OV9

I'll wave in the general direction of the M20 in a bit. Safe travel.

Simon wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 11:56 am I hope you bought us all back a Toblerone.

I can do way better !! I have trucker lager. It comes in a 1-litre can and is 10% alcohol It seems to be available in all German truck stops.

Christ alive, that makes Purple Tin look like fucking Lambrini.

'Faxe'. - is that how you feel after one can?
Welcome back! Did you get in contact with the particular family who had someone here trying to sort out visas?

How many miles all in?

Used to drink Faxe at uni, never realised they did a 10% one. Probably for the best.

JonMad wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:16 pm Welcome back! Did you get in contact with the particular family who had someone here trying to sort out visas?

How many miles all in?

The U.K. visa situation was not ready, so we dropped three women with two kids, a baby and a dog in Belgium last night.

Total mileage will be over 3,300 in six days

Sundayjumper wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 12:44 pm

Simon wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 11:56 am I hope you bought us all back a Toblerone.

I can do way better !! I have trucker lager. It comes in a 1-litre can and is 10% alcohol It seems to be available in all German truck stops.


F09E1DAD-D106-4764-A2CE-4F8B4587FC59.jpeg

Danish exports at their finest...

JonMad wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:16 pm How many miles all in?

From filling up just before leaving, to being back home on the driveway - 3,324 miles in roughly 6 days & 8 hours.

Hats off to you guys, you deserve it.

That's a lot of driving.

Decompress, then story time? I assume you had plenty of time to chat to your passengers and I don't doubt they would have had things to say.

Gavster wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 3:12 pm

JonMad wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:16 pm Welcome back! Did you get in contact with the particular family who had someone here trying to sort out visas?

How many miles all in?

The U.K. visa situation was not ready, so we dropped three women with two kids, a baby and a dog in Belgium last night.

Total mileage will be over 3,300 in six days

The daughter has actually gone out to France now to be with her family and try to help get the visas sorted. It's a total nightmare for them.

Beany wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:49 pm That's a lot of driving.

Decompress, then story time? I assume you had plenty of time to chat to your passengers and I don't doubt they would have had things to say.

Most Ukrainians speak Russian and Ukrainian, and only some have English. None of the people we helped could speak any English, so Steve and I have been completely unable to chat with them.

Uli was able to talk with them at length in Russian about what’s happening and to be honest, it’s a mess, we’re trying to untangle the stories as it really doesn’t align with what we see in the press. That’s not to say that anyone is defending Putin, but that Ukraine and Russia’s internal politics are more complicated than they first appear.

We’re translating a short video that we took of the last bunch of refugees and we also had a chance to talk to Al Jazeera about the situation.

Gavster wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:54 pm ...Steve and I have been completely unable to chat with them.

Although - I was able to bond with them slightly by taking turns showing each other photos of our dogs.

Beany wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:49 pm ...I don't doubt they would have had things to say.

Yes, and no, and maybe, and I don't know. It's just such an utterly horrible situation and I wouldn't press someone to talk if they didn't want to. Some do, some don't.

It's conspicuous that there's no men of fighting age amongst the refugees. Brothers, fathers, grandfathers even. Unless someone spontaneously opens up about that then I - personally - wouldn't want to ask them for fear of hearing the answer. The stories need to be shared widely but in a respectful way and only when people are ready to share.


Edit to add: the family was from Chernihiv, northern Ukraine and close to the Russian border, Chernihiv has been hit really hard by Russian shelling despite being a mostly Russian-speaking city and on paper supposedly quite "pro-Russian". It's an utterly f**ked up situation.

Here's a short video from our last passengers

Oof.

Aaaannnd, I'm going back on Friday 9th April

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If you can't enter either of these, then sharing on your social media is also very valuable help thanks!

Best of luck getting to the Tunnel in the first place The rest of the journey should be a breeze after that... Safe trip.

Gavster wrote: Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:54 pm Aaaannnd, I'm going back on Friday 9th April

Have a safe trip and keep up the great work!