were then applied to anchor the helicopter down.

Finally, the last step on the truck was adding the custom container boxes on to the back. Specifically placed for the best support and weight distribution, then strapped down into place.

The truck was all ready for it’s journey to Southampton. Everything went smoothly and we all had a quick tea in the sun before setting off.

The owners, who came from the US, decided to jump in the front of the truck with the driver for the journey, enjoying a scenic view. When we got to Southampton, they were very happy that they even got to have a pull of the trucks horn.

After arriving at Southampton Docks, the helicopter was lifted up by the sling and put onto a mafi. A mafi was used, as it can be easily rolled onto the ship.

Harnesses and straps were applied again to anchor the helicopter down. The custom containers were transferred via forklift to the mafi and also strapped down.

Southampton Docks took over from there, with the helicopter ready to be loaded later that evening.

And thus, the day was done.