(1)  Sorry about the last blog!  Weâve had a couple of concerned emails since I wrote it.  It was a spoof, trying to make a little ferry trip around the bay sound interesting!  Sorry, I promise never to write fiction again without making it crystal clear that thatâs what it is! (but it did keep me amused for 10 minutes) (and thank you for taking the time & trouble to look at our blogs!)

 

(2)  Car update

Today was what you might call interesting, if you were very charitable.

 

After the court case 2 weeks ago we were told to present to the court on 4th May to pay our fine, then take our papers to the customs office in Odessa, who would give us papers to get our car & money released within 24 hours.  So we kept telling ourselves âok, we can make it to the 4th Mayâ, & counting the days.

 

We got ourselves a lovely interpreter for the day, we thought we may need some help.  The details are very boring, but a precis is:

 

Taxi to court â go to room 107 â young chap gives us papers â another office to get official stamp â discover we have a previous conviction in Nov 2010 (!!!!) â back to room 107 â âwhatâs this? â âa typing error, sorry, will correct itâ â wait an hour â new corrected papers â payment office (cards accepted) â queue â girl unable to process credit card â go to ATM â get money â card wonât come out â machine takes extra money before releasing card (âthis often happensâ) â payment office â âgive us your Ukranian passportâ â lady in queue lends us hers â pay fine â queue for photocopies â taxi to customs office â one paper not stamped properly â taxi back to court â theyâre at lunch â wait â paper stamped â taxi to customs â âwe canât process this for at least 10 daysâ â call Izmail customs â âfax me the papersâ â taxi to post office â canât find one â taxi back to accommodation office â they fax â we talk to lawyer â âI will try and pull some stringsâ â we get room for the night in Odessa.

 

Itâs now almost 6pm, we started at 9.30.  Our interpreter was FANTASTIC (and very sorry for us).  The lawyer is due to call the interpreter tomorrow and we will have another go.