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THE STAR IS NOT THE CAR...

Chris Evans | 15:01 UK time, Tuesday, 29 July 2008

So we're in Barcelona...

...we arrive on the Saturday of the gig, lunchtime.

I go up to the concierge and I tell him we are going to the Nou Camp that night to watch "The Greatest Musical Performer on the Planet, " Brucie Boy. I enquire as to how the transport situation will be when the concert finishes at around 1.30 a.m. and 110,000 people are all trying to get away to which he says, "not great."

"Cabs?" I enquired further. He just laughed.

So next I ask about a car with a driver who speaks good English. He makes a quick phone call and says.

"Zees is a-one of da best cars I belieeve to be In Barthelona!"

Wow, good, great.

"Zeees carrr is meenimumm four hour hire at 400 EUROS. Eeet mus be back 'ere by wun ozerwise it ees anozzer undred twenty euros every hour after that."

Now seeing as we would have to leave the hotel at nine and the concert wasn't going to finish till after one this meant we would indeed need to go into a fifth hour and the new tariff of euros - 520.

At that day's rate of exchange this worked out to be 420 pounds - ish GBP.

Furthermore, considering the Nou Camp was only fifteen minutes away, thirty minutes there and back, I thought this a fools price to pay.

"Would he do a deal?" I asked.

"Zat is ees price," said his mate.

No way to do business I thought. There's always a deal but not with this guy it would seem. I presume he ended up spending the night watching telly and wondering how he was going to keep up the payments for this shiny new car ee 'as outside 'is 'ouse.

As the afternoon progressed and the stark high noon of Barcelona began to soften, Tash wondered whether or not I had sorted out the car thingy yet.

"No, not yet dear," I replied, "but I'm on to it, all over it."

Well of course I didn't know what the heck we were going to do.

4.32 p.m. Bruce - minus six hours and counting..."Dear God please help."

At which point guess what? He did.

A young man approached me with a leaflet which read....

Scooter hire 18 euros a day...

Eighteen euros ! For twenty four hours !!!! And even less if you hired it for longer.

And in and out of the traffic. And cool. And continental. And Yeeeeeeeeees.

So this is what we did. It took us just ten whizzy minutes to get to the stadium and only SEVEN (got the hang of it now) minutes to get back to our hotel afterwards. Not only this but we kept it for the next two days and had a blast in and out fo the traffic and up the mountains and everything and everyhwere. Total fuel cost SIX EUROS. With a tip the whole magnificent episode came in at a hundred EUROS including insurance.

No better way to travel in a foreign city basked in sunshine. I almost felt chic.

My wife thought I was a genius.

CLP.

2008.

X.

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