MGF Treffen 2002 day 7

Friday 6th September – Day 7

Well, what can I say, this was a truly fantastic day and one I will remember for a very long time. Imagine an MG convoy of your mates, put the convoy abroad on holiday and then factor in some superb scenery. Finally add in a glorious sunny day. Sound good? OK, now add another 135 MGs of all shapes and sizes, put the convoy right into the heart of Berlin and then add crowds of people (including kids chanting 'England, England, England'). On top of this include union flag bunting and balloons to the cars, then to top it all off, have the Berlin 'Weiße Maüse' (White Mice) police motorcycles zooming up an down the convoy stopping traffic, cyclists and pedestrians (and giving them a ticking off as well) whilst the convoy runs every red traffic light to our destination!! This was an incredible drive and one that any vehicle fan would be proud to have participated in. It doesn't get much better than this! :-) Despite the high petrol duty, the ludicrous transport policy, the imbecilic expansion proposals for the airports and the fact that we voted a maniac into power who looks like he's going to drag us into another USA versus the middle east war, today I was proud to be British. There are people in our country who can produce cars that generate this kind of event in far flung places and have been doing so since the 1920's and this I feel is pretty unique. The German organisers did a marvellous job today, how they pulled it off I have no idea, can you imagine going to the Metropolitan Police with a proposal like this for London? They would laugh in your face (shame!) Anyway, I have jumped the gun a bit here; I shall go back to the beginning…

We all met up in the reception at the diabolically early time of 6:30am (well, it felt early to me after staying up late to type up yet another day's report – aren't I good to you?) We had breakfast and then there was just enough time to leather off the dew before we set off for the start point rendezvous. I mentioned yesterday that there was a surprising lack of pre-was MGs in our number, well this was attended to this morning as anything and everything arrived, from an M-Type Midget and WA Tourer (gorgeous) through to YA and YB Saloons and P-Type Midgets. There was a couple of odd things about the parade though, there still were no modern triple Ms (Metro, Maestro, Montego) and there was only 1 MG Midget. Also, if it weren't for us Treffeners, there would only have been 2 MGFs and the local dealership's MG TFs, a nice lot of Z cars though. Once at the rendezvous, the Treffen contingent decorated their cars with bunting, including a union flag on a bamboo (jack) flag pole from Ted which was cunningly designed to stand about two and half feet up out of the folded hood / T bar, complete with string 'guide ropes' to secure it – nice one Ted, there certainly was no mistaking us! :-) I had also managed to blag one of the car union jacks that was doing the rounds during the jubilee (remember, I was in Brittany at the time, so I missed the boat so to speak), from one of the Essex Roadsters (thanx Jason). This was placed on the plexi-glass screen of my FX Windstop, finally I produced some balloons for my stubby aerial and handed the rest round the group. David and Jackie unfurled a huge X-Power flag and then discovered that attaching it securely to the car was going to be a problem, still it looked fantastic in the static line-ups.

We set off in convoy and headed for the city centre, passing all the sights including the markers for the wall and the Brandenburg gate. I have a lot of it on video and will try to put together a CD ROM when I get home. I cannot express how good this run was, but if I go on anymore about it you will stop reading so I'll skip the next bit (it has been covered above anyway) and get to the finish point which was the Communications Museum in the heart of Berlin where we parked up in two separate groups. This museum, as well as being our lunch stop, contains exhibits to do with all forms of communication, the building itself is rather spectacular, but some of the exhibits are a bit strange! Most importantly of all though, on the top floor there was an Internet section and all of us made a bee line for it and surfed the BBS. From my point of view I was interested in how my 'prose' has been received back home and also to view the pictures on >> http://www.mgf.be << the others however were curious as to what I had written and at one point a large part of the BBS regulars were all posting on the BBS from the same table! Quite a picture I can tell you, Dieter, Erik, Fran, Ted, Richard, Mike Nunn, David, Mike Satur, Stefan and myself 'BBS surfing in convoy!' :-)

We headed downstairs (eventually) for lunch and then headed off as a group of primarily English speakers to the Bundesrat (German parliament) for a guided tour. As this is an official government building we needed to show our passports to gain entry (you should see Mike Satur's passport photo, it looks like Osma Bin Laden!!!! Than god he shaved off that beard!!!) The Bundesrat building is restored from the days of the wall and was rather neglected when the wall fell. This is not due to a lack of respect by the East Germans; rather it was down to a lack of money and materials to keep up with the maintenance. Today it looks superb and the tour was very interesting (although at one point we sat in the parliament chamber, which was very hot and close, I found myself fighting to stay awake!! It turns out that both David and Mike Satur were doing the same!!)

Eventually we set off back to the hotel in smaller convoys. Upon arrival I discovered that there is a free (for the first 10 minutes) Internet connection in the lobby. This is how I posted the last report for you. It is now just coming up to 7:00pm as I write this, I am going to grab a quick shower before heading down to the terrace for a BBQ with the rest of the Berlin rally group. More tomorrow.

SF (Marriott Courtyard Hotel, Teltow, near Berlin)