We set off
in our Ghostbusters themed car at 10.30am from Elmswell – via the Elmswell
shop, then Nancy’s house (as she had forgotten her Just A Drop tee shirt and
walking boots) and then the Claydon shop, and finally the Hadleigh shop. All three villages had a quick blast of the
ghostbusters music and the flashing lights – we had several waves, but a few
people refused to look up. Not sure what
they thought they might find! The only
problem we had was in Hadleigh, where after 30 seconds we had a police lady
moving us on. Should have got the bucket
out and asked her to make a donation!
Finally we
were on the road to where we needed to go – albeit two hours or so after we
should have been. No problem! The road was fairly empty until we got to the
Dartford Bridge, and had to queue from three miles out. Oh dear – Paul was panicking. How many times have I heard that we should
have left home earlier? This time, we
were late because he hadn’t finished packing.
Or loading the car. Or perhaps
going to all three shops didn’t help.
And certainly this queue hasn’t done us any favours. We get through the
tunnel (went in the £2 lane – although I’m not sure a ghostbuster vehicle
classifies as a normal car!) and get on our way to the M20. We can still make it to the Channel Tunnel –
at least it is the right side of Dover.
We wouldn’t have made it to the port.
All the way
we were keeping up on facebook and twitter of the progress of some of the other
teams. What would we do without social
media? And it made us feel better that
we weren’t the only ones that were running late. Paul had made a compilation CD that had quite
a few sing a long tunes on – at least the two in the back were happy! We were nearing the Tunnel when we decided
that as the diesel needle had now actually fell off the end of the gauge that
it would be sensible to fill up before we needed to call in the fourth
emergency service – that didn’t help either!
We got on
our way again. A traffic enforcement
vehicle was in front – not a good idea to whizz past him with the lights
flashing and the music blaring. However
much we try, I don’t think we could talk our way out of that one. Let’s hope he didn’t try and do a number
plate check on ECTO 2. Six minutes to
get our train, and ten miles to go.
Touch and go – and I am afraid it was gone. We made it just as the train was leaving the
platform. Bugger! We got there at 1351, and the next space for
a high vehicle was 1550. Can’t leave the
box to put the ghosts in behind! So, a
cup of coffee and a “delicious” burger king later, we were put in the standby
queue for the next shuttle. Well, that
is what they told us. I think it was
really the start of the queue for the 1550 train. Because that was what we caught. We gave the officials a blast of music and
flashing lights as we boarded – but they weren’t amused. Does no-one here have a sense of humour?
We loaded
into the train, then Sonia decided that Raquel needed to make an appearance
(you needed to have been there last year to know why we had a blow up
doll!) The couple in the Range Rover
behind, sipping wine from proper wine glasses, did not seem amused either. 35 minutes were over quickly, and we left the
train with music and flashing lights.
Eventually. We were told to turn
them off until we were clear of the train.
Health and Safety! The sat nav
had been set, and we were on our way through the wind and rain to Lille – the meeting
point for this year’s rally and the starting point in the morning. It took us just over an hour to get there,
about the fifth car to make it. One had
had a flat battery, but was now going, one had broken down on the way – and one
team member (who will remain nameless) had travelled to Lille in Belgium instead
of Lille in France. We didn’t do too
badly after all.
After
registering, collecting our “pack” with instructions of what is expected of us,
we had a well deserved drink and dinner, caught up with old friends from the
last crusade and some who were new this year, and hit the sack ready for the
onslaught tomorrow!
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