【走進北極圈】（1）London Calling

經曆了黑夜裏的一番顛簸，晨曦中，飛機帶著我們盤旋在倫敦的上空。倫敦，我又來了！

上次來到倫敦，是為了前往多佛（Dover）港，從那裏搭乘遊輪穿越波羅地海。時間過的真快，一晃五年過去了。《穿越波羅地海》的遊記至今也還沒有寫完，不過當時拍攝的照片都已經存檔，也許等以後生活節奏慢下來後，會有更多的時間來回顧。當然有些地方還會故地重遊，就像今天為了從多佛港搭乘遊輪北上挺進北極圈，又一次來到了倫敦。

Thames River, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, 還有Greenwich，此時此刻又出現在眼前在腦海。

在《穿越波羅地海》的係列遊記中，雖然有兩篇是寫多佛港的， （2）多佛白色峭壁，和（9）多佛白色峭壁追記，但當時卻沒能有機會到訪著名的多佛城堡。這次早晨抵達Heathrow機場後，我和驢友竟不惜花費200多英鎊叫了一輛出租車，為的是能盡早抵達120公裏外的多佛港，以便在下午5點前開船前能有機會參觀多佛城堡。

車開離Heathrow機場後，起先一路都算通暢，但在進入多佛港所在的Kent County後，開始堵車了。車隊長龍大擺，我們不斷地查看時間，碎碎念叨著堵車到底是什麽原因。三個多小時過去了，就在我們似乎已經可以看到前方的多佛海灘時，我們的出租車司機沒能踩住刹車閘， 咣的一聲撞上了前麵的車輛。

由於是在堵車的慢速行駛中撞車，衝撞力不大，人員無恙，我們的車破相後還可以繼續開動。

事故發生後雙方的表現卻令人感慨。我們的出租車司機其實是因為在玩弄手機走了神，沒能及時踩住刹車才撞上前麵的車輛，他卻毫無自省，一直口口聲聲怪刹車閘不靈。而被撞車的大媽下車後的第一句話卻是問候司機“are you all right？”，拍完照，抄完信息，臨了還安慰司機說：“sometimes accidents do happen, take it easy.”

從Heathrow機場出來四個多小時後，我們終於抵達多佛港。等辦完登船手續後，我們被告知由於港口附近無法預測的交通堵塞，我們的遊覽活動最好不要超出walking distance，以免誤了開船時間。多佛城堡看著似乎不遠，就在對岸，但還繞過去還需要10分鍾車程，所以我們隻能遺憾地作罷了。

在我們後來結束這次旅行，從多佛港返回Heathrow機場又遇到堵車時才了解到，多佛港的堵車源於“Operation Stack”（click to read more from Wikipedia），我們正好遇上了今年6月29日起實行的“Operation Stack”。下麵轉錄一段Wikipedia上關於今年“Operation Stack”的解釋：

On 29 June 2015 Operation Stack was implemented due to industrial action taken by French employees of the MyFerryLink company, as a result of disagreements regarding the imminent takeover of the company by DFDS. This has been the first ever incident which has seen the implementation of Phase 4 of Operation Stack, which involves closing the M20 from Junctions 9 to 11 coast-bound, meaning that continent-bound HGV traffic was stacked all the way from Junction 8 at Hollingbourne, southeast of Maidstone, to Junction 12 at Cheriton, near Folkestone. Operation Stack began to be removed from 3 July onwards, with more than 30 miles of parked HGVs needing to be cleared. The cost to the United Kingdom economy was estimated at around £250 million.[22]

Over 4,600 HGVs were eventually cleared from the M20 by 4 July,[22] however soon afterwards Phase 2 was implemented again for Eurotunnel freight traffic, due to over 150 migrants storming the Calais tunnel portal. This is a result of the ongoing migrant crisis in Calais, which is allegedly due to the French government's critical lack of organisation and security at Eurotunnel, and port facilities throughout Calais.[23] Operation Stack resumed later during the month. Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe complained the problem was too large for Kent County Council to deal with and met with the Home Secretary, Theresa May for discussion.[24]

我們的遊輪緩緩駛出多佛港，眼前的一切仿佛又回到了五年前，回到了那次穿越波羅的海的旅行。

不過這次我們不再穿越波羅的海，而是向北挺進，會走的更遠，走進北極圈（Arctic Circle）。。。