A Quick Getaway......Why ?

[John H]

Kontiki is right - if somebody is determined to break in or do you harm then they will. But fortunately, most people have no such intentions. We do, however, always park so that we are in a position to drive off quickly if the need arises - and it has. Once, for example, in a remote bay in Greece, a car pulled up and faced the sea; it flashed its headlights on a regular basis. It might have been innocent but we had no desire to get caught up in a smuggling situation, so we drove off quickly. Another time, we parked up in a lovely quiet little square in a small Portuguese town and at midnight it turned into a party square! The young teenagers were not in the least interested in us and certainly intended us no harm but the music was not to our taste and so we drove off. As we went, the youth smiled and waved (in a very friendly way, not at all sarcastic) and moved aside so we could pass through. On yet another occassion we found ourselves in a gay cruising area (in fact we frequently have) and a couple got together just to the back of our van. I'm no prude and as far as I am concerned, consenting adults can do what they like. But I have no desire to see or hear it. We drove off. And so on. There are many reasons why you might want to move off quickly and most of them do not involve someone wanting to do you harm.

Oh, I almost forgot. This year, on an aire in France, we were woken up by the sound of what seemed like somebody skateboarding down the side of our van. It turned out we had parked next to the sprinkler system which was timed to come on after dark. The flower beds were magnificent but we decided to move to a different location!