Travel Book for September 2010
Mission Mongolia by David Treanor
Chapter One - Good to Gobi
The email from senior management confirmed the rumours. The BBC was to make big job cuts – 3,000 in all. It was hoped these could be achieved through voluntary redundancies, but, if not… well, people would be told their services were no longer needed. Geoff and I were fifty-four and in our prime – prime candidates to take whatever was on offer and go. Younger colleagues with big mortgages and small families eyed us hopefully – a sacrifice was going to have to be made and they hoped we were it.
This was not an unreasonable expectation. Both of us had spent almost thirty years working day and night newsroom shifts and they were getting harder to handle. A glance in the mirror at nine in the morning after three twelve-hour nights provided convincing evidence that this was no occupation for old men. Indeed, if we wanted to live to be old men it was probably time to have no occupation. At lunchtime, along with some of the younger members of the team, we headed to the BBC Club on the fourth floor at Television Centre. At the door, the younger ones turned left for the gym while Geoff and I turned right, for the bar.
The barman saw us coming and pulled two pints of Young’s. We took our glasses and headed to our usual perch in the corner.
‘Are you going to go for it?’ I asked. There was no need to specify exactly what. Redundancy had been dominating conversation in the newsroom.
‘I suppose so.’ Geoff seemed less than fully committed. ‘I don’t know what I’d do, though.’
We drank in unison. I stayed silent, mainly because I didn’t have any idea of what I’d do either. Escape seemed the first priority; once under the wire it was a case of keep running and hope for the best.
Geoff went to the bar for a couple of refills. I picked up a newspaper discarded by an earlier drinker. When he came back, I had our plan.
‘We’re going to Mongolia,’ I said, ignoring his look of exaggerated scorn. ‘A road trip for charity, a group called Go Help. They’re looking for people who’ll buy an old van or pickup, drive to Mongolia any route you feel like, hand it over to the locals on arrival, they auction it to raise some cash to help local children and, hopefully, someone gets a useful vehicle. And we raise more cash for children’s charities before we go.’ I tapped the newspaper. ‘Piece about it in here.’
Geoff glanced at the article. ‘It says they don’t provide any backup.’
‘That’s true,’ I admitted, relieving him of the paper before he got to the bit about extreme temperatures, bandits and driving across rivers.
‘When did you last look under the bonnet of your car?’ he inquired.
This was something of an embarrassment. My car had refused to start a couple of weeks ago, and not only had I failed to find the cause, I had failed even to release the catch which held the bonnet down. The AA man had been polite and hadn’t even smirked. I suppose they go on training courses entitled ‘Staying Impassive When Faced With Almost Total Ignorance’.
‘It’ll be fine. We’ll get it serviced before we go. Anyway, you know about engines and stuff.’
‘Dave,’ said Geoff, the scornful look returning, ‘I might know more than you, but being able to top up the oil and check the water level in the windscreen washer bottle does not really qualify me for the job of expedition mechanic.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ I said, encouraged by this admission of A-level mechanical skills.
‘How far is it anyway?’ asked Geoff.
I consulted the newspaper. ‘Says here, at least eight thousand miles, maybe more depending on which route you choose. You can take as long as you like, though, it’s upto you. Deserts, mountain ranges, off-road driving, sounds brilliant.’
‘We’d have to get a four-wheel drive van.’
‘Of course.’
‘And get it properly prepared by someone who knew what they were doing.’
Mission Mongolia by David Treanor is published by Summersdale (paperback; £8.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.
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