Man & A Pram , livre ebook

Title Page

A MAN AND A PRAM















By
MARK CUNDY





Publisher Information

APEX PUBLISHING LTD
First published in 2008 by Apex Publishing Ltd
PO Box 7086, Clacton on Sea, Essex, CO15 5WN
www.apexpublishing.co.uk

Digital Edition Converted and Distributed in 2011 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

Copyright © 2008 by Mark Cundy

The author has asserted his moral rights
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition, that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.

Cover Design: Siobhan Smith




Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Mum & Dad, without whom so much in my life would not have been possible.




Foreword

by Chris Tarrant OBE

When a few years ago, a complete stranger called Mark wrote to me saying he was walking round the world, and would I help him with some funding, I thought “yeah, right, walking round the world? Of course you are!” But it was a good cause and I thought he might get as far as Belgium so I sent him a few quid, wished him bon voyage and thought no more about it. A long time later I was watching the local news in some small town in Australia and they carried a brief report about some lunatic pom pushing a baby stroller round the world. “My God” I thought – “it’s him!”
A long time later, I was chatting on my mobile to a mate of mine who was working on a radio station somewhere in deepest Hicksville, USA, and he said “There’s an English nutter on the news here, pushing a pram around the world”. “My God” I thought – “it’s him again … and he’s still going!”
This book is the story of one remarkable man’s devotion to his private Boy’s Own adventure. This is not the tale of a pampered rich boy’s gap year; this is a working class Essex lad’s day by day account of the realisation of a dream.
It started in the planning stage on his dining room table in Southend and never, ever really wandered off course for the 400+ days this epic trip took. He writes candidly of the highs and lows of his amazing journey: deep depression in Poland; bitter cold and infuriating bureaucracy in Russia, the loneliness of New Year’s Eve somewhere in Eastern Europe in a tiny, cheap room shaking his own hand at midnight while singing Auld Lang Syne to himself; of the joy of finally getting to Australia and being able to speak in English again; of the Southern states of the USA; of the joy of arriving in New York, knowing he was almost home; of somehow persuading his 77-year-old dad to join him on the last ‘little hop’ from Salisbury to Buckingham Palace.
It’s an incredible story but this is not a Hollywood script, this is not Forrest Gump, this is an extraordinary tale of a young guy who didn’t just ‘talk the talk’ he really did walk the ultimate walk.




Acknowledgements

I’d like to express my everlasting gratitude to the following individuals and organisations, without whom the walk truly could not have been completed:
Thanks for a bed for the night to:
Amy, Welling, UK
Woodstock Guest House, Sittingbourne, UK
Eric Broos, Brugge, Belgium
Rosemarjim & Matthieu, Gent, Belgium
Olivier & Linda, Antwerp, Belgium
Oostemalle Monastery, Oostemalle, Belgium
Gerrit & family, Glandorf, Germany
Harald, Berlin, Germany
Dom Nad Rzeka Hotel, Skwierzyna, Poland
Hotel Fugo, Konin
Wojiech, Warsaw, Poland
Tor & Mary, Moscow, Russia
Greg Klemm, Moscow, Russia
Fiona, Melbourne, Australia
F1 Motel, Brunswick, Austrlia
Seven Creek Hotel, Euroa, Australia
John & Val, Wagga Wagga, Australia
Shirley Hotel, Bethungra, Australia
Wendy & Lew, Cootamundra, Australia
Carrington Hotel, Harden, Australia
Helen, Rowan & Caroline, Goulburn, Australia
Terminus Hotel, Marulan, Australia
Jeremy Moss Hotel, Moss Vale, Australia
Millagong Motel, Millagong, Australia
Belgo Motel, Belgo, Australia
F1 Motel, Liverpool, Australia
Lynne & Kevin Sullivan, Sydney, Australia
Andrew Plog, Santa Monica, USA
Aira, Los Angeles, USA
Mary McFry, Fontana, USA
Jack, Palms Springs, USA
Marjorie, Quartzsite, USA
St Michael Hotel, Prescott, USA
The View Motel, Cottonwood, USA
Moestlywood Guest House, Sedona, USA
Weatherford Hotel, Flagstaff, USA
Monte Vista Hotel, Flagstaff, USA
Fred, Winona, USA
Travelodge, Winslow, USA
Travelodge, Grants, USA
Jeremy, Ken & friends, Albuquerque, USA
Holiday Inn, Tucumcari, USA
Kenneth, Amarillo, USA
Econo Lodge, Shamrock, USA
Travelodge, Elk City, USA
Days Inn, Clinton, USA
Days Inn, Claremore, USA
Super 8 Motel, Cuba, USA
Days Inn, Eureka, USA
Kristin & Tom, St Louis, USA
Super 8 Motel, Greenville, USA
Steve & Jeannie, Columbus, USA
Cliff & Erika for Buckeye Lake, USA
Wade & Janet for Cambridge, USA
Inn on the Georgian, Somerset, USA
Paula & Al, West Chester, USA
Bill & Linda for Newtown Square, USA
Clare & Farrell, Philadelphia, USA
Amy & Bill, Princeton, USA
TJ for New Brunswick, USA
Redruth Guest House, Redruth, UK
Nebula Hotel, Liskeard, UK
Kathy’s Guest House, Yeovil, UK
Thanks for various acts of kindness to:
Chris Tarrant
Lord (Jeffrey) Archer
Go Travel Insurance, Basildon, UK
Harvey Rose & Sons Opticians, Westcliff, UK
Hoageyweb, Southend, UK
Gaye Boyman
David Billany
Paul & Lisa Schofield
Ian & Cheryl Reynolds
Hoverspeed Ferries, UK
Frau Beckmann, Vinzelburg, Germany
Maria & Pawel, Elk, Poland
Anya, Vladivostok, Russia
Quartzsite Chamber of Commerce
Quartzsite Veteran of Foreign Wars Association
Tiny & Cecil, Quartzsite, USA
Roger, Prescott
Prescott Chamber of Commerce
Roger & Carol, Sedona, USA
Tina, Flagstaff
PJ, Arkansas (for help in New Mexico)
Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce
Hayes (for help at Glenrio, Texas)
Lelita, Mid-Point Café, Adrian, USA
Vega Chamber of Commerce, USA
Elk City Chamber of Commerce, USA
Clinton Chamber of Commerce, USA
Chandler Chamber of Commerce, USA
Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce, USA
Ocology Centre, Maryville, USA
Greenville Chamber of Commerce, USA
Else, Columbus, USA
Mayor Ryan, Brownsville, USA
Somerset Chamber of Commerce, USA
St Stephen’s Catholic Church, McConnellsville, USA
AACR, Philadelphia, USA
Ruth & Ron, Brunswick, USA
Graham & Carol-Ann Payne, Watford, UK
Special thanks to:
Mum & Dad
Margaret
Tom King, Echo Newspapers, UK
Radoslaw & family, Swalzedz, Poland
Hotel Rondo, Kutno, Poland
Natasha, Ludza, Latvia
Highway Patrol Officers/State Troopers of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma & Missouri
Milly & Earl, Salome, USA
Deb & Rachel Misra, Gallup, USA
Tommy, Amarillo, USA
Nancy & Jon for Oklahoma City, USA
Newcastle Medical Centre, nr Newcastle, USA
Mary & Jimmy, Tulsa, USA
Becky & Dick for Zanesville, USA
Pat Spirano, Brooklyn, USA




Breaking Out

I steered the car out of the business park and headed along the familiar route back home after another long day at the office. The 14th of June 2004 was a bright, sunny day and I drove with my jacket off, window slightly open to admit a breeze and let the rest of Watford share my musical tastes from the stereo.
Although I hadn’t had the satisfaction of handing my letter of resignation in to the elusive head honcho himself, I still felt that mixture of the joy of cutting myself free together with the usual anxieties about whether I’d done the right thing. This time, however, things were a little different. No modest sidestep into another office; instead I was giving it all up to go walking around the world.
I’d mostly enjoyed my role as Training & Development Manager, but after the latest takeover (the fifth in seven years) we were all feeling the strain. Our new American owners were very keen that we should ditch what we’d been doing to date and start doing it their way. All I knew was that I yearned to be free from the tedious routine: out of the office, out of the ‘normal’ lifestyle, with no approval needed except my own.
The start of the year had seen pretty much the original Directorate still in place, but by the time I left only one remained. Familiar faces had jumped or been pushed and the company felt less and less like the kind of place I belonged. The idea that by using a different font size on my documents from my colleagues in Hungary I would bring about the fall of the empire was of course amusing, but not in public. The corporate culture was becoming a corporate cult and the business nous of the original team that built the firm was being smothered by layers of uniform ‘quality’ initiatives. Naturally this wasn’t the only reason I decided to go off walking around the world, but t