Chapter Twenty Seven
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
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ell, we still had a month or so before taking up my posting and informed BMC we would like our Maxi before June to take with us to Holland. Despite promises from BMC, this never worked out. We kept our Austin 1300 and travelled around the country looking at houses but to no avail. The last week in the UK, I left the car with Frank and Aly to sell on our behalf. BMC promised to deliver the car by mid July a month late which meant I had to take a couple of days off to return to the UK to pick up the car from the BMC depot at Acton in London. And so our last posting came about and we left for Holland by train. Bedford to Liverpool Station in London. London to Harwich, then on to the ferry for the Hook of Holland. We also had to pick up our dog Fritz from the isolation centre at Harwich before boarding the ferry. The kennels at Leighton Buzzard had to deliver the dog under Government rules. Fritz was in a very poor condition and, although we had a certificate of health from the vets in the UK we worried about the Dutch authorities at the Hook. The night trip across was smooth. Arriving at dawn at the Hook we had to wait on board for a good hour or two because of Fritz having to be checked by the Dutch vets. The vet duly arrived and gave Fritz a thorough check-up before we were given clearance, but with the stipulation that he go into a hospital kennel at The Hague for treatment, straight away. Unfortunately we were not met by any of the Embassy staff, a usual procedure - but made our way to the station and entrained for the Hague. Still there was no one at The Hague Station but with the help of a railway official I managed to phone the
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