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Published: February 12th 2010
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Allora, this is my first blog entry from a foreign country. I'm in Genoa, Italy, from where tomorrow I'll be taking the ferry to Tunisia. The sun is shining but it's bitterly cold, made worse by the strong winds. To get this far I have already visited six countries and used eight modes of transport.
The journey to Milan gave me a fantastic insight into the life of lorry drivers. We left a day later than planned due to a guy called Steve, the owner of the haulage firm 'Elton Lines' in whose lorry I travelled. He, apparently, does not like to part with his pennies and so insisted on an early Monday morning start instead of the Sunday afternoon start we had planned (drivers get paid extra if they work on a Sunday). So, after being dropped off at the lorry park in Newington, near Sittingbourne, by Mum and Andrew, I met Kevin, the driver, and by 4.15 we were heading towards Dover in the snow. It was already beginning to lay on the roads and we'd been driving less than ten minutes when we witnessed a 4x4 spin out of control on the other side of the road.
We got the 7.15 ferry from Dover to Calais on which we tucked into fry-ups, bought by myself as payment for the journey. £3.99 for a journey to Milan. Nice.
Once in France, we cracked on through Belgium and Luxembourg (no road tax) before heading back into France near the German border and spending the night in a service station just outside Strasbourg where we had steak and chips for tea. Kevin was great company. He told me about the Afghans, Iraqis, Eritreans and so on who try to enter the UK in lorries. He showed me where the 'jungle' used to be and where the clandestines hide in the thorn bushes waiting to jump into lorries. They prefer the warmer weather, however, so I didn't see any. He said that he's had them in his trailer loads of times and accepts that some may have come with him into the UK. Their method is to cut the cord securing the buckles on the trailer curtain and then resucure the cord with a pin. If you yank the cord again, however, it will snap at the point where the pin is and that's how drivers know if they need
to have a look inside. Kevin said that the presence of clandestines in trailers does not alarm lorry drivers as it happens with such regularity. It's part and parcel of their job and they deal with it accordingly. The trailer curtains on most lorries have tears on the side. This, however, is not down to immigrants but to other lorry drivers who cut the curtain so that they can have a look inside and see if there is anything worth taking.
After a night in the cab bunks we woke at 5.00 and continued through Switzerland. In the main cities, the traffic passes through underground tunnels to reduce noise, air and visual pollution. It's an idea I wish Genoa could take into consideration when you see the hideous dual-carriageway winding a long what would be a beautiful harbour. Switzerland is stunning. I was struck by the scenery. Mountains, lakes and long tunnels (the longest we passed through was the Golltard tunnel which is 18km long and 20+°C inside). We finally entered Italy just after midday on the Tuesday and by 13.00 I was standing in Saronno, a suburb of Milan, all alone. I felt slightly daunted by the prospect
of what lay ahead, and (for a very, very brief moment) I missed my mummy (after only 33 hours apart). Anyway, I found the station and used my Italian (to which people normally reply in English, so I guess my accent is shocking) to get train/metro tickets to the Milan's 'Centrale' station. I popped into a cafe where I ordered a coffee and a panino. I only got the coffee so concluded that my Italian must be truly shocking. In a typically English 'I don't want to offend anyone' way, I didn't have the heart to ask for the panino a second time, so I left the cafe and lunched on polos.
I met Alistair, a friend with whom Dad used to work with in Milan, at 18.40 in the station. We headed back to his flat near Linate airport. Unfortunately, Alistair was required to attend a parents' evening that night so I was left to my own devices. I had a huge plate of tuna and olive pasta and had a much-needed shower. It was an opportunity to relax having travelled over 1000 miles in two days. when alistair returned we chatted about all sorts including (obviously) football.
Alistair is a Crystal Palace fan and I found myself in the peculiar situation where I had to break it to him that Palace had just been deducted ten points for entering administration. I softened the blow, however, by updating him on their impressive recent form. I slept like a baby (a silly expression, babies cry and poo and wee whereas I slept very well and did none of those things) on a camp bed in Alistair's flat.
At 6.00 the next morning I got up with Alistair to have breakfast and drive to the train station. I got a commuter train into Centrale and then got a ticket to Genoa (a two-hour journey) for only E16. After passing through the snow-covered countryside I arrived in Genoa at 10.00 and headed to the youth hostel. Since then I have spent much of the time exploring the city which boasts monuments, palaces, squares and a huge aquarium on the harbour (see the photos (if I can load them)). The youth hostel is clean and secure. Despite being a few kilometres outside of the city centre it is high up and boast an excellent view of the the city and the
harbour (and the dual-carriageway). My routine includes brioche for breakfast followed by a massive lunch (seafood pasta on Wednesday and prosciutto pizza yesterday) and fruit and biscuits for tea. I am a budget traveller, after all. I've already met a wide variety of people, many of whom are Erasmus students who have just come to Genoa to study for a year. They are all going through the process of finding somewhere to stay for the next year. Apparently, the cost per person to rent a flat in the centre of Genoa is only E300.
Today I may visit a nearby village called Nervi. It's highly recommended. The rest of the day will be spent preparing for tomorrow. I need to be at the ferry terminal at midday and the journey will take over 24 hours so I'll need to be clean, fed, watered and have a fully charged Ipod. My next blog entry will be from Tunisia, fingers-crossed, and I hope to have some photos of some Star Wars (whatever that is) film sets.
In case you're wondering, the eight forms of transport I've used are: car, lorry, ferry, train, metro, bus, funicular and a lift. The last two are legitimate forms of transport in Genoa, due to the hills. You use your travelcard to travel on them, just as you would a bus in London. So I'm counting them.
Finally, I'm going to lie. I'm going to lie about what I do for work. When I tell people what I do it just starts boring/annoying debates with those who can understand. Does anyone have any thoughts on what my lie could be? I can be anything I want.
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Sam Westwood
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The northern Westwoods job descriptions
Heya Chris sounds like your having an awsome time!! We have been thinking and here are a few jobs we reckon you should go for: Alison Westwood-Lolipop man Don Sam and Dan- Owner or manager of QPR (either will do!!!) Looking forward to your next blog