CANCELLED

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?!