When Exceedingly Polite Is Not Enough

4th January

6:30 am Just been on hold for a brief 45 minutes (a shorter session) and the exceedingly polite American Mastercard people have issued me with a number to receive some emergency cash (a two minute task). Early on the second day any semblence of respect for the exceeding politeness of the Mastercard representatives was overtaken by my desperate need for action in the way of accessing my own money and being able to get back on a schedule that was days behind.

Actions do speak louder than exceedingly polite words and no amount of courtesy from the American Mid-West can make up for being on hold for hour after hour. Their Australian counterparts at the Commonwealth Bank lacked the US level of courtesy and proved even less effective. Several long distance phone calls eventually got them moving. It was a day later than originally promised and caused an incredible amount of inconvenience and stress but we're able to make our way to Barry's Bay and get on with our Canadian adventure.

We'll head off in our new vehicle. We are now the new owners of a Jeep Grand Cherokee Loredo purchased from Toronto's leading Albanian used car salesman. The deal was sealed in his Albanian restaurant and was reminiscent of a movie scene, the sort of movie that Marianne doesn't even like to watch let alone participate in.

Throughout this ordeal Veselko and Lenka have been fabulous. With shelter, food and ready transport they’ve supported us and enabled us to make it to the other side. Alongside them was Sandi’s husband, Zeljko, who helped us track down a suitable vehicle within a few short days. Quite an achievement when everything was considered.

We also received wonderful support from Susan’s parents Roger and Jean throughout this time. They then followed this up by taking us up to Barry’s Bay and settling us in