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Claude Madness16 Jul 2006
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A typical road block
Uzbek police. They gave us a sticker, the big one.
Stopped to check the oil
Sorry, I have to wash my hair tonight.
Claude Madness
When we travel from city to city, town to town, we generally see a lot of interesting characters and we always have a lot of admirers, or should I say Claude has a lot of admirers. Whether we are driving through a quiet rural village, bustling city or along a long straight stretch of road, we turn people's heads and they stop what ever work is being done. Then there are the police road blocks. When we see police officers on the side of the road, we can guarantee that we will be stopped. Not for doing anything wrong mind you but just so that they can have a look at Claude and also some like to have there photo taken with Claude as well. When there only seems to be one policeman on duty, it can very quickly turn into six. These six policemen then seem to attract other bystanders thinking something is wrong. This can then multiplies into 30 people standing around Claude and this then stops the traffic. The police, who originally stopped us for a look, suddenly realise the affect they or Claude has created and hurry us along dispersing the crowd and trying to create order again. This can happen three to four times a day; we are used to it now. This is turning into just another day in the life of Claude and we are along for the ride. Another example of Claude madness is when people are so captivated in him that we (dad and I) are often over looked and they open the door for a look inside as if we are not there. When we wave to the people staring, they get a shock that there are actually people inside Claude and that he is actually a gliding, graceful powerhouse of a car. There must be thousands of photos taken on cell phones of Claude as he is often the star of many photo shoots as we stand by and watch. He was even in a wedding video when the convoy caught up with us and spent five or ten minutes filming him instead of the newlyweds. Claude truly is a rock star (as dad would say) and I think that he should be part of the UN, to spread the message of peace not war around the world. I don't think that we have seen one angry upset person after Claude has driven past; he is an automatic smile creator. Matt.
