Neil's Got a Really Good Excuse for a Late Return From Holidays
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By ROOKES, Felicity
NEIL WATKINSON'S boss couldn't really argue with his excuse for being late back to work this week.
He'd got tangled up in factional fighting while on holiday in Lebanon.
Mr Watkinson, a sub-editor at the Taranaki Daily News, was visiting family friends last week when violent clashes erupted.
The country is now on the brink of civil war with at least 54 people killed and more wounded in Beirut and other areas in Lebanon.
"We couldn't get to the airport last Thursday as armed members of the Hezbollah group weren't letting anyone through," he said.
Mr Watkinson, who was travelling with his parents, had two options -- either wait until the airport road was reopened or make a six-hour trip across the border to the Syrian capital, Damascus. They quickly decided to make their escape to Damascus and fly to London from there.
"Our friends knew a taxi company able to get us to over the border and to the airport for $US200," Mr Watkinson said.
"If we had waited for the road to the airport to open up we would still be stuck there. Things just went downhill fast.
"If we hadn't had friends in Beirut who knew the right people to get us out we would still be there. When it turned to custard we just wanted to get out of there.
During the flight to the Syrian border, their Lebanese taxi driver reached a top speed of 185km/h.
"It was definitely an interesting trip. It was short enough and exciting enough, but I think if we had got stuck there the novelty would have worn off," Mr Watkinson said.
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(c) 2008 Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand
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