Synopsis "The Revolutionary Christmas Present (in English)"
Jeric Miller, eight, is living on an estate in King's Cross. But diagnosed with every emotional-behavioural middle-child attention-seeking syndrome in the book, he is desperately trying to find a way to escape. His counsellor agrees he needs a change. His parents too, in desperate need of something to save their marriage from the misery and monotony of the London grind, are searching for something to rekindle their relationship.And so, seeing hundreds of thousands of protestors on the television forcing the president of Romania to flee, it seems only natural to pack up their camper van and drive across Europe to join the revolution. It would be a Christmas on the road. Within three hours they are ready to leave, and that night find themselves camping in the middle of a field somewhere in Germany. For five days they battle across Europe - through Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia - in their rusty old VW camper, enduring the bitter Siberian winds, with no heating, no working radio, and a seemingly infinite supply of Instant-Noodle. Along the way they meet a variety of people who help them - a German woodcutter, two elderly gift-shop workers at the Mozart Museum, the Ambassador at the British Embassy in Belgrade; they see a display of natural wonders - the majesty of the Rhine Valley, the snow peaks of the Alps, the Golden Iron Gate on the Danube; and they encounter a plethora of problems - whether it be ripping off a street boy, their van breaking down, or having to bribe the Romanian border guards with bottles of whiskey. Christmas on the road certainly proves a challenge.Arriving in Romania, however, the excitement of careering cross Europe succumbs to the sombre reality of Romania under curfew and gunfire. The streets are filled with dead bodies, the piazzas studded with tanks, and houses filled with families scared for their lives. Yet the news of Ceausescu's death eventually arrives, bringing relief and exaltation across Bucharest and throughout Romania, as his execution is shown live on television. Finally the parties break out; finally the people can believe they have won. This is the moment the people can finally move on towards their brighter future, and forget the brutality of their past. It is the moment that wounds can be healed - for Jeric, for his family, for Romanians around the world. It is the moment Romania can enter their new, democratic dawn.
