Lithuania calling!

Hi Everyone,

Just when you thought it was safe, I'm back. And this time its from a different country!

Yes I decided that anything Andy Thompson (AFT) could do I could do better. So I am in Vilnius, Lithuania for 3 months working with their Customs Authority. To be honest they obviously have been scarred by the experience with Andy but hopefully I can rebuild the relationship.

For some one who really is not comfortable flying, I seem to be continually criss crossing Europe at the moment. Naturally there are no direct flights from Manchester to Vilnius, so I went via Amsterdam Schipol with KLM. Well so I thought. The first leg was with KLM. Lovely big jet, 737-300 series for those who get excited at such detail. The two and a half hour flight from Amsterdam to Vilnius was with their "partner" airline LAL. Yes you have every right to ask who the * is LAL. Lithuanian Airlines of course. And it was a propellor plane the size of a milk float. The overhead luggage cabins had enough space for a briefcase, a coat, three newspapers and a minature bottle of whisky. After that it was completely full. A very overweight Lithuanian managed to occupy the back 3 rows of the plane and the other 4 of us crammed into the remaining space. It was a tiny plane.

Having said all that the flight was very smooth and no problems. Apart from collecting a few television ariels on the way and swerving to avoid a high rise block of flats, we had a straightforward flight. The stewardess was extremely pleasant for someone who had to be bent double the entire time. She only got annoyed when two people stood up at the same time to go to the toilet which sent the plane into a tail spin for a few minutes. But it all got sorted out.

I am staying at the Scania Hotel, which is very nice and has free wifi internet connection (hence the e-mail). Today was the first day with the Lithuanian Customs. Their building here is just around the corner and is luxorious compared to the wreck that housed the Romanian Customs Authority. And there is no group of sour faced deeply wrinkled people (thats what you look like if you smoke) sucking on cigarettes in the corridors of the office. In fact at the beginning of January Lithuania introduced a no smoking policy in all public buildings. It is heaven. So just like in the UK you can go for something to eat and drink without coming out smelling like an ashtray.

In addition, the city is so neat and tidy. Very clean. You can walk on the pavements without having to negotiate cars, wild dogs and beggars. So far I am very impressed with the place. I have managed to see quite a bit of the city because on the way to the restaurant tonight my colleague, Peter Kenton, and I get lost. So it took an hour to find the place. Then on the way home we thought we knew where we were going. And another hour later we found the hotel. But I am sure we will get our bearing eventually.

I was pleased for the walk because dinner had proved to be quite an experience. I ask myself one simple question - why do I listen to Andy Thompson (AFT)? He told me that a typical Lithuanian dish is translated as Zeppelins and I should try them. We went to a Lithuanian restaurant called Zemalciai and they had this dish so I ordered it. Two enormous (admittedly Zepplin shaped) things arrived on the plate. They were grated potatoes squashed back together again around a meat filling that was not a million miles away from a cheap sausage roll filling. This was then covered in some cottage cheese type goo and hard fried bits - bits of what I could not determine. I think if I had eaten a tub of Pollyfilla I would have felt more refreshed than consuming these weighty items. I struggled my way through most of it but could not finish off the last part. The waitress looked quite pleased and as she took it away she called to her friend that she could now block that hole that had appeared in garage wall.

So I had better get off to bed. I just hope it can take the weight of that potato dough in my stomach.

Take care and I'll see if I can dish up some more waffle and nonsense at the weekend.

Andrew.