My good turn gone sour!

sciac2001

sciac2001

Joined
Jul 18, 2010
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Bournemouth and Gibraltar
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Last night three young student types - educated,polite, two Austrians and a Swiss - approached me and other motorhomers in the aire at La Linea to see if I had a spare camping gaz cannister for their cooker.
I told them that I didnt have that specific type but seeing that they were’nt getting much joy out of any others I offered them my own camping cooker along with one of my own cannisters so that they could have something warm to eat. I also told them to bring it back in the morning to allow them to have a nice hot drink for breakfast.

Perhaps something was lost in translation because here we are, 2130 hrs the following evening and no cooker/cannister returned.

Joder!

(I was counting on using this cooker/gas combination should we run out of lpg on our Moroccan trip next month. Hopefully I can pop into Leroy Merlin across the Bay and find a replacement.)
 
Val 3 dogs said:
Shame, that leaves a bad taste and a disinclination to do anyone else a favour.
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Some years back while we lived in Zambia we had gone to the seaside in Beira, Mozambique, 600 miles one way. On getting there the cooling fan on the VW Variant came loose which is a pig of a job to get at and 36 mm socket needed, if memory serves me correctly. I searched around the campsite and noticed a VW Van with German plates so approached them for help and discovered they had driven down from Morocco which is some drive! One of them, i think there were three or four, opened the side door and revealed his tool kit which would put many garages to shame. He lent me the socket required and I sorted the problem and returned the kit all on trust! Those were the days, I seem to recall it was 1971. I had learnt that travelling in Africa in a car you must have a fairly comprehensive tool kit but mine was a mere handyman's tool set compared with the kit he had which would have allowed any repair you could think of. Breaking down out there you are truly on your own in many parts. On the other hand a deserted road could reveal a whole town ship once you stopped who offered to help!
 
I did’nt see what motorhome they were in. Didn’t think I’d need to.
There’s quite a few on here.

Ah well, c’est la bloody vie!
 
Wait till Morocco. You can get a small gas bottle that looks like a 907 plus a burner that screws on top. Nice and cheap. 👍👍
 
Spent a bit of time in Gib and observed quite a few bad uns in La Linea including northern Europeans there for the wrong reasons. For sure most locals are decent folks, but it’s also a notorious drug terminus on the smuggling route from Africa and the kind of place I'd take extra care.

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Me and wife on M1 Hungary west band coming into Austria, in the car. At the rest stop we had a stretch, this guy was desperate for petrol in aX5. Nobody helped him. I look at my wife and said it’s only a 5L and a can. We had a spare 5L in the boot. We give it to him, and he say we wait for you on the first petrol station on motorway. About 15-20km we pull in the petrol station, we see the guy, the he leaves. Oh well it s only a 5L can. Next as we exit 2-3km down the motorway the guy was waiting for us on the hard shoulder. I lower the window and said it’s illegal to stop. The guy drove behind us, until we reached the Austrian border que. He gave us the full fuel can, and a box of chocolates, that costed more than the fuel. He did not see us at the petrol station, despite being in front of us 5-7m. It’s amazing what stress can do.
 
seasideBill said:
Spent a bit of time in Gib and observed quite a few bad uns in La Linea including northern Europeans there for the wrong reasons. For sure most locals are decent folks, but it’s also a notorious drug terminus on the smuggling route from Africa and the kind of place I'd take extra care.
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With all due respects, La Linea is not a “notorious drug terminus”..
You are mistaking the town with the area around Algeciras and Tarifa where the distance from Morocco is shortest. Algeciras is also a main container hub where considerable amounts of drugs are regularly intercepted from South America.
The popular press media in Spain always tries to associate drug smuggling with Gibraltar and filmage and photos always have Gibraltar in the background even when the smugglers have been detained across the Bay and nowhere in our jurisdiction.
The notoriety with regards La Linea has always been tobacco smuggling, now also much reduced due to closer price parities, although still evident.
 
sciac2001 said:
Last night three young student types - educated,polite, two Austrians and a Swiss - approached me and other motorhomers in the aire at La Linea to see if I had a spare camping gaz cannister for their cooker.
I told them that I didnt have that specific type but seeing that they were’nt getting much joy out of any others I offered them my own camping cooker along with one of my own cannisters so that they could have something warm to eat. I also told them to bring it back in the morning to allow them to have a nice hot drink for breakfast.

Perhaps something was lost in translation because here we are, 2130 hrs the following evening and no cooker/cannister returned.

Joder!

(I was counting on using this cooker/gas combination should we run out of lpg on our Moroccan trip next month. Hopefully I can pop into Leroy Merlin across the Bay and find a replacement.)
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Even if your cooker is not returned your act of kindness will be remembered and at some point those student types will provide an act of kindness to someone else.

It may not feel ‘right’ for you at the moment but at some point your actions will have a positive impact on those student types and will make for a better world 👍

Who knows it may get returned with a pack of beer but if not all you have given away is a small cooker and some gas and made some lives better
 
A few years ago when travelling back through Northern France a British reg Pug 309 overtook me at quite a rate of knots. It suddenly slowed with a puff of blue smoke and a bang that I heard in the cab.
I stopped to offer assistance as it was obvious that he wasn't going any further.
On investigation you could see the hole in the side of the block where the conrod had tried to escape.
The young guy was a bit shook up and apparently the engine had just been rebuilt!!
He was on his way to his parents house near Rouen so I offered him a lift as he didn't have any breakdown cover.
Anyway I was offered food and drink and the cost of the diesel when I dropped him off.
There are still some decent people out there and you get a lot of satisfaction from helping somebody out of a bad situation.
 
Back in the late 60's a small group of German boy scouts were walking along the shore of the Solway Firth when my Dad who was working on the salmon nets came across them. They were wild camping and had obviously overestimated the task as they were out of food and water. My Dad told them to call at Number 3 in the next village they came to and my Mum would sort them out (ex Brown Owl !) No mobile phones then, so it was a complete surprise for my mum when they turned up. I was sent to the chicken run and she made them all fried egg sandwiches and a pot of tea and biscuits. They were very grateful and presented my Mum with a small scarf that smelled of wood smoke, she kept it in our bureau and it still had the Smokey smell even years later !

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sciac2001 said:
With all due respects, La Linea is not a “notorious drug terminus”..
You are mistaking the town with the area around Algeciras and Tarifa where the distance from Morocco is shortest. Algeciras is also a main container hub where considerable amounts of drugs are regularly intercepted from South America.
The popular press media in Spain always tries to associate drug smuggling with Gibraltar and filmage and photos always have Gibraltar in the background even when the smugglers have been detained across the Bay and nowhere in our jurisdiction.
The notoriety with regards La Linea has always been tobacco smuggling, now also much reduced due to closer price parities, although still evident.
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No mistake, not dubbed ‘Narcoville’ for no reason. Maybe it’s not the home of the smuggling mechanisms but certainly has more than its fair share of residents who live on the proceeds and associated criminal gang activity. You obviously know the place, as I do having spent time in Gibraltar when my daughter lived there. We’d happily cross the border by day and use the local shops, restaurants and marina but would you feel safe walking the streets of La Linea at night away from the central area? Not one for me. Quite a bit of it, particularly around Camping Sur Europa is rundown and grim.
 
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Update:

Faith in human nature returned...... as is the cooker!

Although 4 days late - and I could easily have moved on from this aire - after a superb xmas dinner at my cousin’s, we returned to the motorhome this evening to find our cooker on our electric step along with a few bonbons! They used all the gas in the canister and so I am happy that they managed to eat/drink something hot.

I have definitely now put it down to a language misinterpretation where they must have thought that as we would need it only when we get to Morocco in mid-January, that we would stay here until then.

(I wonder how many wars have been started as a result of language misinterpretations.)

Now to find replacement canisters.....Carrefour or Leroy Merlin across the Bay are touted as possible sources.
 
We were on a Stellplatz in Germany where the hook-up was at a premium. One of those ones where everyone is watching for someone to unplug and jump up to grab it. We were lucky enough to be next to a socket and as a lady unplugged, I jumped up and plugged my cable in. Just as I inserted my Euro to get power another lady flew around the corner with her hook-up....too late. I could see something was wrong, it was not a case of being beaten to the socket. Through conversation it turned out she was heading off but for some reason her starter battery was flat. I disconnected and allowed her to connect and when her hook up cable was too short allowed her to use mine to reach her van. We messed around for some time and later in the day the van started and off she went.
As I was helping her, I was laughing and joking with the lady who collects the money on the Stellplatz. Almost a year later we turn up around 6pm on a Friday afternoon to find a very busy Stellplatz and people being turned away. As I was looking at the next location to go too, the lady who collects the money, same lady I was speaking with when the lady had the flat battery comes running over with much waving of the arms to tell us she would move some vans to get us in, "always room for helpful campers" was the comment. So good turns do sometimes get repaid and it did on this occasion.

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