Raised our Glasses
Life would not be complete without a good old adventure (/slightly dodgy escapade) every now and again.
Are you with me there? I think we all have our own versions of this. Breaking up the patterns of our lives; mixing things up with something out of the norm… in big, or small ways. My song ‘Raised our Glasses’ was inspired by one of the bigger adventures I’ve had; one which I’ll never forget.
A few years back, I went on an epic road trip with my friend Emma, who is one of the most fearless adventurers I know. I find myself sniffing out such friends because of the quality of shenanigans hanging out with them inevitably leads to. We hitched to Germany, drove in a campervan to Turkey, and then took trains and buses through to Jordan.
Setting out on British soil, we arrived at Dover too late to go on the ferry as foot passengers. Which was a bit of a bummer as we were keen to get across the channel that evening. So we flagged down two lorries with a cunning plan to get on board with them as passengers (lorry drivers can only take one passenger each for free, we learned.)
I got on board with Marco, an Austrian driver, and Emma got on board with the driver in front of him. And off we set on the next leg of our journey to Calais. Only, a few moments after we set off in our respective lorries, Emma sort of tumbled out of hers, and ran to my window exclaiming something urgently, as I wound down my window. ‘He’s going to Dunkirk!’ she exclaimed. That was not the plan. Ending up in different cities would have been a bit of a disaster.
Marco wasted no time, as the trucks were moving down towards the ferry. He signaled for Emma to hop in next to him, and for me to creep behind them, behind the curtains where he sleeps. He turned to Emma saying ‘OK, you are my girlfriend.’ And then to me, saying ‘and YOU … are my dog.’ I could only assume that customs would be OK with him having a girlfriend and a dog travelling with him for free. So I accepted my place in his order of things, and hid behind the curtains, alternating giggles with seemingly uncontrollable barks … until we got to passport control, at which point I obviously suppressed both.
On board the ferry, found ourselves joining Marco and a crew of truckers in the professional drivers restaurant. To say we stuck out like sore thumbs is an understatement. Picture two hippy chicks that probably also smelt of hippies, surrouded by a bunch of tattoed truckers … But we were weirdly accepted that evening, as we drank wine with our new friends who were mostly from Latvia, or Slovakia, as it turned out. And who seemed slightly bemused by the whole thing.
‘Oh we raised our glasses to the horizon.
Oh we raised our glasses to the sea
Oh the night was riding in
And we were riding free.’
Getting back on the truck, and climbing behind the curtains again, I know that a security man spotted me. I know because, as I was trying to conceal myself, our eyes met and he shook his head with a half-smile on his face. And as I witnessed customs and passport control checks through a tiny crack between the curtains, I hoped against hope that I would not be rumbled on this somewhat pointlessly cheeky adventure.
It was an absurd escapade where I was inadvertently smuggled across the English channel. These things happen I guess ?
And at the end of the day I got a song out of it. So I can’t really argue with that.
Errr… you can even hear the song, if you haven’t already :). It’s on my album which is not on streaming sites, but you can hear snippets, read about it, and buy it here.
Thanks for being interested in my dodgy story. And have yourself a great day.
Karen x
P.S. I’d love to know if you enjoyed this blog, and whether I should keep them coming ? – please let me know below :). There are stories behind all of my songs which I’d love to share, if you fancy that too? x
