8th April 2009
From Elaine
Today Malcolm and I accompanied Chas and Bev to deliver the eight washing machines and driers to Stimlje mental institute. We were met by our friends from Irish KFOR who are overseeing the electrical and drainage installation. The director and his staff made us feel very welcome and were very grateful for our assistance. They presented us with a certificate of gratitude and even more touching a beautiful hand made Union Jack rug made by some of the residents.

We have also been helped with our drop to the institute today by the EULEX Police who deserve a mention. They have been great and have also been driving us around and helping in the warehouse. At the same time as visiting the Stimlje institute we also visited Burim at the children's home where Chas and Bev handed over a playstation and camera. The children were in a classroom at the time having some structured tuition which was nice to see.

The rest of the team had a busy day in the warehouse sorting and loading our trucks in preparation for tomorrows drop.
There was also further drops to schools whilst Bill and Paul have worked their magic making running repairs to the exhaust systems on both JSL and Robin Hood.

7th April 2009
All the teams are now in Pristina
The 7.5 tonners had a great journey, aside from the pot holes all over the road, from Nis to Medare today and crossed the border in record timing in glorious sunshine (another first) We were met on the Kosovan border by our friends and colleagues from Mother Teresa Society and EULEX. It's great to be back in Kosovo with everyone and looking forward to the next week here. We have already had three briefings from Chas, we look forward to many more (Honest!) :) !!...................... Bev ........................,

The fact that we arrived early and in good spirits meant that we were all up for the task of unloading the lorries at the warehouse. By 6pm this task had been completed and we were all back at the Hotel Apollonia in time for dinner at 7.30pm, which also included a reunion with our regular helpers from MTS and the former UMCOR team of Dr Luli and Arsim ( with his wife Agnesa). For Tom & Chas the evening is destined to be given over to planning the distribution lists for the next 4/5 days (which will inevitably change each morning!). Tom

The flying crew have been helping out with warehouse logistics.. helping to unload lorries, sort aid, and support the hard working drivers. All are keen to start distrubuting the aid in the next few days. Our UK Police colleagues, here as part of EULEX have been most helpful - from providing lifts from the airport to the hotel... and scenic diversions on the way... to assisting in the warehouse. We're all very grateful to friends, family and colleagues from Vertex who have supported us in this convoy. Mich

Pleased that all those years in the Safeway warehouse haven't gone to waste! An exhausting day but thoroughly satisfying to now have all the aid off the trucks and organised in the warehouse. Now looking forward to distributing it!!! Mike E

Coming in from Serbia for the first time for two years, both Ken and I thought that there were many signs of progress in building and development as we drove towards Pristina. and will be very interseted to see in the next few days whether that is true generally or only near the town. Jill

From Bill, We have made our first school deliveries today. First we delivered 30 tables and 60 chairs to the very small Plementina school in Obileque. This fulfilled an outstanding promise from last October. Then we went to Skenderai where we delivered to a large school (742 pupils) and we were made very welcome by both staff and pupils.

3rd April 2009.
In the early hours of Wednesday, two 40 tonners, "Late Entry" and "Mr Flibble" along with "Nibsy" an 18 tonne truck set off once again, on the journey to Kosovo, loaded with humanitarian aid, a large proportion of it being food. They have made very good time getting to Geisewind in Germany last night.
All trucks were running well although Late Entry was struggling up the hills due to the heavy load. They are in Heygyeshalom, Hungary, this evening enjoying a beer and goulash. Late Entry's exhaust silencer got rather too hot after climbing the hill approaching Vienna and had to be doused with water to stop it catching fire. Otherwise things going well. Aiming for Assotthalom tomorrow night near the Hungarian/Serbian border ready for the crossing on Saturday morning. Weather good and the roads are very quiet.

From Bill Nelson on "Nibsy"
The three HGV's have arrived close to the Serbian border. Late Entry has given no further problems today following the temporary repair carried out yesterday, but hope to get it sorted out properly in Kosovo.
We intend to start our border crossing into Serbia about 0800 - 0900 tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will be able to improve on the 7 hours it took us in October!
Yesterday and today have been very hot - mid 20's. I think this is the first trip I've made where we haven't used the wipers once. Also we experienced our first traffic jam today since leaving the UK.

From Malcolm on Top Gear
Seven 7.5 tonne trucks met at Maidstone services this morning. Many thanks to the members from MARS, (Maidstone Amateur Radio Society) who fitted communication radios and checked they were working properly in each vehicle. Chas's truck "Robin Hood" blew a fuse, but was soon sorted.
By mid-afternoon, the trucks were waiting to board the Dover/Calais ferry. This evening, the convoy is only about 12 kms away from the overnight stop planned to be just past Brussels, but is unfortunately stuck in traffic! All are well after their first day of travelling.