Bizarrely, even though we haven’t been anywhere yet, it
was time for a crew change today. Chris has been with us over the Easter
weekend, but has had to return to work. He managed to sleep a fair amount while
he was here, so it was probably for the best that we weren’t going anywhere.
The day dawned considerably warmer than yesterday and the snow was starting to
melt quite quickly. To ease the whole changeover process we had rented a car, as in addition to taking Chris, I had to collect our new crew members, Dave and Tom. We had managed to synchronise the arrival
and departure times at Hamburg so that there was not much hanging around at the
airport for anyone.
By the time the round trip was finished I had started to
get used to the car, which I found a little quirky. I have not driven a car
with lane control before, and it felt as if the car was fighting back every time I
tried to change lanes on the autobahn.
A late lunch was followed by an initial
orientation for Dave and Tom on the boat, the full version is to follow
tomorrow. It was then time to return the car, and visit the supermarket which
was close to the car hire place. We had been told that there were 2 filling
station just around the corner, so we could return the car full of fuel. This information was completely correct,
except that neither had any diesel to sell. They had obviously sold out over
the holiday weekend, and maybe their deliveries had been disrupted by the snow.
Eventually we were told that there was another filling station in the next
village, 3 km away, so we set off, and managed to find it. However, it was a
fully automated garage, with no one in attendance. I tried 3 different credit /
debit cards, but received a message that I understood as “card not accepted”.
So I put in some cash, expecting that I would be dispensed that amount of fuel.
No luck there. The machine just ate my money and dispensed a receipt but no
fuel. In disgust at this point I gave up, returned the hire car and I will talk
to the hire car company tomorrow.
Distance covered today - 0 nautical miles
Total distance covered - 0 nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)
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