Day Ten Monday Emptying the Petrol Station, Convoy Idiots Hat and Anthony gets Sacked

The long journey home begins today and we are all up bright and early ready for the mini buses to pick us up to take us to the compound where the vehicles have been stored. There are no major problems this morning as we all pile into the minibuses fully loaded with all our cases, bags and presents (hats, dolls, pictures, vodka, brandy, wine and chocolates to name some, we must have cleaned Chisinau out). We all sort out our wagons and try to secure all our breakables as securely as possible (on the way back in the empty wagon all our personal stuff can move about as it is not as tightly packed as on the way out). The Boppers are last to sort out their wagon and we earn medals for this (I am started the return leg as I started the outward journey).

As we approach the border we come across a petrol station and the decision is made to fuel up (and not just with diesel). Can you imagine trying to fuel 10 vehicles up in a small petrol station with only one attendant? There is only one word for it chaos. Vehicles need to fuel up on different sides, we all use different cards (supplied by Royal Mail, BT, Eircom and An Post who pay for them, thanks for that), and they won’t start the pumps again until the vehicle has paid for its fuel. This chaos isn’t helped by the fact that it is the last chance to spend your Moldovan money so everyone is coppering up to clean the petrol station out (The owner must think it is all his Christmases’ come at once).

This was also the opportunity for convoy leaders to present the convoy idiots hat (yes they found a suitably stupid looking hat, pictures of it to follow), it is a pointy hat with flaps on and a big red star on the front of it. This hat will be presented on a daily basis to the biggest convoy idiot and must be worn at all times. For my services to international hand gestures on Saturday night with the police I am the lucky idiot to be presented with the hat. I don the hat and as we are fuelling up the attendant starts speaking to a local that is fuelling up, I don’t understand any Moldovan but I just manage to pick up on one word “ridiculous” so I assume they are talking about me and the hat.

Then it’s off to the border, we are unsure what to expect, 11 hours to get in how long it will take to get out no one knows. We do the obligatory hut shuffle, showing papers at one then going to another to pay and get papers stamped then going back to the first hut to show your stamped documents (it’s like some crazy ant trail with convoy drivers walking in every direction and crossing over in the middle). Eventually we get through and all the vehicles are put into a line so that they can be X-rayed by a mobile X-ray vehicle. Convoy drivers start to get worried some have left their cameras and mobiles in their cabs, they hastily rush back to retrieve them just in case ( there are radiation signs everywhere and everyone stands well back just in case). Is it really paranoia or just a bit of light banter to pass the time, for me I think it is the latter. We get through the Moldovan side in a couple of hours then it is off to the Romanian side where there should be no problems. But once again it is a series of huts for stamping of paperwork and checking of document, again just as we think that we are through and about to enter Romania we are held up by a final hut where they want to see the paperwork from the X-ray machine on the Moldovan side and the vehicle documents (much scrabbling about ensues as the x-ray paperwork is again fished out and the vehicle documentation is collected from another hut where the road tolls are being sorted out. You really need to see how these borders operate to believe it they are crazy.

We truck on through Romania and as it gets later we start to look for one of the hotels that we passed on the way out, we find it and it is nowhere near our usual standards, only a four star with balconies overlooking the forests, bathrobes and slippers in the bathrooms and sauna and Jacuzzis downstairs and to top it all off some of us have to share a king size bed as well (this convoy is not an easy life).

Finally as we sit down in the restaurant a local girl is singing on the stage, this continues throughout our meal, a little later and after a small amount of encouragement Michael (Flintstones) is persuaded to get his musical instruments out once more. He does a couple of solo songs as Anthony (Flintstones) attempts to act as his roadie, I say attempt because on Michaels first song Anthony gets distracted and moves the microphone he his holding for Michael away so we cannot hear his singing. Then on the same song he forgets to turn over the sheet with the words on that Michael is reading from (Anthony is then sacked for the second session and replaced by Rory (Irish Rovers). A great time is had by all you can't beat a good old fashioned sing song.

Until next time see ya later

Paul (one half of the big boppers)