John was the only British driver of a team of 5, 1 British 1 German and 3 French to take part in a weight lifting competition for the Telethon, the French equivalent of Children in Need. They were attempting to beat last years record of 221 tonnes by lifting 5 x 70kg in turn for 1 hour. This they easily did by lifting 259 tonnes in the allotted time and after which they were exhausted. The event took place on Saturday morning 5th December and was shown on French TV Saturday evening and was also in the local Press.
Another British driver (also an athlete) took part in the running and John’s cellmate took part in the football on the 4th December. All of this is taken into account when they eventually get to Court.
Some of the Prison activities have been cancelled on account of the recent storms in that area, rainwater running down the stairs and lifting tiles but they did have brilliant thunder and lightning displays and the mountains have a good covering of snow and looking very picturesque.
Now that Autumn is here and the leaves are falling off the trees they can see more of the motorway to Spain and they watch from their cell window spotting the trucks they know going backwards and forwards. They have seen an Eric Short, B M Stafford and even an Eddie Stobbart over the last couple of weeks. John says it keeps them amused and is a topic of conversation but he would rather be with them than watching them.