Roland to the rescue

So, on Tuesday, we were stopped at services in Sweden, when an ambulance pulled up beside Max. There were a couple of guys in the front seat, suitably dressed in emergency staff couture. One of them slid open the big door and a third person emerged, also wearing all the gear. She was laughing and joking with the first guy out of the ambulance. There was a chap in the ambulance, lying down, not looking too well. Another woman stepped out of the ambulance. She looked to be with the guy lying down. There was another ambulance person inside who appeared to be attending to the man lying down.

There seemed to be a problem with the vehicle but this was soon rectified and they reversed out of the space and drove off.

All of that seems perfectly fine and not worth reporting however, an odd thing was written on the back of the ambulance: STAGEFRIGHT Stagehands and Medics. I looked them up but all I could find was a group called Stagefright who worked on building and striking concert and other entertainment rigs. They started in Stockholm but, basically, seem to operate all over Sweden. I couldn’t find anything about the ‘Medics’ though.

There was another logo on the ambulance. This one was for an organisation called Swedish Rescuers. They supply emergency vehicles to wartorn places – think Syria, Ukraine, etc. Vehicles like fire engines and ambulances, for instance. Once we’d discovered that, Mirinda suggested that maybe Stagefright supplies entertainment rigs for wartorn audiences with the added benefit of an ambulance crew and medics if and when required.

I have to admit that I am flummoxed.

Anyway, moving along. We spent the night in Trelleberg in a small AirBnB. In the past we’ve stayed at the big hotel near the dock but I’ve had enough of taking the dogs down to the loo at 05:30 via the lift and over-pass. It’s never pleasant.

So this trip, we changed it up. The AirBnB was about eight minutes from the vet (we have to get the dogs wormed as usual) which is excellent. And, of course, we could have tea and coffee. Well, after we’d been to the nearby garage for some milk.

Possibly best of all, the AirBnB had a back door that led to a small fenced in area for the girls to use. That definitely worked for me. And the dogs, obviously.

As you can see, there was a bit of snow over night. Hopefully conditions won’t be as bad as the last two days. Nicoline told us that around 1,000 cars ended up stuck in the snow yesterday on the E22. I reckon it was all the idiots driving faster than the conditions allowed.

Before boarding the ferry, we had to take the girls to the vet in Trelleberg in order to have their worming treatment. Just like last time, the staff were lovely. Of course, the girls wouldn’t take the pills with fake bacon so they had to have them shoved down their throats. Freya actually chewed hers, though her face pretty much indicated what she thought of it.

It was then time to join the queue of cars waiting for the ferry. There’d been a bit of a scare earlier with an email I received from the ferry company. It said there were changes to our trip. I looked at all the documentation but everything looked the same. Eventually, I wrote to them and asked what the problem was. The ferry was a different one. As Mirinda said, who would that affect?

I think the change of ferry was because they had only a small amount of passengers so they went for the smaller one. The thing is, the layout is different. The girls and settled down for a few hours sat on the floor, surrounded by pictures of Robin Hood and watching the crew go about their business as noisily as possible. Mirinda went for a few roams about the ferry.

Eventually we arrived at Rostock and headed for the hotel which was only 15 minutes away. Which is why we chose it. And, while the reception closes at 10pm and it was 10:15 when we arrived, I’d written ahead to let them know. When we arrived, reception was closed.

I don’t think we’d have survived sleeping in Max, so I called the hotel. Unlike Sweden, not that many Germans speak English. I spoke to two women whose English was marginally better than my German. They were in a very noisy room, which didn’t make it any easier.

Things were getting nowhere fast. Then, the call went out for anyone who spoke English and Roland took charge. He was a guest at the hotel who was there for a conference. He lives in Spain but also speaks fluent English. And German, obviously.

And, basically, he rescued us. He explained the situation to the hotel staff and they, happily came to reception to give me our key. All was good.

And Roland was a very jolly rescuer. We chatted about all sorts of weather conditions in Sweden, Germany and England; basically where we’ll be travelling through. He didn’t have opinion of the weather in the Netherlands.

Eventually, though, we were curled up in bed, waiting for sleep. It was a long day.