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I can't blame them. I stuck out like a sore thumb - what were they supposed to make of this strange pilgrim? Groundbreaking eco disaster tourist? Greenpeace snoop? Industrial espionage? So there was an inevitability about the police car slowing down and two armed cops (one with shades) stepping out and asking what I was doing. I know enough Hungarian to say (in a decent accent) "I'm sorry, I come from England. I don't speak Hungarian. Do you speak English?" They didn't, but they wanted to see my passport. And they hadn't heard of Miklos Mold either. Maybe these are out of town cops. (Oddly enough, for a trip full of oddly enoughs - funny how coincidences multiply when you pray - oddly enough the guy I sat next to on the flight back, his cousin is working as a police officer in the area. Maybe one of them was him.)

And there are a lot of police cars on patrol, ostensibly to stop theft from vacant (utterly trashed) properties, but some of the locals at the town hall meeting were complaining that they get stopped four times a day to show their papers, but when something is actually getting nicked noone gets, well, nicked.

Anyway, God was ahead of me on this one. About forty minutes earlier, I'd only been in Kolontar for a minute when I rounded the first corner towards the street that leads to the red zone and a car pulled up with a woman called Monika. She spoke English, said she worked for the Christian community down here, and seemed pretty choked when I said why I was in Kolontar. Turns out she's also a journalist from Budapest. Anyway, we didn't chat for long, and I headed towards the reservoir wall, or as close as I dared. And on the way back the police thing happened, and while I was still rummaging in my bag for my passport, she pulled up in her car - instant translation of why I was there, bemused looks on the face of the cops, and then I say "Yes, my dad was a policeman for 30 years, and he collects badges from around the world. Do you have any spares on you?" Shades cop rummages in the glove box for a velcro shoulder flash, then it's photo time.

No documentary is really complete without at least one near-arrest.

Oh, and another thing about God's timing. Monika said that if I'd have arrived a week before, the whole area was still cordoned off by the Disaster Management team, and I wouldn't have been allowed in. So going at Christmas wouldn't have been a smart move. And if I'd've left it until the Easter break, the 250 houses in Devecser would likely have been bulldozed (which I heard they were planning to do in March.)