Second installment

The return trip to Heathrow went by the without a hitch and I soon arrived at the airport, in I went to see where I was to check in. After thirty minutes I went through customs and into the departure lounge, I didn't have enough money to buy presents for everyone so I just bought a large bottle of Scotch so that everyone could have a drink when I celebrated the New Year with my fellow freedom fighters back in Briest,the planes number was called and I boarded and shortly took off. It was only two and a half hour flight so by the time the food had been served we were almost in Vienna. We started to descend, touchdown, through customs and onto the bus for the train station. On arriving I found out that the train for Zagreb was the next morning so I went to the waiting room to try and get some sleep but it was almost impossible with all the coming and going of people. Eventually the departure time arrived and I boarded the train, found an empty compartment and almost immediately fell asleep, it wasn't long before the borders, Austria, Slovenia and then into Croatia, it wouldn't be long before we arrived in Zagreb. After arriving I went straight to the press center to make a few calls and one to our favorite car hire company, they had one available and I went to pick it up. There was only one thing to do before I headed back to Osijek and that was to ring Ernie and see if he wanted me to do while I was in Zagreb, he asked me to give someone a lift to Briest and he gave me his number, I rang him and arranged for a time and place to meet him as I didn't want to waste time. As we had arranged I picked him up and we set off, his name was Peter and he was Italian, he only spoke broken english but I could understand him fairly well, he had been fighting in Gospic and hated the enemy as much as I did, he was also a friend of Ernies, it seemed that we would get on very well if only because of those reasons. After five hours of driving and getting lost once we arrived at the outskirts of Osijek, I was very happy to see the streets and buildings of my second home, it would not be long before we reached Briest. As we drove through the center of town I showed Peter the places that were important and looked around myself for any signs of new damage, there were some but not as much as I had expected, at least maybe the casualty must be lower because of the festive season, that was probably the best present I could have received. We left Osijek and headed for the base, it wasn't long before we turned into the street and I hoped everyone was ok and that there had been no problems while I had been away.

As we drove up the road leading to our base I could see that everyone was outside and as we got closer I found out why, our local commander James was visiting(for what reason I didn't know), so we slowed down and turned into the driveway. We got out and walked towards Ernie and the rest of the commanders, I shook hands with everyone that was outside and Ernie embarrassed Peter like is customery in Croatia, handshake was enough for me, I wanted to get inside as I was not interested in what the commanders were talking about, the real fighters were inside, the one's outside just planned and gave orders. Everyone was there and I shook hands with most of them, they all acted as though they were glad to see me back but I was especially glad to see George, Nigel, Alan as they had been with me since I had arrived in Laslovo. We went upstairs and they filled me in with everything that had happened while I was away, they told me that it had been relatively quiet and that they had been building up supplies of mines and that we had a few new recruits. It seemed that now with Ernies friend Peter we had a good team for the laying of mines and the training of all our unit. The next day was New Years Eve and most of the day was spent acquiring food and drinks for a party that Ernie thought was a good way of celebrating the end of the old and the beginning of the new hopefully better, I had missed Christmas but at least I was going to be here for tonight with my second family. Everyone was told that they could have a drink but not too much as we were still on the front line and still at war, I didn't think that this order was going to make any difference, they all knew where they were and they all knew the consequences of getting drunk but I knew that perhaps it would be the last for some to celebrate. We all ate, drank with a little bit of Scotch that I had brought back, watching the tv, it was cramped but nobody cared as they only wanted to enjoy themselves. Midnight was close approaching and we all stood up with a glass in our hands waiting for twelve and then the cheers went up, everyone shaking hands and listening to the national anthem on tv,then outside gunfire into the air from all over Osijek, we watched the fireworks but they were only tracer bullets screaming over the night sky, it was a truly amazing and emotional night, the first New Years night for Croatia as an independent country. Everyone had a great time and were all happy to go to sleep as tomorrow was just another day and the war had not miraculously gone away the way that 1991 had, it was still there to be fought and hopefully won.