It’s day 7 and we’ve completed the first leg of our journey to Gaza.
We’ve made it through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Italy, successfully loaded all vehicles onto the overnight ferry at Ancona and off again at Igoumenitsa, crossed the Alps and the northern Greek mountains and are now approaching Thessaloniki, where a warm welcome, the town’s mayor and a sports stadium await us.
And this time, we get to sleep INSIDE the stadium (as opposed to camping in the car park, as we have til now), with toilets, showers, a hot meal and suchlike convivial comforts.
Things we have learned so far
1. No plan survives first contact with the convoy. Expect the worst. Triple all time estimates.
2. A convoy is only as fast as its slowest vehicle. Up a big hill. In the rain.
3. CB radio turns grown men into little boys.
4. Camping is probably more fun in the summer. [continued…]
This is marvellous news. But let’s also be aware of the efforts of the Gaza Freedom March group http://www.gazafreedommarch.org. A dozen or so of us from Australia will be going to Gaza and will march with a bout a thousand people from 40+ countries and about 50,000 people from Gaza from Gaza City to the Erez crossing point. The whole idea is to shame Israel into lifting the siege of Gaza. And then of course the marvellous efforts of Viva Palestina won’t be necessary.
Regards, Alex