The border crossing was Kapicule. From Bulgaria. There were only three major stops once you were in Turkey. Istanbul, Adana and Ankara. I was driving for a haulage company where we took stuff over.

There was an incident in Saudi Arabia. We’d delivered some building products to a company. There were four of us. Two got tipped the same day and two had to wait while the morning which included myself.so the manager of the company where i went was an English chap and he enquired what we were doing for the night and me being a sportsman I said ‘Well, we’re going to have a bite to eat and go around the local souk.’ ‘Okay’, he said ‘but I’ve got a large house and if you want a decent bed for the night I can put you up.’ And I said ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ And he said ‘And we’ll have a drink afterwards.’ Well we all looked at each other cos you’re not allowed to drink in Saudi arabia. So we went about the business and he took us round the local markets and to his house. And what he did, he actually brewed his own wine. And that’s the funny thing about it. You can buy the stuff that produces it but you can’t buy it, you know, retail. So, next morning there was such a commotion. And I always seemed to be the first one what got up. I said ‘What’s the problem?’ He said ‘I’m not inviting you guys anymore!’ And I said ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘He said ‘Between you you’ve drank seventeen quart bottles of wine!’ So he were kind of upset.

And there’s been instances where you’ve skidded off the road and ended up in a ditch but, with luck, you’ve been able to get out and… a lot of manpower…