Keep the Car Running...

Well, today's the day. Helen is already on her way to Belgium and I'll be driving down overnight. Huge thanks to all my colleagues, friends and loved ones for their support and encouragement, it's been brilliant. Disguise it how you like, this one will be a fantastic voyage (oh dear, I'll stop now)...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5213996.stm

Playing Along

I'm told the nice boys from Keane are putting us on their Myspace / Facebook sites. These are, I understand, "social networking" sites for people who like to, you know, socialize on a network. If you don't see me, apologies - I haven't checked. www.myspace.com/keane

For those of you who don't know, Keane are a popular music group described by Jonathan Agnew as "really rather good". Anyway, they're patrons of the War Child charity and do masses of fantastic work for it.

In exchange, I'm prepared to admit here and now that I quite like the new album, Perfect Symmetry, it's not all great but there are some real gems in there. If you're a recovering Talking Heads fan and were a teenager in the 80's, you'll love it!

Out of Time

Only one more weekend to go and haven't even got round to making a list of things to do and take, let alone doing things and getting things ready. Oh well, what could possibly go wrong, and if anything does we'll just have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

No peace for the wicked. Had a photo shoot with the local press photographer yesterday. It all started off OK, but she then started encouraging various bonnet based poses. Of course, being a seasoned celebrity, Rob Johnson, 42, took it in his stride. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we flouted all the usual photographer / model etiquette and kept everything on a strictly professional basis. Eastern Evening News here we come.

Ha! Picture this, got my photo in The Sun today. They did a small piece about the trip and mentioned War Child, so feeling a bit smug.

In the Begining

Only 21 days to go, but to recap...
About a year ago I found out about a rally being organized for Citroen 2cv's driving from Brussels to Benin (that's in Africa by the way) from a 2cv chum, Eleanor. I was hooked. It seemed an impossible dream but I set the wheels in motion and now somehow it looks like it's actually going to happen.
I persuaded my good friend Jason to accompany me but my good friend dropped out (happy now Jason?). So, when all else fails, rely on family. My little sister Helen agreed to come along.

We will set off from Brussels on 1st November and arrive in Benin on the 30th, after covering a distance of over 5,500 miles.
We have the car, we have the will and we have no idea what we're doing.
Importantly though, we are raising money for the War Child charity please have a look at http://www.justgiving.com/robertjohnson6.
They're a remarkable organization and it's for kids, you know!