Monday 30 September 2013

Reunited with our Jimnys!!

Hi everybody. I think you know that we arrived back in the UK on August 29th., after having seen the Jimnys safely tucked up in the container at our Shipping Agents at North Bergen near New York. We were all exhausted by the time we got home. As for myself it is taking a lot longer to get back to some sort of normality. It has been four weeks now and I am still struggling, so if I start talking about something that makes no sense at all have pity on me!

Where was I? Oh yes .... the vessel OOCL KUALA LUMPUR arrived on time at Southampton on Sunday, August 22nd. It discharged its cargo, which I hoped and prayed included our container. I contacted our Agent to get conformation to ask if our container was on the docks. They said it was but they didn’t know when it would be cleared, it looked like it might be Wednesday afternoon. I phoned Roland who would drive LC03 after it cleared customs, to tell him the news. I also phoned David Ellery, who would film us driving away from the customs compound, to tell him the same. Wednesday came and we were ready to go. We didn’t hear anything all morning and it dragged on into the afternoon. We were still waiting when I decided to call the Agent to ask what was happening. “Sorry, it won’t be today, may be tomorrow” was the reply. Here we go again I thought, Vancouver all over again. Thursday, once again we were all ready. We waited all day but no phone call. I phoned our Agent once more and was told that it will not be cleared today but the container was at the customs and would be cleared some time Friday afternoon. I felt terrible having to tell the guys that once again it wasn’t going to happen and it was delayed yet another day. We had no choice but to sit tight and accept the situation. Then late Thursday I get a phone call from the Agent asking if I could be at the customs at eleven clock tomorrow. I was already a bit unhinged and that phone call just about sent me bouncing around my little office head butting the wall. A few frantic phone calls to everyone involved and we were organised to go.

We arrived at the customs to find there was a further delay as nobody there knew that we wanted to collect the vehicles. Heaven help us. I won’t tell you what was going through my already damaged brain but luckily a man from the office came over to talk to us and took pity on me. He said that if we could wait for half an hour he would deal with the paperwork and we could take the Jimnys. Eventually our Jimnys were driven out of the compound and at long last we were reunited with our courageous little cars.




Having nursed these Jimnys all the way around the world I had formed a strong attachment to them and it was like meeting two old friends when we finally were given the keys and could drive them home.

If you would like to have a good look at two Suzuki Jimnys and all the equipment they carried around the world, come along to the Home Coming Reception to be held at the NOVOTEL, 1 West Quay Road Southampton SO15 1RA,  Saturday 26th October at 2.00pm. 

The entire team, crew and the home support team who made the journey possible will be there. We really look forward to meeting you and thanking you for your support throughout this remarkable challenge.

Les

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