Memoirs of GD Fell

Loughborough

The journey was very pleasant, with stops at Beirut and Malta. At Beirut we went by taxi over a mountain range to a place called Baalbek. On the way there was snow on the ground and the taxi driver stopped the car to allow Steve and Tony to have a snowball fight. Their only complaint was that the snow was cold, not warm to the touch like the cotton wool that used to decorate the Christmas tree.

From Beirut the next stop was Malta where we stayed for a couple of enjoyable days seeing the sights.

Next stop was London docks where, to our surprise, Margaret’s Mam and Dad were waiting for us to leave the boat. Before leaving the boat of course we had to be cleared by customs.

London Docks

Four customs officers came into our cabin, gave us a form to read and than asked us if we had anything to declare. They then searched the cabin thoroughly (or so we thought), opening drawers and looking inside using torches. Eventually they marked our cases and sent us on our way wishing us a safe journey.

As we were going through the lounge on our way to disembark, we saw the chap who was engaged to the Cypriot girl sitting on a chair in the corner. He was surrounded by customs officers and I heard one of them say to him, “I want you to read this again and then I’m going to ask you again if you have anything to declare.” I don’t know what had happened and have never seen him again to find out.

From London we went to Manchester by train and on the way there I suddenly thought, “The fishing road, I’ve left it on the Cavallo.” Despite the fingertip search by the customs officers it was still in the wardrobe in the cabin. The case could have been filled with drugs or diamonds. Anyway, the problem now is how to get the fishing rod