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Saturday 8th November
Paris - Calais - Dover - Ashford
We left Paris allowing plenty of time to
get to Calais in time for the ferry home. After Sputnik's adventures
on the last leg of the journey to Calais on the 2001 Italian Job we
weren't taking any chances! This time everything went to plan and we
arrived in plenty of time, so managed to fit in a visit to Cité Europe
for some shopping. Unfortunately none of us had space for much as we
had to take our baggage in Sput and Jojo for the last leg of our journey
as the IJ service van were worried about taking it through customs in case
they were stopped and questioned about what they were carrying - 'Did you
pack these bags yourself Sir?'. Rog and Stacey were kind enough to
take a couple of our bags, but it still meant that we were packed up to
the roof in both Jojo and Sput to get everything in. The atmosphere
at Calais was fantastic - a totally new experience for me having missed it
on my last Italian Job.
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All safely aboard and ready for the trip home...
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Goodbye Calais... funny how it's the guys who
doze off on the boat! |
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Arrival at Dover and an extremely noisy boat full of
Minis shouting at the crew to open the doors...
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You'd think they were looking forward to getting home...
they were certainly eager to get through customs...
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...only to be met by the police waiting to escort them back to
Ashford ... they still got away with murder though, an extremely noisy
convoy, beeping and flashing at anybody in sight, with people waving at
them along the roads and on all the bridges. The police did a
fantastic job of keeping them together and stopping other traffic
splitting them up.
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Eventually we arrived back at Asford in the dark - Job
over!
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Still lots more fun to come for us though - the end of
Job Ball! After collecting all our luggage from Sput and Jojo, the
Service Van, Rog and Stacey, we only had time for a quick drink at the bar
before donning our posh frocks in time for dinner.
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After the speeches, Mike Cooper's Band 'Dead Grateful'
provided the entertainment.
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A couple of gatecrashers turned up as well!
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Christian eventually divulged the secret of his party
trick, before we all passed out and went to bed at about 3.00am!
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