ukraine appeal

[guypjfreak]

https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music/2022/03/20/kyiv-calling-clash-song-reinvented-as-anthem-of-resistance-by-ukrainian-punk-band/

[Neil]

it feels like live aid!

(a title from the article).

[Neil]

So is it just like live aid. 

[Sawdusty surfer]

On 3/11/2022 at 3:50 AM, Sawdusty surfer said:

 

Edit, I'm going to be writing a trip report for the people who helped part finance the trip, I'll post it here when done.Dontm hold your breath though. Going to take a while. Some of it is hard to believe! J

I left out some of the bonkers bits to sanitize for the people who recieve the below...such as the paramedic who was 'kidnapped' and made todrive coach across europe having only driven car before...long story

 

 

You forwarded this message on Wed 30/03/2022 21:04

 

 



 

Hi,

First of all, I'm sorry that it has taken so long to get in touch and thank you for helping finance our trip to Ukraine. Without the help from you and several others we really wouldn't have been able to make it the journey. 

  About four weeks ago I was contacted by some friends who I'd met through collecting abandoned tents sleeping bags etc at festivals and then taking them to 'The Jungle' near Calais. They said that three was a load of medical supplies that needed shifting to Poland, close to the Ukraine border. I thought OK, road trip. Went through two or three days of on/off on/off then a large vehicle took the lot. That's that I thought. 

  Two or three days later, 3.00pm Friday my phone rang  and I was asked if I was up for going to Slovakia with a load of medical equipment in my van.The equipment consisted of tourniquets, wound dressings, PPE, surgeons scrubs etc. It was for a group of British medics to set up a field hospital. Obviously my number had been passed on. I said maybe, when are we leaving. You'll need to be at Northampton for 08.00 tomorrow. Crikey, rather, erm, short notice! Phoned Ste in Shropshire, asked if he wanted to be co-driver and he immediately said yes,. He didn’t even think about it. and within the hour he was on his way to Somerset.

I drove into Taunton and bought oil for an oil change in my van and a spare fuel filter, drove home and did a quick oil change. Then emptied the van which was full to the roof with sequoia from the recent storm. Managed to pack anything we could think that we'd need then managed to get to bed about midnight. 

 Up at 04.00, cup of tea and filled the Thermos and off we went. Arrived at an industrial estate outside Northampton on time to be met with mountains of boxes an a group of people loading various vehicles. The BBC were there filming for The One Show. A couple of hours later we were full to the roof and off we shot towards the Channel Tunnel.

 On the way to Folkestone I got a new message from Harry Jackson, the absolutely brilliant chap who was organising everything. "Go to Visne Nemecke border crossing, Slovakia-Ukraine then to military hospital in Mukachevo, 50km from Uzhhorod."  Ah, OK then, we're going into Ukraine proper. 

Our reg number was recognised at the barrier and the machine spat out our ticket. On we went to the passport check. When asked where we were going and what we had in the back every official eyebow shot up. An oldish copper took us to one side and gave us a very stern lecture on how we should absolutely not cross into Ukraine. He finished by smiling and saying that he knew that we were going to ignore everything that he said and wished us luck. We were then directed to the customs xray machine where they xrayed the van and swabbed the steering wheel and my belt for traces of explosives. We were then waved through and got asked quite a few of the expected questions by French customs. Then onto the train. 

  The next thirty hours or so I won't bore you with. It was just driving and driving and more driving punctuated with filling the van up with fuel every time we were down to a quarter of a tank, drinking countless double espressos and eating rubbish motorway service station food. The German sausages were the worst 😉 Managed to get a couple of hours kip in the front of the van somewhere in Germany when I realised that my co-driver was actually The Incredible Human Stereo. Chronic snoring and squeaky flatulence.

 My main concern was the van, it's 19 years old and quotes for short term European breakdown cover were ridiculous so we were on a wing and a prayer. To conserve fuel and reduce the chance of some engine component digesting itself we stuck to 55 to 60mph.

 The drive was just a standard long EU drive until we crossed from Austria into Slovakia. There we could see a marked contrast between the 'western' world and what had been behind The Iron Curtain. Everything was much more austere, grey concrete occasionally painted pastel colours to cheer it up, and absolutely no glitter or sparkles anywhere. 

We got to Kosice, the second biggest city in Slovakia at about 21.00. It was absolutely deserted,  hardly any lights on and we say four people on the streets, that was it. Everything was closed. If New York is the city that never sleeps, Kosice is the polar opposite. A real ghost town. The few cars that were on the streets were completely ignoring the usual city speed limits, most doing double or more what was permitted.

 About two hours further and we were at or close to, we assumed, the border. Army vehicles and police with guns, blue flashing lights everywhere and HGVs on every verge and jammed into any place that they could fit with frustrated drivers everywhere waving their arms around as they had conversations with the men in uniform. 

I found a sandy piece of verge and got out of the van for a wander around. Nearby was another van with UK plates so I asked the driver what was happening .He told me that there was a curfew covering the whole border.  I joined Ste back in the van wondering how long that the curfew would last when I spotted a French van being waved through the checkpoint. Well if they can, we can... maybe. Started the van and approached the group of police and a couple of soldiers by their jeeps. They immediately shone torches in our faces and started asking questions in what I suspect was Slovak. I just kept repeating to them "English, humanitarian aid" and after they had a brief discussion we were waved through. We honestly couldn't believe it. A few hundred yards later we joined a queue of four or five vehicles waiting to enter a long but narrow hanger. We copied the drivers in front by taking our documents to the hatch of the office. Everything went well until the army officer in charge asked for our 'vehicle passport' meaning our vehicle registration document....which was in Somerset. He said that we needed it but still let us through. It was about midnight by now and getting colder and colder. 

  We then crossed no man's land and waited in the queue to get processed by the Ukrainian side. The queue wasn't moving and we were told to switch our engine off. It kept getting colder. 

 Finally we moved to the front of the line, had to fill in a form with complete guesswork as it was 'latin' alphabet, had a cursory inspection of the back of the van, were given another form and then waved through. Crikey, we thought ,here we go, we've made it. We drove forward fifty yards and we're stopped by a severe looking girl of about 21. She could speak a little English and she asked for our passports, no problem. Our 'goods' form, no problem. Then our 'vehicle passport'..... Problem! "How are you here with no vehicle passport? GO BACK NOW!!!!". Absolutely no reasoning with her and she had a machine gun. So back we went. It took another half hour to go through the Ukrainian process and then another half hour to o through the Slovakia side. As we were exiting the Slovakia army boss asked ud why we were back. We explained. He then asked where we'd driven from and then asked how many kilometres. He then told us to wait. We waited. It was getting even colder. We could see that he was having an animated conversation on the phone in the office. Next some of his men asked to search the van. They opened several of the boxes to discover medical supplies. Half an hour later we were told to drive to the scanning shed. We parked the van on the ramp, got out an the van was x rayed. Hmmm, this is encouraging, we thought. We were then directed to where we had been waiting previously. Now it was really cold. The army boss walked up to us and said that he was so sorry, his opposite number on the Ukraine side is a policeman not army. I can't help. It was clear that he was genuinely disappointed. Damn. Back into Slovakia. Parked up and an attempt to get some kip upright in our sleeping bags in the front of the van during what was left of the night. Have I mentioned that it was cold?

 Next morning we drove to the nearest village looking for food, nothing. Next big village, nothing. Then into the nearest town. No coffee shop, no cafe, no restaurant. There were several shops selling flowers and wreaths though. We did notice that every cemetery was ablaze with colour from all the flowers. We did finally find a garage which sold coffee and very strange hotdogs. They were called ‘Explozia Chuti’ which gave me some concern about their after effects. If you thought that German sausages were the worst..... 

   I then contacted the surgeon from Mukachevo who was coordinating everything across the border. He told me that he'd meet me at the crossing later in the afternoon and everything would be fine. Phew! We then spent the afternoon drinking Red Cross tea and watching the constant stream of women and child refugees filling coaches and driving off to heaven knows where. It was an awful sight, sad grey exhausted faces with suitcases and cats in boxes. 

Out timed meet with the surgeon got put back a couple of times due to his workload. Finally it was on. 

 We drove into the shed and met the surgeon. We went through the same process as the night before and were waved into no man's land. As we started to get processed by the Ukrainian side it immediately became ear that there was a problem. The surgeon spoke with everyone on duty and finally came back to us and said that he'd tried everything but couldn't help. Ste and I couldn't believe it. What on earth was going to happen to all the kit that we'd just driven 1500 miles with? 

 In front of us in the queue was a vehicle which we'd spotted earlier in the day and had both been drooling over. It was an almost brand new luxury coach, 3/4 length but the body had been mounted on  MAN chassis and 4x4 running gear. The wheels has tread almost like tractor tyres and were literally as tall as me. We were standing next to it looking at it in wonder and I caressed one of the tyres. Immediately a man aged about 35 in a black puffer jacket asked me in almost perfect English if I liked it. I told him that it was absolutely fantastic and asked him if it was his. He said yes and told me that he was donating it to the Ukrainian army. He was Slovakian I said that I bet it's got full diff locks and that was it. He swelled with pride. He gave me a full guided tour of it and we, well, let's say bonded over our love of unusual 4x4s. He also mentioned that the bus cost north of 200k euros! I showed him pics of my 1956 4x4 lorry which he seemed to rather like. He asked what we were doing and I explained why we were there and our problem with the border officials and paperwork.

 "Don't worry, I'll sort this, and I speak five languages" he said. He then strolled around speaking to every official he could see. Their reaction to him was exactly the same each time. Obvious deference and respect. They would listen to him and nod their heads. A few minutes later we were issued papers and told to proceed into Ukraine. I have absolutely no idea who or what he was. It really was extraordinary. 

 We then finally drove into Ukraine and got directed to where we had to unload near Uzhhorod. 

We unloaded and then popped into the Ukraine duty free shop where we bought premium Ukraine vodka for €3.50/l. Made all those miles worth it! 

 Then it was time to hit the road again. For variety we drove through Hungary, Slovenia and Italy on the way home. We headed to Budapest and the satnav directed us onto farm tracks where we spent the first night. Absolute joy to be able to actually lie down in the back of the now empty van.. Bloody freezing though. Stopped at a roadside Hungarian 'Greasy Spoon' full of scowling truckers. I pointed a stuffed bap as it looked it was full of sausage paid and on we went. Turns out it was full of cold pressed kidneys cooked in pungent spices. Possibly explains the grumpy truckers. 

Thankfully the rest of the journey was uneventful. Covered a total of 3380 miles in my trusty 2003 Transit. 

Some people have called us heroes or brave for doing the run. We really are neither. We were a long way from any danger. We were possibly reckless for undertaking a journey of that length in an old van and certainly stupid for not sorting out suitable bedding considering the local weather. People like Connor, the paramedic who travelled at the same time as us and is now in Kyev, Konch who is driving refugees all over Ukraine and Andrew who is moving aid all over the country….now they are the heroes.

 Again, I can't thank you enough for supporting us. It wouldn't have been possible otherwise. 

Special thanks to my big sister and daughter #1 for their help.

Finally, I apologise again for the late message. At school I was known to be great at the practical work but always late on writing it up, some things never change! 

Best wishes and thanks again, 

James and Ste

[Neil]

Top job James