brilliant maestros all
standing ovation here
this is already easily our finest happy hour yet
map message 9737
data message 7029
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Jan S. Krogh"
<jan.krogh@t...> wrote:
> GBBE Arrested At BYLTPL!
>
> -- Already on the Great Baltic Border Expedition's 2nd day on its
way from
> the BYLTPL tripoint we were arrested by the Polish Border
Police,
> GBBE-member Hans Peter Nissen reports on telephone from
Augustow, Poland. --
> But after about 45 minutes when the officer understood actually
who he had
> arrested and this small misunderstanding eventually was
cleared up, Mr.
> Nissen continues.
>
> Augustow, Poland: The ten person big group headed by Mr.
Peter Hering found
> their way towards the tripoint on an old Polish-Soviet road in a
surprising
> good condition. -- Usually these roads are either destroyed or
overgrown by
> trees. Here we found it in an excellent condition leading us
easily to the
> tripoint, the Danish border enthusiast reported.
>
> Mr. Nissen explains how the group discussed actually where
The Point was
> located. Mr. Jesper Nielsen, a senior map expert, studied the
river bend
> point in all possible (and impossible) angles before he
declared that the
> Byelorussian-Lithuanian-Polish tricountries' meeting point had
to be in the
> middle of an L-shaped bend, nicely marked by three border
stones. (A lot of
> photos were taken and will be posted in this forum as soon as
the
> expeditions reaches the civilization.)
>
> Not much later when the GBBE group was searching for a
possible closed
> border road a jeep rapidly approached, and a very angry officer
jumped out
> of it and shouted terrible loudly in Polish on the poor travellers
what
> imagined they were doing on this godforsaken place! Ms. Ann
R. Kennard, a
> researcher at Faculty of Languages and European Studies of
the University of
> the West of England in Bristol was at this point the only person
in the
> group who understood what this official actually said in his
greetings to
> the expedition's members, told him back in a very slightly
broken Polish
> that they were members of an international border delegations
and showed him
> copies of the delegation's correspondence with the Polish
Government about
> the group's mission. Nevertheless our Polish friend from the
Straz Graniczna
> RP the famous Polish State Border Guards was not born
yesterday, and was
> bold enough to order his headquarter to make a special and
most urgent
> international call to the mentioned faculty on the British Isles!
Soon
> thereafter he was faced with the message that Ms. Kennard
actually was Ms.
> Kennard and calmed almost down to a normal behaviour.
>
> It was then this somewhat brusque Polonian discovered a
number of footprints
> in the boundary sand which is dividing the Byelorussian and
Polish
> territory. The Border Police officer further inquired if they
understood
> that they actually more or less had violated the Schengen
border (i.e. the
> one counted from 1 May 2004) - the most remote point of the
> rather-soon-going-to-be European Union's external frontier?
--Who of you
> have been there?!?, he asked. Everybody raised their hands,
simply because,
> yes, all the ten members in fact had been over the border (Most
of them not
> only once!). -- Now we have no chance to separate your
footprints from any
> Afghan, Indian, Azerbaijan or other asylum seeker's, he
complained more or
> less completely broken.
>
> And this point the officer understood that neither his jeep or his
jail did
> not have place for this American-European border people. He
was ready to
> make his next move. --You are not going to stay in my district
also
> tomorrow?, he nervously inquired. When Ms. Kennard stated
that they did not
> have any such plans, but to move towards Kaliningrad he at
once smiled from
> ear-to-ear. Then Mr. Hering himself handed over a small
souvenir from the
> delegation, a cute small whistle, and both sides said a nice
farewell to
> each other.
>
> The second day of the GBBE had ended.
>
> --------------