Three days after returning from
the Far East I was back at Heathrow again this time it was Sofia and Istanbul.
The meeting in Sofia was like I imagine an old fashioned communist meeting
would be. It was clear we were the important guests and there were a number of
senior airport managers present. Our main contact was the operations manager
for the airport and he kept pointing out perfectly reasonable difficulties
about what we were planning. After about 30 minutes the airport Director asked
to suspend the meeting and both he and the operations director left the room. A
short while later the Airport director returned and said the Operations manager
had another meeting to attend. Thereafter everything we asked about “was
possible” I later learned the operations manager had been sacked, given that
all his objections were reasonable I do hope that it was not connected to the
meeting. The next day I left for Istanbul where, before we had the meeting, I
had to get my Ukrainian Visa. There had been a delay in getting the
documentation from the Ukrainian Olympic Committee and there was no option but
to make arrangements to get the visa during my visit to Istanbul. I was driven
to the Ukrainian consulate which was in a basement in a residential area there
was a queue of Turkish men outside waiting for documentation but I had been
told to ring the bell and let them know who I was. I was let straight in and
they took my passport and told me to return the next day, I pointed out that I
was returning to London the following day, they said that there was nothing
they could do. At this point I said that I would have to cancel my visit to the
Ukraine and this could jeopardise the operation which prompted some discussion
in Ukrainian followed by a “please wait for a few moments” from the consular
officer. 15 minutes later I had my visa which stated I was an Olympic athlete.
I left the building to some very dirty looks from the Turkish men who were
still queuing up.
Four days after arriving back from Istanbul I left for Moscow
and Kiev. This was to be my first time in the Russian Federation which at the
time was only 12 years old and still well into its “wild west” phase. I arrived
in the evening and was collected from the airport by a car from the Russian
Olympic authority. The traffic on the journey from the airport to the hotel was
really bad as were the potholes in the road. The next day we went out to
Sheremetyevo Airport, Our operations were due to take place in Terminal 1 which
was the domestic part of the airport and was obviously a product of the soviet
era. Once again we were treated like VIP’s and the meeting was in a room with
the old fashioned armchairs with white arm caps. Everything was going to be
possible. At the end of the meeting we were given a tour of the airport
including the VIP lounge. Our hosts offered us the use of this lounge before
our flight that evening. With the
airport complete we then went back into town. Our hosts were good enough to
arrange a stop at Red Square and St Basils cathedral which was really
impressive.
The afternoon was spent with me as an observer whilst they arranged
the route for the relay. It was fascinating to see how detailed the arrangements
were, every runner was to have a leg of about 200 meters and the team that was
marking the route would only arrive in the city four days before the relay.
They would be expected to mark out the entire day’s route as well as logo all
the vehicles supervise the branding of the route and set up all the media
activities. This meant that the route had to be very clear and was achieved by
the driver of the vehicle resetting the odometer on the car and then driving
two hundred meters before looking for and obvious landmark such as a numbered
street light or a piece of street furniture. Once this had been identified then
the details were taken and the odometer reset to start the process over
again. It was then back to the Hotel for
a meal before setting out again for the airport and the flight to Kiev. We
arrived at the airport with the expectation of using the VIP terminal but our
Russian guide was very keen that we did not use this; we said it had been
offered but he was insistent that we used the main terminal so it was a normal
check in and an hour in plastic bucket seats waiting for the flight. Speaking
with the relay representative we reached the conclusion that the guide
preferred not to be near the VIP’s and that it was better to be the “grey man” and
not drawing attention to ourselves.
The arrival in Kiev lead to one
of the strangest incidents in my life; I had been warned that the Ukrainians
likes to “celebrate” the arrival of VIP’s with a drink but there was nothing as
we arrived at half past midnight in temperatures well below zero. We were
escorted to a ford transit van by the welcoming party of three and we set off
for the town, after a short while and in the middle of nowhere we took a turn
down a side road and down several other smaller roads before parking in a
field. At this point events took a lurch into the bizarre. Our host turned to
us and handed everyone a banana, unsure as to what to do I looked at my
colleague for guidance and received a confused look in return. Next our host
offered us a bar of chocolate each given that there were 5 of us in the van all
male and that were in the middle of nowhere in a country I have never visited
in temperatures well below zero I knew I my options were limited. At this point
the Vodka came out and it all became clear. In the next five minutes during a
series of toasts the bananas and chocolate were eaten and the litre of Vodka
was collectively consumed by everyone including the driver. The Ukraine was not
a rich country in 2004 and the Banana’s and chocolate represented expensive
gifts for honoured guests, the Vodka is self explanatory!! With everything
consumed we set off on the drive to the Hotel. After checking in I still felt
sober and started to dismantle the phone in the room (remember wifi was not in
widespread use in 2004) so I could hook the computer up to the phone and send
my e-mails. The next morning I woke up surrounded by pieces of phone and my computer....
the Vodka was stronger than I thought.
I was back at the airport by 10AM
with Vodka toasts for breakfast and meetings. After all this was complete I was
checked in and tried to get through customs. There were strict export controls
for currency at the time and whilst I was well within these I was carrying a
Yen and Won from my recent Far Eastern visit. Both of these currencies have,
like the Lira, involved a lot of Zero’s. The customs official did not speak
much English and indicated that I should show him my wallet which I did. The
Yen and Won caused made him agitated and I was invited to a separate room.
Becoming concerned about missing my flight I then produced the business card
for the Airport Director and this proved to be my get out of jail free card. He
took this away with him and a few moments later I was on my way.
The evening after I returned from
Kiev I was back at Heathrow for what was planned to be my final visit on the
station survey this time to Cape Town. It had been suggested that I flew down
on the overnight flight met during the day and then flew back the same night. I
politely explained that Cape Town was one of my favourite cities in the world
and I was going to be staying the night. The airport meeting was held about an
hour after I arrived and given that the relay was only a month out and the
airport was cooperative it only took a couple of hours, this gave me a few
hours spare and after checking in to the Hotel I went to the Victoria and
Alfred waterfront and managed to book a ticket for the Robben Island Museum http://www.robben-island.org.za/ .
In
my own very personal view this is the most impressive museum I have ever visited,
it is a real experience about the horrors that Man can inflict on his fellow
man. There is a fast ferry crossing to the island and on arrival you gather in
one of the rooms and your guide introduces himself “hello my name is X and I
used to be a political prisoner on this island.
Words cannot describe the tour but from there
on in you are taken on very personal view on what it was like to be black in
South Africa during the apartheid era and what it was like to be a prisoner on
the island with Nelson Mandela amongst others. The tour takes a couple of hours
and ends with a question and answer session and having listed to my guide and
how positive he was about South Africa I felt compelled to ask how after
everything that had happened to him he was not bitter his reply was
inspirational and we could all learn something from him; quite simply he said
“they took half my life, If I was bitter then they would have taken the other
half as well”. Then after a short pause a smile and the words “and we won”. I have returned to the museum twice since then
and on every occasion have had a different tour because each prisoner had a
different experience, it is a remarkable place and I cannot recommend it highly
enough.
After that very sobering tour I spent the rest
of the afternoon and evening on the waterfront. This is, in my opinion, the best
dockyard conversion in the world and one that many others have tried to copy.
The area has many shops bars restaurants as well as sunshine and, more often
than not, the most amazing backdrop of the table mountain. I had the most
amazing seafood meal with a lovely glass of wine, for a very reasonable price,
those that know me will know that I have a soft spot for a glass of port. I
happened upon the wine list and found a 1948 KWV port at only £20 for a glass,
I have to say occasionally you have to say “that’s what expense’s are for” and
what a superb way to top of such an amazing day.
No comments:
Post a Comment