Tales from daan sarf! (Glens first post!)

Thanks to Andy I now have powers to add my own thoughts to this blog.......should be fairly short then!

It seems so long ago now that I joined Andy for the last few miles of his Roc-around-the-clock challenge, and led him convoy style around the streets of Kent. I can still remember breakfast shortly afterwards when he mentioned a fleeting thought of doing a similar challenge 'in Europe somewhere'. I believe the original plan was to take part in 'Home to Rome' or 'Staples to Naples' where we would be one of many making a long journey to our destination. Simple, I thought. If we break down somewhere, one of the others will help...The arrangements were to be 'modified' somewhat between then and now!!

So here we are, well into 2008 and things are going quite well so far with our preparations as you will know if you having been following the blog so far. I must admit after getting over my 'you want to go WHERE?' moment during our discussions about destinations, Iam glad Andy had the courage / madness / poetic talent to suggest Morocco as our destination. This is going to be one hell of an experience that neither of us will ever forget.

So I figured a quick update on what I have been up to would be in order. It will also give Andys hands a rest as he is the one who has done all the writing so far!

An old friend from the Register recently moved to Munich and sent me an Email inviting me to clear out any spare Scirocco parts we wanted from his shed. These included hoses, driveshaft parts, seals, tappets, camshafts, interior trim parts, a spare spacesaver wheel (we have 6 wheels now remember!) and even a grille spoiler! If you read this, thanks Tony. Im also throwing in a set of Wolfrace alloy wheels to finish the look of the car off too, so parts are looking good so far.

I have sent out a fair few emails to local businesses, but have had almost no success in this area - a real blow to confidence. I have also sent mail to the Kent Messenger as well as Meridian and South East Today about possible coverage of our event in the local press - I will keep you updated here as to any progress, hopefully we can get our challenge featured on the T.V.

I have also been keeping in touch with MacMillan Cancer Support regarding our progress. Today I popped into their Maidstone office for a chat about the challenge and how things are going so far. They have given me various bits and bobs to help us collect more donations including some banners, balloons and even a collection bucket for when we attend the car shows this year. They have also promised to put links to our sites on their main website and added up my total 'offline' collections to date - some £135! This brings Macmillans donations total to over £500! So, a big thanks to all of you who have supported our challenge so far. Keep spreading the word if you can - we could still do with plenty more help and support.

Lastly, I have been working on some T-Shirt designs to promote the challenge. You may recall seeing me and Andy in our own shirts for our radio interview earlier in these pages. The new shirts will be put up on E-bay soon in a variety of colours and the money made on the shirts will be added to our donations to the two charities. Watch this space for more news on these in the next few days

My word, did I write that much? Must be thinking more than I realise then.....