As the majority of the day is spent in our little van we witness all kinds of events. Take this evening for instance. The yellow team has taken over the 9.00pm to 3.00am shift. As I write this at 12.05 am the sun has just disappeared beyond the horizon and the moon is glowing an unusual orange color on the opposite horizon, running at night does have its benefits especially this far north. While parked up in a lay by opposite a truck stop tonight waiting for our second runner Ruddy to finish his usual short ten mile run  we witness how truck drivers relieve those endless hours of driving along pot holed roads, some which are big enough to lose your car in. Heiko noticed that at one particular truck one of the drivers was wandering around agitated with the swarms of insects that frequent this area. But it turned out that that was not the only thing he was getting impatient about, as a few minutes later he changed places with his co driver who now had the job of wandering back and forth fighting off the insects. Very unusual we all thought, and then the penny dropped, a few seconds later a woman dressed in a very short red dress managed to negotiate her self down the steps of the truck and strutted off back to the café, with a quick glance back with a smile and wave to yet another set of satisfied customers. Oh the joys of truck driving.

Another encounter occurred around five days ago on the very busy M7, once again we are driving along when in the distance we see this figure standing in the middle of the dual carriageway with his arms out wide trying to stop the traffic. Luckily the driver made the correct decision and swerved to the right just missing him. 100 meters up the road was our exchange point. So for the next 10 minutes we watched in amazement at all the traffic slamming on their brakes and managing to maneuver around him. We were all convinced that this was going to be the first death witnessed on the trip. Eventually our entertainment ended when the police turned up and escorted him away. The following evening also on the M7 we were all waiting for our final runner to come in and exchange to the following team for that evening, when there is an almighty bang and a van driving past at the time had a tire blow out, luckily he managed to keep control enough to miss our vehicles and park up on the side of the road. It was also at this exchange that the yellow team were gifted a fish, (dried ) by a passing motorist in exchange for a Blue Planet Run t-shirt. Good deal we thought as food is always welcome by the always hungry yellow team, well half of them.

Food: It is never far from our thoughts, as a team we have been together for over a month now and we all know each other quite well living in the small confinements of the van most of the day. So it is interesting to see how we all deal with the food situation in our own particular way. Laurel for instance I have described as a cow as she grazes all day long, Ruddy who through religious reasons does not eat Pork, so usually the way the hotels get around this is to serve him turkey wrapped in bacon? And Heiko, he is our waste disposal unit, clearing up any uneaten food stuff left lying around during our daily jaunts. Me, well I’m happy as long as I get my far share of the 4 B,s.

Well this first evening on the 9-3 shift has finished at 5.30am with a well deserved beer at a bar next to the hotel while we wait for breakfast to be served at 7.00am; once again we are mixing with the local working girls as they also stop for a well deserved coffee after what may have been a busy evening for them also. It is then off to bed for some sleep in the sauna room which they class as a bedroom.