I left it last week that we were in our
team meeting. We'd dealt with matters relating to start readiness,
then got around to receiving everybody’s payment. My contribution
was part of what my wife and I put in at the beginning and the three
guys who were doing a 30 day stage had their £6,000 ready. I asked
the additional two guys who were also doing a 30 day stage for their
£6,000 and that's when it all went badly wrong. They told us they
had only budgeted for £5,000 and that’s all they could pay. My
reply was 'you were at all the meetings when we discussed and agreed
the contributions, didn’t you read the minutes?' They were adamant
all they were going to pay was £5,000 and no amount of discussion
was going to persuade them otherwise.
Why had they waited until that
moment, they knew we had enough problems, heaven help us. The guys
who had already agreed the payment suggested they pay the full amount
and the other two pay their £5,000. As I listened to what was being
said, I thought to myself, shall I say what I would really like to
say or should I try and hold everything together, for the sake of the
project. That was when I made the only decision I could under the
circumstances and said that if they are only paying £5,000 each then
everyone else pays the same. Thanks to the inconsiderate action of
two people they effectively wiped a further £5,000 of our already
reduced budget.
Time was running out, we only had six
crew instead of eight, and the budget was down from £60,000 to
£40,000, how many knocks could I take.
We had no crew
for stages 1 and 2 and about this time I was informed by one of the
founder members that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would need
immediate treatment so he could not go. That was a great loss, I was
looking forward to his company on the journey. Surely nothing else
could go wrong. Things didn’t look good at this stage. I
desperately needed a crew to drive stage 1 and there were no takers.
A day or so later the phone rang, it was one of the guys who had
pulled out earlier, he said I hear you might need crew for stage 1,
he told me he and a friend would do it. What a relief! Two weeks to
go and we finally had crews for stages 1, 3, and 4. Myself and the
cameraman would do stage 2.
Looking back over the past two years,
it seemed as though there was a problem of one sort or another
dropping into my lap every week to sort out. It continued to be like
that leading up to departure day and throughout the journey. There
were no shortage of problems or issues for me to deal with as we
travelled.
Two weeks before
departure day March 31st.. Everything was checked and
rechecked to make sure we were ready to load the vehicles when the
time came. Roland and Keith were all ready to drive the first stage.
I then contacted the guy I hoped would be our cameraman for stage one
and was told that he could no longer make it. A week or so to go and
we had no cameraman, “will it never end”. I phoned Maureen who
handles our Press and PR and told her that we had no cameraman and
didn't have a lot of time to find anyone now. She suggested she put
an ad on Facebook and see what happens. A week later she phoned me to
say someone had replied and would I talk to him, which I did. I made
contact, and for the purposes of this article I will refer to the
cameraman as Tom. We discussed the project and I explained to him,
as cameraman, he would be required to take care of all the filming
while he was with us.
Not knowing much about
the film business and I only spoke to Tom briefly, I thought it
prudent to ask our film people and Keith who manages the web site to
talk to him and come back to me to let me know if they thought he
will be up to the job. The reports came back and the general feeling
was he had the experience and could probably do the job. Not being in
a position to be choosy, I called him back to have another chat. I
needed to know if we could sit in my Jimny for long periods of time
together day after day, and come out at the other end as friends. I
asked a lot of questions to get a feel of the person at the other end
of the phone. As I said, it was not the time to be choosy so I
invited him to join our merry band. On reflection I should have known
better. When questioning Tom told me everything I wanted to hear,
nobody is that perfect. Yes he had been a cameraman at some time,
but he also had many other jobs and hadn’t worked at anything for a
long time before he received my call. And that’s not all. I was to
find out later that he was taking antidepressants to control his mood
swings. That’s all I needed!
A day or two before
departure. I had done all the checking I was going to do. What we
didn’t have we go without. All I could think of was that on Sunday
we will be off on the journey of a lifetime, not knowing what may
come. I would need to travel around 7,000 miles and be at a place
called Novosibirsk in Russia no later than the 9th May to
meet Graham and Mike who would join me for stage three. The thought
of not being there to meet them was constantly on my mind.
Ready or not, it was
departure day, March 31st. I hadn’t had a decent night’s
sleep for some time, I could remember standing by LC02 in the drive
thinking, have I forgotten anything, is what I had put together going
to work, or be a total mess when I leave, what will my wife and
family think of me. All these questions and a lot more continuously
buzzing around in my head. I didn’t feel good but I got in the car
and drove out of the drive to be immediately confronted with a road
accident. It had just happened.
Bits of the two cars involved were still spinning around in the
middle of the road. The people were all right so I drove around the
accident as I couldn’t be late for the departure reception.
I was pleased the way the
reception came together, everybody was there, all the guys, our
families, sponsors and supporters Press and TV. Roland, Keith and Tom
the cameraman were there so I knew we could start. We shook hands and
dealt with the speeches and posed for pictures. The hard part was to
say good bye to our families and friends. I felt bad at leaving my
wife Vi, we have been married for fifty two years and the longest we
have been apart was for three weeks in all that time, so I wasn’t
exactly her favourite. It was time to go, I gave Vi one last kiss and
a hug got in the car and started to roll forward, I checked to see
that LC03 was behind, at last we were on our way.
I felt sad as I drove out
of Southampton, but we were soon on the M3 cruising along at 55 mph,
the tension that had been with me for as long as I could remember had
eased, I looked at the speedometer and seeing that we had travelled
ten miles, chuckling to myself and saying out loud we have done 10
miles, only have another 19,000 miles to go. I chatted to Tom as we
drove, outlining what lay ahead of us, and before we knew it we were
checking in at the channel tunnel. An hour later we were travelling
through France on our way to Bruxells and the Novotel overnight stop.
We arrived at around
7.30pm put the bags in our rooms and headed for the bar and a
well-deserved beer. I felt much better, we were on our way, all the
months of preparation were behind me and I could focus on what lay
ahead. I thanked Roland and Keith for joining me for stage one and
enabling the journey to start and go ahead more or less as planned.
Chatting during the evening it was clear to me that I couldn’t be
travelling with better companions we laughed at everything. It was
just what I needed. Before turning in for the night we had a brief
discussion about our schedule for the next day. I explained our first
stop in the morning would be at the European Parliament and hopefully
we would find one of our MEP’s to ask what has happened to the 12
billion we paid in last year. After we had given them a tongue
lashing, we would drive to the Nurburgring to keep a promise I made
to myself to drive the two Jimnys around the old race circuit.
Monday 1st
April day 2. We were up bright and early with a good breakfast
inside us and we hit the road for the European Parliament. I
commented to Tom that the traffic seems light for a Monday morning.
We found our way to the main parliament building to find that
everything was locked up and no people wandering about. We parked the
cars and found an official looking person to ask why everything was
closed. We were told it was a national holiday and to come back
tomorrow.
Pity, I was all keyed up
to give somebody a piece of my mind, probably just as well, I tend to
get carried away. I probably avoided being locked up for the night
for saying something I shouldn’t have. On the other hand, the place
being closed meant that we had it to ourselves for filming. Tom was
already filming our disappointment at not being asked to have dinner
with the president, and seeing that the camera was rolling we slipped
into our acting mode. You know, all teeth and grinning like Cheshire
cats, this went on until Tom said that he had all he needed so made
our way to the Nurburgring expecting to be there at 2.00pm.
We made our way out of
Bruxelles and had been driving for about two hours. Tom had been
noticeably silent during this time and kept turning in his seat to
look in the back of the vehicle. This went on for a little longer,
then he suddenly popped the question, “where did I put the camera
bag”. I looked at him for a second or two while I tried to think.
“Why are you asking me?” I replied, “I haven’t handled the
filming equipment at all and the last time I saw the bag it was over
your shoulder at the European Parliament”. Tom had another look in
the back then sat in his seat and looked out of the window.
I waited for a few
moments for him to tell me what the problem was, but he just looked
out of the window. “What’s the problem Tom” I asked, “ I
can’t find the camera bag” he said. Luckily we had communicators
which allowed us to communicate between vehicles. I called the guys
to ask them to stop to see if Tom had put the camera bag in their
car. We search both vehicles but found no bag. I questioned Tom to
find out when he had it last, it appeared he took the camera bag with
the camera in it, out of our car when we were talking to the official
at the parliament, did the filming got back in the car and we drove
off leaving the bag behind. I said to Tom “didn’t it occur to you
that something was wrong? We have been driving for two hours and you
have been holding the camera on your lap all that time. Had you
established a routine to put the camera in the bag when not in use
this would not have happened”.
When buying the camera
bag I made a point of purchasing a good quality and of course
expensive one that would protect camera when in the rough stuff. My
dilemma now was, we had been driving for two hours away from the bag.
If went back it would take two hours, the bag may or may not be
there when we arrive, and another two hours to get back to where we
are at the moment. If we go back we will miss our appointment at the
Nurburgring and a chance of driving around the old race circuit. At
this point I am only thinking that we have lost the bag. It didn’t
occur to me at the time, to ask Tom if there was anything else in the
bag. He knew it contained all the kit we needed to support filming,
such as, plug adaptors, battery charges, cables and camera
accessories and so on. He never told me. I found that out for
myself in the middle of Kazakhstan …... to be continued
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