Travel by numbers 18: Oslo-Berlin

Driven distance: seven hundred and twelve kilometres
Driving time: eight hours and twenty eight minutes
Sailing distance: four hundred and seventy three kilometres
Sailing time: fourteen hours
Idiot drivers: two enormous ones

So I tested my new friend and learned a few things:
1. I can drive uphill without slowing down.
2. a cup holder is crucial, but even more crucial is the right place to put one.

I got the tyres changed in a very small garage in Gothenburg, run by a very nice Iraqi man. He told me he'd been living in Sweden for 26 years, and almost never went back to Iraq because he found it too difficult and dangerous there. But his elderly parents still live there, so he does go back every couple of years to visit them. He made me coffee and we talked about the weather.
The biggest surprise there was the toilet. It was a tiny little room, painted in a very bright pink. I thought that was quite unusual for a garage.

Then I drove to the ferry.
I saw a truck lose its load in front of the check-in gates. First there was a loud crashing noise, and I didn't know what it was, then I looked over and saw the truck.

The trailer had come off the cabin and had hit the ground. Seconds later, the driver jumped out of the cabin, saw what had happened and grabbed his head with both hands. I felt really sorry for him.
He couldn't move, as the trailer was still lying partly on the tail end of his cabin. (I'm sure these things have proper names, but I'm not a trucker and I don't know them.)

Then a forklift came.

He lifted the trailer off the cabin and drove off again. To me it seemed like he could have been useful in putting the trailer back on as well, but what do I know.

The driver was on the phone running back and forth, into the building, back out, circled around his truck for a while.

All of this took about half an hour (check-in hadn't opened yet, so I was stuck there waiting - it's not as if I'd parked especially to witness the events unfold).

More truckers came to see what had happened, and they probably offered some advice.

This is the last thing I saw: the man trying to get the trailer back onto the truck.
Once I was on board, I could see the truck was no longer there, so he must have succeeded.

THE NEW VAN

I'm here to steal the focus of the guys in Peterborough, because I think this is headline news: I've finally met my new van. I went to pick it up in Sarpsborg with Kjell, and then we drove straight to a car tools shop.

We bought a light because there is no light in the back of the van, and when we tried out the lamp we'd just bought, we found that there was a light in the back of the van after all, it only didn't ignite automatically.

If you look closely at picture number two, you will spot an airpressure horn. I simply cannot tell you how excited I was about that. It's been 4 years now I've been asking for a horn in my car. (If I drive like distances like a trucker, I should have (some of) the trucker gadgets. So now I do.
Mind you, that still doesn't make me a real trucker.

Then we went off to the office to get all of the set.

It started like this, empty apart from 4 summer tyres (which we will need later).

I forgot to take a picture of how it finished, so I will do that tomorrow. Suffice to say that there is still space left. We could have put all of our sets in there if we wanted to.
But we didn't want to because that would mean we'd have to unload all of them as well, and we don't need all of them, we just need the two biggest ones.

So what happens next?
Tomorrow I will get the spiked tyres changed for non-spiked tyres, as spikes aren't allowed in Germany - and that's where I'm going. Then I will drive to Goteborg to get the overnight ferry to Kiel.
On Wednesday morning I will arrive in Kiel and will drive to Berlin, where my new friend will have to wait another 10 days before going to Graz.

In the meanwhile, keep your eyes peeled for anything that could liven up my new friend. It's quite grey/white/dull at the moment.
The wall of the cabin behind my head can have things taped to it, the ceiling can have things safety-pinned to it. On the dashboard I only want things that will really support me on very long trips.

The loneliness of the long distance driver can be alleviated by objects that offer moral support and inspiration.

But for now: come to Graz to see the square outside TAO shudder when I arrive and blare the red horn.

Pirates, Princesses, Robbers and Monsters!

On Tuesday Hannah Whelan led more story writing workshops in schools in Peterborough with some of the NIE artists in tow. The workshops were fantastic and involved children of all different ages and backgrounds. Games were played and many stories were written. We now have lots of stories to help with the show so the next day we took a closer look at them.

On Wednesday Elisabet, Lenka, Unai, Carly, Tom and Ellie presented stories one by one to the rest of the group in promenade style performances around the Quaker House where we have been rehearsing.

Unai was a boy about to go on his first date, but he turns into a monster in the shower and can’t go. Elisabet became a young girl who buys a Princess dress for her mothers wedding but the Pirate that sells it to her rips it. But it’s ok they remain friends and get married when she’s older. Tom was a nervous young boy who had to judge a Police line up after his tictacs and water that he bought from the shop were stolen. Lenka told the story of a thief who stole chocolate from a local shop. Carly had us running around the Quaker House trying to escape from a very angry woman who’s shop we had just robbed and Ellie told us the charming story of Adam and Eve and the tale of the venue we were in. The stories were all written by children as part of the workshops. It was interesting to work with stories that follow an adult logic to an adults and it will be great to see how these stories affect the development of the show.

Then it was time for more music, out came the violin, guitar, accordion and drum (accordion case) and folk songs from Spain, Norway, Czech Republic and UK filled the corridors of the Quaker House.

Check back in the next few days for more about what we are getting up to in Peterborough.

written by Tom (Gideon) Womwell