Night John Boy

Bridget and I will be home tomorrow (Tuesday 9th) afternoon. We are currently in Calais and booked on the Channel Tunnel service tomorrow morning.

My apologies that the trip has only lasted for two months and that it is much shorter than the original planned trip around the world. As I stated at the beginning we have Mr Putin to thank for that situation and this trip was no more than a consolation. That said we have travelled through 20 different countries excluding the UK and covered some 5,000 miles, which most would consider a reasonable tour.

I have not made a final decision about whether or not this will be Bridget’s last road-trip. I need to reflect on that for a while. I can confidently say that there were three highlights to this trip, one being the extraordinarily kind gentleman that spent the whole of his day towing Bridget and myself around Moldova after some idiot filled Bridget with diesel. He organised a good mechanic to come out to his farm and assist, phones his son in the UK several times to translate for my benefit and provided refreshment.

The second highlight was the visit to Colditz Castle, where Bridget received VIP treatment. We are very grateful for the opportunity granted to us by the authorities there in an effort to help increase the donations for our Save the Children fund.

Not surprisingly, the third and most lasting experience for me was the impact on me of our visit in the Ukraine. The good humoured army personnel, police and other officials that made it so welcoming, the family including Sonja (a three year old) from Kiev, and the multitude of ordinary people in Lviv and all the villages that we passed through. I had not expected to see so many smiling, laughing faces.

It was clear to me, and should be clear to the Russian leadership, that the people of Ukraine have already won this war and it is a pointless waste of life to continue with it. Russia could take over the whole country militarily tomorrow and scatter the population across the world but, at some stage, possibly in a couple of years or maybe 300 years from now, they will return and reclaim their country and their heritage. Every free person throughout the world should support them in this task.

There is no more to tell about this road-trip. I hope that those of you that have followed us on this trip and possibly previous trips, have enjoyed it but, I have to say I have sincere doubts that this is the case. I’m afraid to say, despite my pleadings, that the response to the Save the Children fund has been abysmal and I will be considering closing this site as it is not achieving the desired purpose. I know that many of you don’t actively take part in road-trips of this sort for financial reasons and I understand that. However, the people we are trying to help don’t have 1% of what you have and many don’t have basic freedom of choice. Surely we can all find just $5 to help.

Anybody wishing to contact me directly, that includes you Mr Putin, can register on this site and leave a comment and I will respond.

Bridget & Roy