I didn’t hear Allan return; very unusual for me – I must have been very tired. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling hot. So I took off the shirt I had been wearing – better! I had been unconvinced I could be warm again in bed. After a long while, I dozed off again. We levered ourselves out of bed at eight o’clock. Three hours from now we shall be in Jersey. Breakfast first.
The bill turned out to be more than we expected. But perhaps it was worth it. We drove out to the airport. There we found that the ticket clerk had made a mistake, and takeoff was now set for 12 o’clock Continental time.
The speedo showed just twelve miles short of five thousand. We could not bear to leave it at that so we went out onto the road again, drove six miles, turned around, and triumphantly reached the airport with exactly five thousand miles of continental motoring on the clock. This averages out at 178.5 miles per day – including the rests at Venice and Athens.
Now we are sat around just kicking our heels. Allan is writing “To Athens and back” in the dirt on both sides of the car. I think we are both justifiably proud of our feat. But unless I had a bigger car, and could go earlier in the year, I wouldn’t like to try a repeat performance.
Take off at 12 noon as scheduled in the twin boomed transport plane. Twenty minutes later, we were back in Jersey. No customs trouble there.
As we left the airport, we were greeted by Terry, the kids and Mrs. Kent who had just made it in time. Of course, the kids were overjoyed and relieved to see Allan again. They all drove off in Mrs. Kent’s Vauxhall Victor while I drove in for the last few miles of what has been a strenuous marvellous, never-to-be-forgotten tour. It was over in – reality, but never in my mind’s eye. Expensive, yes, by normal standards, but worth every penny, franc, lire, drachma and dinar. Here I must also say that Allan has paid much more than his fair share of the expenses. Thanks Allan! Now I can go back to the routine of normal existance with something approaching satisfaction and peace of mind. We have wiped the smirks off a number of faces – I don’t think they will laugh again. So all that’s left now is to write –
THE END
