Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but here goes at my first attempt at a diary.
So, it starts last weekend with three of us heading down to London to load. Two of the trucks had left the yard at Redditch on the Saturday,
and were already parked-up at LH2 rehearsal studios in Park Royal, NW London.
I arrived in the yard just before midnight on Sunday, found my truck, and loaded my bags into the cab, before coupling up to my allocated
trailer. Thirty minutes later, after doing a walkround check, I was out of the gate and heading for the M40. On arriving at LH2, I backed onto
the loading dock, completed the paperwork, and was off to bed.
Monday night, and its time to load-up. All the equipment is split between the three of us. I’m carrying backline and PA, whilst Ronald has
lighting equipment, and Ross has lighting, video, wardrobe, production, and rigging. By 23.30 we’re on our way to Dover Eastern Dock, although
I have to call in at Western Dock to get our Carnet opened and stamped.
We’re booked on the 04.15 P&O to Calais, so i’ve got time to get the laptop out and ontain our vignettes that we’ll need for Belgium and Holland.
It’s quite easy to do on-line, and saves time. 706kms after leaving Park Royal, we park up just past Dortmund at an Autohof.
The following morning, after a breakfast of scrambled-egg and ham, washed down with mugs of coffee, its a leisurely departure across
Germany, passing Kassel and Dresden before arriving at Polish border just past Gorlitz. Theres been quite a few B.A.G vans about all day, not
that they gave us any problems - unlike the driver of a Spanish registered Volvo fridge, who,after overtaking us all going into a tunnel, was
chased and caught by a waiting B.A.G man, and most probably relieved of quite a few Euros.
We meet up with the three tour-busses at the border, who are on their way to pick up the crew from Krakov airport.
After buying our Polish Road Tax and changing some money, we head into Poland for about another 2 hours, before pulling in at a roadside cafe
for the night.
The following morning and Ronald tells us that his night-heater’s packed up. We have a look, but can’t seem to find the problem. so after a
call to the office, he’s advised to take his truck to a Volvo dealer near our destination, where hopefully they’ll fix it. Ronalds happy now, as
the temperature has been dropping the further East we’ve come, and was down to -6 overnight.
Poland now has some decent motorways, so we make good time across the country, passing Wroclaw and Katowice, before coming to the end of
the motorway at Tarnow. We stop for diesel, filling both tanks on each truck while its cheap.
After 477kms we arrive at the venue in Rzeszow, and after an hour of getting cars moved, manage to get round the back of the building where
we need to be for loading-in at 09,00 the following morning.
Friday sees us taking turns to back-up to a scissor-lift that takes the equipment up to the load-in door, and after 3 hours we’re all empty and off
to relax for a couple of days.
. Looking forward to next weeks instalment. 
