I met the Samwells just through a coincidence really, 9 years ago. Chris sent me an email basically saying that I am working on a project for the National Geographic regarding Explorers and are you interested to be part of it? I said yes, of course, and we went through a lot together. A film came out of it and then we lost touch due to a specific obstacle that has and still is making life very difficult.
However,why dwell on obstacles and problems in these dififcult times where other people worry too much?
Anyway, Chris and his family, a tough lot, living out in the sticks in an old farm outside Girona in Spain. It is Chris, his wife and four daughters and a bunch of dogs, ducks and hens. See photo here to the left. Chris is like the rest of his family great personalities. He is a producer of film and documentaries, who has gone through a lot of hardships in life and I respect that a lot. It is, for me, easy to respect people who have gone through a lot and return to life full of possibilities and free of bitterness and hate. If it is one thing I dislike is people in the West who complain about life, simple things, when they have all possibilties most people just dream about. Not an unheard of thing in Europe, complaining and moaning about nothing. And becoming bitter from nothing.
I went to visit Chris because I wanted him to be part of the new set up for the great Arabian project and I also brought a very good friend o f mine, Anders Åberg, who had, as always a bunch of great ideas, and as always -you tend to forget these things with time- we ended up in a roller coaster visit. Chris is not the slimmest person on earth and talks incessently, throws out a hundred ideas per second, phones half the world on one of his 3-7 mobile phones and at the end, you wonder if he heard a thing of what you said, since you never get to finish a sentence and if he will be alive tomorrow. Because it is all based on his great generosity, big heart and plenty of food and booze. Not a dead moment with old Chris.
At the end we signed an agreement with Chris on a handwritten piece of paper and if all gos well, which it at the end always does if you have a positive outlook on life, we will produce a series of six programmes. Great news as you can understand! Expedition Arabia here we come!