38 PLAYER THREE HAS REJOINED THE GAME...

The good news is that it looks like Richie and Rachel will be making the trip after all - YAAAS!  The compromise is that they will make the trip in their shiny, new Ford Kuga.  Okay, so we are one Abarth light in our little convoy, but it is really good to have R&R on board.

The idea of making an A-Team van is still in development, as the Kuga is black. As mentioned elsewhere, a bit of magnetic board and a set of alloys sprayed red will have us on to something. Rachel said she was up for this and even said she would go fancy dress as Mr T.  I pointed out that it might not be the best idea to cross international borders in disguise…as a man!  

I mentioned our trip to our friend Terry, whose little face lit up.  As I explained what was involved, a grin appeared on his face.  He told me that back in the day, he and a mate drove to Monaco in a Ford Capri.  They travelled along the south coast of France and into northern Spain.  It was the adventure of a lifetime, and he was slightly jealous of us doing the trip next year.

He asked who was going.  I explained about Lisa, Richie, and Rachel and pointed out Carl, who was walking away.  A few minutes later, Carl came back saying, “Some geezer has just stopped me in the toilet and said that I definitely should do the drive to Monaco.  I haven’t got a clue who he is!”  Maybe I should have introduced Carl to Terry before telling the story!

Terry fondly looked back on the journey, remembering little things that stood out to him even though they were relatively trivial, like heading into Switzerland and buying tons of quality cheese for just a few quid.  It was not earth-shattering, but it stuck with him all these years later.  This is precisely why I want to do the trip, little daft memories like this which we will look back on one day and smile about.