It was weird, i woke up this morning with an excitment about going home. It was true that the first couple of days have been hard without a real 'companion' but i knew it would get easier and once the rally started the excitment would have been great.
There was definately something not right as everyone simply hung about, Scrutineering empty and press everywhere. The atmosphere was not of a building excitment but of, well, impending doom.
I hadnt a clue what was going on the in the competitor breifing, but i was trying to judge everything from the reactions of the assembled entrants. There was non and the boss of the ASO was powerful with his words. I couldnt imagine them running the rally as normal so i though perhaps it was to stop in Smara.
When i got outside though there was a sea of grown men in tears, it struck me just what this means to people, i felt nothing until the press conference half an hour later. Suddenly it hit me, no desert, no Dakar, i'll see the weekend at home, my Dakar was to be 4 days in a grotty press room in Lisbon eating Tuna Sandwichs....
I do still have to work, voice a 10 minute feed to break the news to the world and dispoint countless more people.
Maybe next year eh?!
Friday, 4 January 2008
Day -2: The Dakar that never happened??
Despite another fine sleep the fact my eyes continue to seriously itch is starting to really annoy me. Today the weather really couldn’t decide what is supposed to do. One second its freezing and then the next it is hot and sunny. When the wind blows in it suddenly starts raining.
The whole day took a long time to get going, I was in the press office by 9.15 but it took a while for the Mitsubishi team to roll into scrutinnering and I set about a method of identifying who was who. From a long shot on the tiny monitor I’ll be speaking to, it will be impossible but they have kindly bordered the air intake with different coloured tape. All the lead bikers were due as well so I set about memorising their colours as well.
2pm was the date for the first Press Conference, Team USA and Robby Gordon. I sat hoping others would do the question asking. It had been a while since I had spoken (I have yet to master French) and my voice didn’t work when I did chirp up. I sounded pathetic, like a nervous little kid. Luckily I got an answer and it wrapped up rather quickly.
The big news of the day was that the French Government had told all French citizens not to go to Mauritania where the rally is to spend much of its second week. Emphasis on this year’s route is firmly placed on the Mauritanian sands. It doesn’t look good. The rumours flying about included the fact ASO had booked out a plane for Saturday to take the organisers, and me, back to Paris, effectively implying that the rally might be cancelled. The other idea that Alesandro hates, he’s a Dakar purist, is that it may we stop in Smara, 5 days in. ‘This is not a Dakar, it would be a Morocco Rally’.
The Debate went on all day, mostly in French though I was beginning to tune my French ears to understanding more.
A welcome face appeared later on, Allard Kalff, a characterful Dutch ex-racing driver and now Motorsport TV presenter. Amazingly he recognised me and so we chatted for a little while…I’m sure he was thinner last time I saw him?
By about 5 I was ready to pack up and go back to the Hotel, I was chronically bored, even of procrastinating on MSN, Facebook etc. Then Christophe said I was to script and voice the look back of the first programme in about 3 hours. Hang on that’s…8pm, uh! I boldly got on with research, popping into the edit suite to see the shape of the piece every so often. He was right, at 8, after Alesandro had checked the script for factual glitches I laid my voice in. I did 2 takes because the Editor was getting used to the new equipment and it went well. Adelaide, the WATTS creator from Eurosport said ‘C’est tres bein pour les petit enfant’….. I understood that!
Myself, Alesandro, another Eurosport producer and Adelaide went for supper over the road in a small Italian. Another amusing affair, as I quickly emptied my glass of red wine into my gut and then suddenly could understand and speak French with ease! Alessandro started teaching me Italian insults and delirium set in! It was set off when I started cutting my pasta, a huge insult to Italian Alesandro. ‘Le grand roast beef’ he referred to me as! Alesandro was not happy with the Lemonchello either, from the jovial discussion he was having with the waiter I think its supposed to be Limonchello!
My final surprise was I had forgotten to take the do not disturb sign off my door and thus I ended with a dirty room to sleep in, great!
The whole day took a long time to get going, I was in the press office by 9.15 but it took a while for the Mitsubishi team to roll into scrutinnering and I set about a method of identifying who was who. From a long shot on the tiny monitor I’ll be speaking to, it will be impossible but they have kindly bordered the air intake with different coloured tape. All the lead bikers were due as well so I set about memorising their colours as well.
2pm was the date for the first Press Conference, Team USA and Robby Gordon. I sat hoping others would do the question asking. It had been a while since I had spoken (I have yet to master French) and my voice didn’t work when I did chirp up. I sounded pathetic, like a nervous little kid. Luckily I got an answer and it wrapped up rather quickly.
The big news of the day was that the French Government had told all French citizens not to go to Mauritania where the rally is to spend much of its second week. Emphasis on this year’s route is firmly placed on the Mauritanian sands. It doesn’t look good. The rumours flying about included the fact ASO had booked out a plane for Saturday to take the organisers, and me, back to Paris, effectively implying that the rally might be cancelled. The other idea that Alesandro hates, he’s a Dakar purist, is that it may we stop in Smara, 5 days in. ‘This is not a Dakar, it would be a Morocco Rally’.
The Debate went on all day, mostly in French though I was beginning to tune my French ears to understanding more.
A welcome face appeared later on, Allard Kalff, a characterful Dutch ex-racing driver and now Motorsport TV presenter. Amazingly he recognised me and so we chatted for a little while…I’m sure he was thinner last time I saw him?
By about 5 I was ready to pack up and go back to the Hotel, I was chronically bored, even of procrastinating on MSN, Facebook etc. Then Christophe said I was to script and voice the look back of the first programme in about 3 hours. Hang on that’s…8pm, uh! I boldly got on with research, popping into the edit suite to see the shape of the piece every so often. He was right, at 8, after Alesandro had checked the script for factual glitches I laid my voice in. I did 2 takes because the Editor was getting used to the new equipment and it went well. Adelaide, the WATTS creator from Eurosport said ‘C’est tres bein pour les petit enfant’….. I understood that!
Myself, Alesandro, another Eurosport producer and Adelaide went for supper over the road in a small Italian. Another amusing affair, as I quickly emptied my glass of red wine into my gut and then suddenly could understand and speak French with ease! Alessandro started teaching me Italian insults and delirium set in! It was set off when I started cutting my pasta, a huge insult to Italian Alesandro. ‘Le grand roast beef’ he referred to me as! Alesandro was not happy with the Lemonchello either, from the jovial discussion he was having with the waiter I think its supposed to be Limonchello!
My final surprise was I had forgotten to take the do not disturb sign off my door and thus I ended with a dirty room to sleep in, great!
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Day 2 - January 2 - To the office
That’s better?!
A nice long sleep in a very comfy bed certainly set me up for my first full day, researching at the Press centre and Scrutineering. Firstly I had to get there and having been told there was a bus leaving on the hour I made my way down to find it sitting there, get wet. It was raining!! At least the bus was on time!
Due to the precipitation issue I decided to do most of my research in the press room, afterall Alessandro had told me that today would be no interest, its mostly the Portuguese riders and drivers and with over 1,000 vehicles registered to go through the checks the process will continue for 3 days with Mitsu tomorrow and VW the day after.
I wanted to get a feel for how it all worked in preparation for when the big guns arrived and so at lunch I wandered down to the Bivoac with 2 producers from Eurosport. They weren’t any old producers however, these guys make WATTS! Now if you have Eurosport you will have watched WATTS, its hilarious and these guys were the creative force behind it, respect!
Over lunch of beans and lumps of fatty pork we had a chance to chat about their creation. My struggle with language is only made easier when there are multi-nationalities. At lunch it was an Englishman, a German, an Italian and a Frenchwoman which meant we choose English to communicate.
Post lunch was used to explore, Bolwers everywhere which was good to see, and I also ventured into the spectator area which was impressive, but empty. I guess everyone is saving themselves for tomorrow. Back in the Press room, which was empty I sat and ate, and drunk and got very frustrated by the flashing lights, no-one else was bothered though, maybe its how electricity works in Portugal.
The press room slowly filled to quite a frenzy in the evening which held me people watching for a while but finally I decided to drag myself away to the hotel. Again I had to wait for the bus which, this time never came, I waited about an hour until I spotted 2 cameramen who I thought worked for ASO so asked to hitch a lift. Olo and Patrick worked on RTL7, Dutch TV and being from Holland they were crazy and spoke great English, the trip home was good fun.
After a failed attempt to find food in town I retired back to the Bar for a steak sandwich and a re-union with an old friend, ‘Bock beer’. I was joined by an Independent Canadian film maker, Olo and Patrick. It was nice to hear the English language used in a passionate way again. Foreigners don’t have the ability to portray emotion when they speak English and Miss Canada was certainly passionate about her project... It was a nice way to finish the evening, recalling Blues Brothers and Monty Python lines to each other!!
A nice long sleep in a very comfy bed certainly set me up for my first full day, researching at the Press centre and Scrutineering. Firstly I had to get there and having been told there was a bus leaving on the hour I made my way down to find it sitting there, get wet. It was raining!! At least the bus was on time!
Due to the precipitation issue I decided to do most of my research in the press room, afterall Alessandro had told me that today would be no interest, its mostly the Portuguese riders and drivers and with over 1,000 vehicles registered to go through the checks the process will continue for 3 days with Mitsu tomorrow and VW the day after.
I wanted to get a feel for how it all worked in preparation for when the big guns arrived and so at lunch I wandered down to the Bivoac with 2 producers from Eurosport. They weren’t any old producers however, these guys make WATTS! Now if you have Eurosport you will have watched WATTS, its hilarious and these guys were the creative force behind it, respect!
Over lunch of beans and lumps of fatty pork we had a chance to chat about their creation. My struggle with language is only made easier when there are multi-nationalities. At lunch it was an Englishman, a German, an Italian and a Frenchwoman which meant we choose English to communicate.
Post lunch was used to explore, Bolwers everywhere which was good to see, and I also ventured into the spectator area which was impressive, but empty. I guess everyone is saving themselves for tomorrow. Back in the Press room, which was empty I sat and ate, and drunk and got very frustrated by the flashing lights, no-one else was bothered though, maybe its how electricity works in Portugal.
The press room slowly filled to quite a frenzy in the evening which held me people watching for a while but finally I decided to drag myself away to the hotel. Again I had to wait for the bus which, this time never came, I waited about an hour until I spotted 2 cameramen who I thought worked for ASO so asked to hitch a lift. Olo and Patrick worked on RTL7, Dutch TV and being from Holland they were crazy and spoke great English, the trip home was good fun.
After a failed attempt to find food in town I retired back to the Bar for a steak sandwich and a re-union with an old friend, ‘Bock beer’. I was joined by an Independent Canadian film maker, Olo and Patrick. It was nice to hear the English language used in a passionate way again. Foreigners don’t have the ability to portray emotion when they speak English and Miss Canada was certainly passionate about her project... It was a nice way to finish the evening, recalling Blues Brothers and Monty Python lines to each other!!
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Day 1 - January 1 - Travelling..
Why is it I drunk so much last night, yet I'm still thirsty now, 24 hours on, its very confusing!
Father, who was to be my chauffeur to Heathrow woke me at 5:10am, I was in such a deep sleep he nearly gave me a heart attack crashing through the door but soon we were in the car and off to get on my first of 2 planes, suppose I should get used to it. Not really sure what was said during the journey to the airport though I remember it taking 57 minutes. In typical Dad fashion this really excited him!
As you can expect it wasn’t exactly busy in T4, but they were certainly picking on the people who looked worse for wear so I was made to go into a 'scanner'. It was another way of seeing if I was made of bomb except it passed X-Ray through me to find out. You have to stand in frightfully odd positions!?
The amount of passengers flying to Paris was counted on my one available hand, the other was clutching water, and thus made the trip rather painless. Touch down in CDG and there was a small wait for bags and then it was time to try and find a taxi……oh there’s one! It seems like if you like to travel easy, travel at stupid times in the morning.
Taxi from Charles de Galle to Orly in under one hour was the target and monsieur ‘Hamilton’ was certainly on it. An odd thing happened; the first song on the radio was ‘Africa’ by Toto, like a sign. I listened to the lyrics, they don’t make too much sense but somehow still have a meaning.
By the time I reached Orly there was simply a sea of grey jackets hanging around smoking and the like. There was some black ones too, medics I think and then Red for Media. Everyone is looked after by ASO the organisers, all the flights booked by a huge coordination team. I felt rough, and it was time for more water. Armelle, TV coordinator and mother goose greeted me ‘you look rough’. The next person ‘you have ill eyes’ and then, ‘blimey you look scary’. Oh, not a good way to start, my 3 hours sleep and countless sleepless nights worrying was obviously showing badly.
Food was next on the agent after doing my best ‘rookie traveller’ impression at security and emptying my bag all over the floor. It was also dawning on me just how un-English everything was which was compounded when I got on TAP Airlines and people started talking Portuguese at me. I was by this point a rabbit in headlights, my brain shut down with language overload and I went to sleep.
Touchdown in Lisbon was evil, the pilot was obviously told I was sleeping in class, like at school, and did his best to wake me up with an almighty bump. I fell asleep so quickly I never even knew who I was sitting next too. So to the 3rd and final country of the day, miserable Portugal; the last time I was here it was miserable for a very different reason but today it was the rain, I hadn’t really thought about rain.
I felt better about myself after the countless more editors and cameramen I was introduced to hadn’t commented on my ‘grinch’ face so I was on the up. Just like working for an F1 team it was straight to work with my French/Italian counterpart Alessandro who I met on the coach to the ‘Location Presse’. Our plan for how the next 3 weeks work looks great and in fact all the plans look amazingly organised and even though I know it will fall apart it put me at ease.
We stayed till 8 in the press centre researching and structuring the various scripts myself and Alessandro have to put together during the rally and then braved the weather to get to our stunning hotel. I love hotels, and this one is pretty good, certainly better than a tent! Supper and a meeting, in French, proceeded snuggling into bed, calm and clear headed and having a much need nights rest, I have 3 days of fact finding ahead…
Father, who was to be my chauffeur to Heathrow woke me at 5:10am, I was in such a deep sleep he nearly gave me a heart attack crashing through the door but soon we were in the car and off to get on my first of 2 planes, suppose I should get used to it. Not really sure what was said during the journey to the airport though I remember it taking 57 minutes. In typical Dad fashion this really excited him!
As you can expect it wasn’t exactly busy in T4, but they were certainly picking on the people who looked worse for wear so I was made to go into a 'scanner'. It was another way of seeing if I was made of bomb except it passed X-Ray through me to find out. You have to stand in frightfully odd positions!?
The amount of passengers flying to Paris was counted on my one available hand, the other was clutching water, and thus made the trip rather painless. Touch down in CDG and there was a small wait for bags and then it was time to try and find a taxi……oh there’s one! It seems like if you like to travel easy, travel at stupid times in the morning.
Taxi from Charles de Galle to Orly in under one hour was the target and monsieur ‘Hamilton’ was certainly on it. An odd thing happened; the first song on the radio was ‘Africa’ by Toto, like a sign. I listened to the lyrics, they don’t make too much sense but somehow still have a meaning.
By the time I reached Orly there was simply a sea of grey jackets hanging around smoking and the like. There was some black ones too, medics I think and then Red for Media. Everyone is looked after by ASO the organisers, all the flights booked by a huge coordination team. I felt rough, and it was time for more water. Armelle, TV coordinator and mother goose greeted me ‘you look rough’. The next person ‘you have ill eyes’ and then, ‘blimey you look scary’. Oh, not a good way to start, my 3 hours sleep and countless sleepless nights worrying was obviously showing badly.
Food was next on the agent after doing my best ‘rookie traveller’ impression at security and emptying my bag all over the floor. It was also dawning on me just how un-English everything was which was compounded when I got on TAP Airlines and people started talking Portuguese at me. I was by this point a rabbit in headlights, my brain shut down with language overload and I went to sleep.
Touchdown in Lisbon was evil, the pilot was obviously told I was sleeping in class, like at school, and did his best to wake me up with an almighty bump. I fell asleep so quickly I never even knew who I was sitting next too. So to the 3rd and final country of the day, miserable Portugal; the last time I was here it was miserable for a very different reason but today it was the rain, I hadn’t really thought about rain.
I felt better about myself after the countless more editors and cameramen I was introduced to hadn’t commented on my ‘grinch’ face so I was on the up. Just like working for an F1 team it was straight to work with my French/Italian counterpart Alessandro who I met on the coach to the ‘Location Presse’. Our plan for how the next 3 weeks work looks great and in fact all the plans look amazingly organised and even though I know it will fall apart it put me at ease.
We stayed till 8 in the press centre researching and structuring the various scripts myself and Alessandro have to put together during the rally and then braved the weather to get to our stunning hotel. I love hotels, and this one is pretty good, certainly better than a tent! Supper and a meeting, in French, proceeded snuggling into bed, calm and clear headed and having a much need nights rest, I have 3 days of fact finding ahead…
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