Friday, May 21, 2004
Follow that car
Saint Constantin
Old houses and especially French houses seem to be lacking in electric sockets. For the last few months in our bedroom I've had my clock radio, usually tuned to Radio 5 MW or Radio 4 LW, plugged in via a long extension lead that trails around the bedroom. The last of the niggley finishing off jobs before I could start on my next major project was to put a new socket next to the bed for the radio. I went to the bricolage magasin to buy a new socket but came back with a new cordless drill as well. It's a monster 18V power machine, fantastic. I've already got a drill but it's seen so much action over the last 18 months it a bit tired and the batteries don't hold their charge very well. So I've now got the most expensive socket in the whole house next to my bed. Sleep tight.
The holiday season is really ramping up now. In the last few days we have had quite a few people call at our gites looking for Chambre d'Hôte. I've also noticed the number of cars that are not locals increase substantially. In France there are 96 départements (administrative regions) each with a name and number. We live in Côtes D'Armor (22) and our car number plate is suffixed with 22, so it's very easy to tell when someone is from out-of-town. It's particularly useful, for example, at a tricky road junction/intersection because you can give someone who is unfamiliar a bit of extra consideration. It reminds me of a time when we had a friend over to stay in the winter when nearly all cars have the suffix 22, or 35 (Ille-et-Vilaine is our neighbouring département) . We had to travel in convoy and as I was the lead car he remarked to his passenger in the following car 'I'll just follow the Peugeot with 22 on the license plate'.
| 8:47:34 PM
Follow that car
