Phil is back from France, having attended the European Jeepers convention.

The event went very well, Phil took his newest acquisition, the red J K and a couple of buddies for company; its surprising how much room there is in a Jeep, for people and their stuff. In a bid to cut down on luggage the guys stayed in hotels rather than take tents. Generally this was thought to be quite a good idea, not just for the saving of luggage space, but also in case the weather was bad. In a scene reminiscent of a 4X advert one of the guys insisted on taking a crate of beer, you learn a lot about your friends when you live together for a couple of days.

The usual last minute panics included the hotel booking, the paper printed confirmation got lost and it transpired someone's wife had deleted the original message after an e-mail tidy up. So a phone call was made in Inspector Clouseau type French; at the end of which neither side had a clue if they were booked in or not. The time spent on all this meant there was now a dash for the ferry.

As often as not in these situations; all turns out well, it's the doubt that gets to you. In this case all did turn out well, made the ferry in good time, the hotel was booked, and the weather stayed hot.

At the event itself Phil wasn't keen on taking the more advanced off road runs, after all you had to get home again in the Jeep; so he stuck to the blue classified runs, but still managed to scratch the paintwork on some stubborn bushes.

All the guys posess a mechanics stomach, so going to France may have posed another cutural problem: diet. However in the event all were satisfied with the food at the hotel and at the off road site. To reinforce the guys assimilation into the continental way of life, they stopped off on the way back to the ferry to pick up some duty free wine. Rumour has it one of the guys bought a crate of beer, you can't change some folk.