Back to Work

Yesterday I actually worked at what I consider to be my main job, for the first time in three and a half years.

It wasn't the longest days work I've ever done, but it was still a long day: picking clients up at 9:00am and getting home at 7:00pm, driving 170km in the process. Claudette was misbehaving slightly: her gear shift still needs fine tuning, but I managed the day without embarassing myself, and the clients left happy.

One of the reasons the gear shift has been thrown out of whack is that I put a new sort of battery in. It's a smaller physical size, but it's actually much more modern and more reliable. Unfortunately, we didn't realise that moving the battery forward as we had done meant that the battery leads interfered with the gear change rods. Oops!

She still isn't perfectly dependable shifting from first to second, which can be embarrassing. I'll have to get in touch with the guru to find out what the solution is.

Road Noise

Electric vehicles were supposed to make the world quieter. However, what they've done is expose a noise problem that's been hiding in plain sight: as engine noise fades away, rumble of tyres on asphalt becomes the dominant sound on the road.

The problem is a measurement gap. Current vehicle noise approval tests happen on a single, specially prepared stretch of asphalt under tightly controlled conditions but real roads are nothing like the test track. They're messy, a mix of surfaces with expansion joints and potholes. That mismatch means regulators and manufacturers don't have any data on how vehicles actually sound in everyday driving, even as noise limits keep tightening.

Because of this there's a project called**TyRoN (Tyre Road Noise)**, a research project led by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in partnership with RWTH Aachen University's Chair and Institute of Highway Engineering, along with the Federal Highway Research Institute, Continental, and several major carmakers.

We encountered the cars being used for the research outside our hotel in the Moselle area. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of the Porsche they were using, which was possibly the most beat up and still road legal electric car I have ever seen. It was properly ugly, especially with all the sensors Gaffa taped to it. This Audi is no beauty queen either.

The project runs from October 2023 to September 2026, so we were lucky to see them in action.

Be Careful 2

There's yet another new stop sign in Preuilly sur Claise, and this one is also very sensible (see Be Careful, from December last year).

It's at the bottom of the marketplace, near l'Image. For as long as I can remember people have found the intersection confusing, with half the population insisting on their right of way, whilst the other half doesn't recognise it as a road and therefore having priority. Luckily no-one is moving at any great speed at that point.

The new stop sign is marked with a red dot.

Roadside Assistance Required

 On Tuesday I sallied forth to do our weekly supermarket shop. We'd had our first frost of the season and it was only 7°C mid-afternoon. First I dropped off a load of laundry at the excellent laundromat in la Roche Posay. Then I continued on to the out of town supermarket, SuperU. I did all my shopping (which came to just under €200! Gasp!!). I loaded the car up and prepared to return for the laundry.

When I tried to start the car it just made click-click sounds, and the battery warning light was on. I knew the battery (Fr. batterie) must have done that sudden death thing that they do, often in response to extremes of weather or of age. I rang Simon to let him know and to tell him what my strategy for solving the problem was going to be. First, go up to Alizon, the Citroen garage over the road from the supermarket, then phone Alexandre Cosson, our regular mechanic in Bossay sur Claise. I suspected both would tell me to phone roadside assistance, and that is indeed what happened.

 

Roadside assisance Stéphane, from Alizon Citroen Garage, photographing the job for his records.

Roadside assistance (Assistance Mondial) is part of our car insurance package. We've used the same insurance company, Thélem, for 15 years and I've never had to phone Assistance Mondial before. Initially you get to speak to a robot, which tells you to go online to the link it's sent you and fill in the form. That's fine, except that my mobile phone contract is the €2 euro a month one with Free, and doesn't include much data. Naturally, I ran out of data about a third of the way through filling out the form. A bit stressed by this, I rang back and told the robot I needed to speak to a person. The robot was getting stuck on some of the voice recognition because of my accent. A person duly came on the line and was very kind and helpful. They asked me where I was and if the recovery vehicle would have any trouble reaching me ie was I in a spacious open air carpark (yes) or a tight underground carpark with height restrictions (no). They told me the average time for a recovery vehicle to arrive was about 40 minutes, and they would be a maximum of an hour away. I had been prepared with all the details of our policy, from the insurance documents in the glove box, but all they needed to know was whose name the vehicle was insured in, what the registration number (Fr. immatriculation) was and where I was.

Within minutes I got a text from roadside assistance saying that Alizon would come and rescue me. Then after another few minutes, Stéphane from Alizon phoned me to say he was on his way. Since he only had to drive across the road I could see him before our telephone conversation ended. I waved madly and he pulled up behind me. He did a quick check to make sure it was indeed the battery, then attached the booster and started the car. I explained that I needed to go and recover my wet laundry so we discussed a strategy for doing that whilst keeping the car running. Then he asked me who my mechanic was. I told him Cosson, and that I'd already spoken to him, and that they were half expecting me to turn up. The recovery mechanic, who clearly knew Alexandre, assured me they'd have a battery in stock.

There was no paperwork as such. I just signed Stéphane's device to confirm the roadside assistance had been satisfactorily delivered and Thélem will automatically pay the bill.

 

Yohann fitting a new battery at Garage Cosson, with Simon watching on.

So I drove home and picked up Simon. We then drove back to la Roche Posay to pick up the laundry, which was possible because Simon sat in the car with it running while I dealt with the washing. Then we went on to Garage Cosson where we were greeted with rueful smiles and sympathy, and the car went straight in for a new battery. On taking the old one out we could see it was dated 2015, so we'd had a good run with a battery that had lasted longer than the average of six years, according to Yohann the mechanic. Then it was just a question of flashing the bank card and paying nearly €250 for the new battery, labour and recycling. Ouf! The card was taking a beating, especially as the car had only been in the workshop the week before for the clutch!

Finally, back home, to unload ten tonne of wet washing and bags of groceries.

Packed For a Picnic

Fifteen August, Assomption, fell on a Friday this year so it was a long weekend throughout France. We enjoyed the company of Simon's brother, his wife and their friend. One of the things we did was join the annual classic car meet at Lésigny. This involves meeting at the river for breakfast, then driving a 40 km circuit through rural countryside and villages, along with hundreds of other classic cars following one after another. Once back at the riverside park it was time for a picnic, then a swim.

This is Claudette's boot packed with all the essentials for a picnic and swimming.

For the picnic we served melon and dry cured ham, followed by onion and goats cheese quiche (made by Simon), lettuce, tomatoes, homemade basil vinaigrette, and homemade pickled onions. That was followed by a cheese platter, then homemade mirabelle clafoutis. The drinks served were rose, sparkling water, ginger beer, and champagne.

Lunch in Loches With the Tractionistas

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Annual General meeting of la Traction Universelle, the Citroen classic car club that we have belonged to for 15 years. We haven't been to any meetings or events for the past couple of years, but we stay in contact with several of the members. It was lovely to be so warmly greeted when we arrived at the Best Western Hotel in Loches and we had a great time catching up with Elisabeth and Gilles, Bernadette and Jean-Pierre, Bénédicte and Jean-Marc, and Suzanne and Jean-Louis especially. I sat next to Gilles at lunch and he shared some sad family news, and some rather hair-raising stories of what had been happening at his family run print works recently.

 

 Coffee at the end of the meal.

The dessert of orange, chocolate and hazelnut.

View of the function room.

The menu. A glass of dry white sparkling local wine or a pear and apple juice to start. Then smoked trout followed by chicken.

The former courthouse, now the Best Western Hotel, in Loches.

Vandalised Speed Camera

Driving through Châtillon sur Indre we noticed that some bright sparks have encased the speed camera at the edge of town in tractor tyres. The speed camera is positioned to encourage drivers to be doing the speed limit or less as they top the rise and enter town. Unfortunately for the town it is in the middle of a long straight stretch of rather dull gently undulating countryside. Clearly certain locals feel that speeding is totally OK.

France, Queen of the Roundabouts

One of the things some visitors to France comment on is just how many trafffic roundabouts there are in France. And they are not wrong. The statistics bear this out and show that France is a world leader in roundabouts. 

 This roundabout, in the industrial boondocks of Amboise, has an abandoned helipad in the centre.

According to the painstakingly calculated figures on the blog 'Beyond the Maps', the most roundabouts per population are to be found in mainly western France (Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Landes, Mayenne) plus Pyrénées-Orientales in the south. The fewest roundabouts per population are around Paris and in the north east. We in Indre et Loire appear to sit in the middle. 

 A plane on a stick. To be precise, a Dassault Mirage IIIB two seater training jet previously of the French Air Force, now a roundabout decoration in Saint-Amand-Montrond

In terms of actual numbers of roundabouts there is a roughly east-west divide in the country, with the west being generally much more heavily endowed with roundabouts than the east. Toulouse takes the prize as the municipality with the most roundabouts (499 at last count). Virtually everywhere roundabout numbers are going up.

 

 A roundabout in the middle of le Blanc, a town about half an hour to the south of us.

 

France is the European record holder for roundabout density, easily outstripping neighbouring countries. The most famous roundabout in the country is of course the horror known as the Etoile, a six lane roundabout in central Paris, surrounding the Arc de Triomphe.

 

Arc de Triomphe and the Etoile.

This post is dedicated to entomologist Simon Leather, who loved aphids and France, but sadly died while being treated for colon cancer a few years ago. His blog is called 'Don't Forget the Roundabouts'.

Long Nosed or Flat Faced?

That's right, I'm talking about prime movers for semi-trailers.

One of the things Australians who are paying attention will notice in Europe is that there is not a long nosed prime mover to be seen. They are all flat faced (I believe the technical term is something like 'cabin over engine').

Road train on the Newell Highway, New South Wales.

 Why is this so, and why do long noses dominate in Australia? I went digging on the internet to find out.

The short answer is space. Flat faced trucks take up less space and are more manoeuverable, so in Europe they are more practical. Whereas in Australia the environmental factor that trucks struggle with the most is dust, and long nosed (technical term 'bonneted') are easier to maintain. They also allow for a more powerful engine.

Road train on the outskirts of Goondiwindi.

 The long answer involves regulations that specify different axle configurations and load weights in different regions and is too complicated to go into. But if you are interested, I suggest you read this article: https://historicvehicles.com.au/working-vehicles/why-australian-heavy-trucks-are-the-way-they-are/

In the course of my reading on this subject I also discovered that the term 'B-double' is only used in Australia, and that any multi-trailered rig is a roadtrain. I had thought there must be some technical difference between a B-double and a roadtrain, but the reason we have two names for the same thing turns out to be political. When roadtrains were allowed into the more populated areas of Australia, the politician in charge of the change thought the public would be scared of having roadtrains in their home towns so he coined the term 'B-double'.

Work!!

I haven't been working recently, but Susan has. This past week she has worked five days, four of them walking tours, and one a chauffeured tour using Claudette.

Because I am still undergoing treatment we're unable to commit to any work where I need to drive Claudette. This means that for the meantime we're not taking any bookings for chauffeured tours. However, we already had some bookings that were made before the current 'crisis'. 

This left us in a bit of a quandary. We really didn't want to cancel longstanding bookings, especially as one was from people who had taken a tour with us in 2013 and were returning to the Loire Valley. Luckily, many years ago our friend Olivier had offered his services if we needed a second (or third) driver. Olivier knows Traction Avants - not only does he own a stable full of them, he wrote one of the definitive books about them.

Olivier and Claudette (with clients)

So when we needed someone to drive on our long booked tours, Olivier immediately sprang to mind. Luckily he jumped at the chance to spend quality time driving for us. 

What a relief (driver)!

A Day Out

Yesterday was the longest day out I have had since June.

We started by visiting Loches, followed by lunch in Azay sur Indre, and driving on to dropping off Claudette with a friend near Amboise. We then drove back to Preuilly-sur-Claise (via NOZ).

This is Monica with Claudette by the gates of the chateau of La Fourchette, which has been owned by a very famous Englishman since 1980.

The Festival of OZO

This is an oldified (rather than old) photo.

Susan wrote last week about the restoration of the OZO Station Service at Bellevue, south of Sainte Maure de Touraine. 

On Saturday afternoon TimB and I took Claudette to have a look. We missed the opening ceremony, but there was still plenty to see.

Claudette amongst her near contemporaries

The concrete petrol pumps have been detailed

Not all of the vehicles there were show queens

This sort of view would have been familiar to anyone heading off on holidays on the 1960s

Some of these photos are courtesy of Tim.

Bellevue OZO Service Station

 As I was leaving a family rolled up in a lovely Wartburg to do photos. This East German coupe was manufactured from 1956 to 1965.

Sitting alongside the Nationale 10 this service station has been designated as 'Remarkable Architecture', and has been much photographed over the years. The building is an iconic mid-twentieth century American influenced structure, especially with the sweeping, soaring spire at the front, like a totem, bearing the OZO name. It opened in the spring of 1956. Following the merger of OZO and Total in 1964, the service station changed names to become the 'Relais Charles Martel'. But with the opening of the A10 Autoroute between Tours and Poitiers in 1977, the traffic along the N10 inexorably diminished, and the relais closed in 1984.

 

Plan for the service station.

Like a number of decommissioned service stations, the building found a second life as the sales office for a second-hand car dealership. The spire served as an ensign for the roadhouse next door, l'Etoile du Sud. At the end of the 1990s, after the closure of the restaurant, the surroundings deteriorated little by little but the service station stayed proudly upright on the side of the road, waiting for someone to take an interest again. That happened in 2011, when the municipality of Sainte Maure de Touraine realised what a characterful heritage building they had in their territory and decided to protect it within their local Urban Plan. Interest in the former service station grew until in 2016 the Départementale Architecture and Heritage Unit (part of the Ministry of Culture) decided to award it the label 'Patrimoine du XXième siècle' (20th century heritage), which has since become 'Architecture contemporaine remarquarble' (Notable contemporary architecture).  

 

 Front elevation plan.

Initially the work to restore the structure was to deal the deterioration brought about by the weather over the years. Following that there was the desire to restore it to its original state and make it a recognisable icon of the heritage along the former Route Nationale 10. It sits in the heart of the Touraine, mid-way between Paris and Hendaye, so ideally situated. Since 2021 the Association Nostal'10 has regularly organised classic car meets here. At the beginning of the 21st century, when mobility is resolutely oriented towards 'green energy', it is necessary to preserve this element of the previous century's heritage, just like we preserve former stage coaching inns. The Relais Charles Martel is the incarnation of the 'Trentes Glorieuses', a testament to a bygone era that should be preserved.

 

 Side elevation plan.

If you are interested in staying up to date with activities at Bellevue OZO Service Station, the Association Nostal'10 has a Facebook page. It has become a tradition to stop to take a photo of your car under the canopy and post it on the FB page. https://www.facebook.com/p/Nostal10-100057312614789/

 

The petrol pumps are being recreated in concrete. I was told that it was because it was 'less risky'. I'm not sure whether that means in terms of vintage pumps being stolen or real pumps being a safety hazard.

We have participated in this event several times.

Why not go and join the fun tomorrow? Everyone is welcome. Simon is thinking of going in Claudette. I'll be working in Chinon though.

A Very Social Day

Yesterday was the annual Assumption Day* classic car gathering at Lesigny, held in association with their brocante.

We've been before, in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The event didn't happen in 2020 and 2021 because of the plague, then we had clients the past two years.

This year we attended with Anne (from "Anne and John across the road"). We had invited them in thanks for John stacking our wood earlier in the week but John had work from home to do and couldn't come.

We arrived at 8:30 for the casse - croûte: bread, terrine and cheese, and then coffee. After a bit of sitting around and socialising we went for a short 15(?)km drive before returning to Lesigny for lunch.

The crowd gathers

On the road, in convoy

We had our yummy picnic sitting at tables set out in rows by the Lesigny Comité des Fêtes. We had taken melon and ham, followed by camembert tart, vegemite scrolls, smoked salmon, pickles and home grown tomatoes, then chocolate and biscuits. The cheese remained uneaten because we were too full. Our new picnic set (complete with our newly purchased faux laguiole cutlery) had it's first outing, and did the job very well.

Lunch!! Anne and Susan spreading the feast

Entrée 

We left soon after lunch - I was starting to tire, what with the heat and still being not quite 100%. It was an excellent event as ever: fun, social, and free of pressure to do anything but enjoy oneself.

Lots of older cars

Claudette hiding behind a Hummer

After a nap we headed out again, this time to Angela and Dennis' for their annual dinner and music gathering. It also was excellent, with great company and food and music.

An evening of conviviality 

Two social events in one day is unusual for us, but both were worth making the effort for. I may be sleeping all day today...

*Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation. (It's a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu)

Heading Out

If you're reading this blog post as it is published, right at this moment we're in Lesigny with Claudette on the annual August 15th gathering of old cars and brocante. It's our first proper car event for quite a few years.

Lunch is a shared picnic. We spent yesterday in preparation with posh picnic cooking. Susan has made a boiled fruit cake and vegemite scrolls, I made a camembert tart. Add some pickles, a melon (Charentais) and sliced meats, and there's a picnic you.

We'll report on the day later.

A Brace of Citroens

We had to do some car shuffling last week. Claudette had been in Amboise with our friend Olivier, so we arranged to meet at Chenonceau while Susan was working.

It wasn't until Claudette and the Cactus were parked next to each other that I realised that although they are separated by exactly 60 years, they both contain Citroën idiosyncrasies.

Later that day the Cactus went to have its windscreen replaced after picking up a stone chip. We had hoped it could be repaired, but it was right in front of the driver, so replacements was necessary.

A Brocante Win

I wrote last Saturday about our local brocante.

We managed to get down to the plan d'eau nice and early, before it got too hot. As is our want, we strolled the field, chatting to various friends along the way, deciding that there was nothing to interest us. I then decided I needed a drink, so we headed to the comité des fêtes bar for a refreshing cup of cordial.

On the way I spotted something we've been looking for as long as it's the right price: a wicker picnic basket. A bit of crafty haggling from Susan and it was ours. We paid 10€ for it which we are happy about even though the contents are missing.

On Wednesday we had various bits of business to deal with in Loches, so we visited Action and bought 6 plastic picnic plates (1€29) and 6 matching plastic goblets (also 1€29). We then called into Centrakor and bought a 'waxed' tablecloth for 4€99.

We have combined them with some items we already owned, but we'll soon have our classic Traction Avant worthy picnic basket for special events. Now I have to look for a nice (but very cheap) 6 piece cutlery set, and we'll be set - all for under 20€.

Look Out for Purple Moor Grass in the Touraine Loire Valley

Purple Moor Grass Molinia caerulea (Fr. Molinie bleue).

Purple Moor Grass has lots of names in French -- paleine, canche bleue, molinie d'Allmagne, guinche, jonchée.

 

 

It is a perennial grass, growing in clumps and up to 2 metres tall, usually in acid soils. It can make dense monospecific grasslands.

 

It is named after a Chilean botanist and for its purpley blue panicles (flower heads).

 

As anyone who has tried to identify grasses knows, the structure known as a ligule is important for ascertaining species. It's a sort of 'gasket' or 'reinforcing ring' at the point where the leaf blade stops hugging the stem and becomes free. Botany students learning grasses spend a lot of time carefully peeling back blades of grass to reveal the ligule and checking it in their key or field guide. In Purple Moor Grass the ligule is reduced to a row of hairs.

 

The grass flowers from July to September, producing long loose purple inflorescences. 

 

In acid wet heaths Purple Moor Grass forms a characteristic habitat of hummocks made from decades of past years' vegetation which accumulates and is very difficult to walk through. These hummocks shelter all manner of creatures, especially newts, salamanders, frogs and toads, for all or part of the year. The Purple Moor Grass will take over in an environment where a spaghnum moss bog has been degraded. This seems to also be important in allowing a succession of plants such as heathers, birches, pines, blackthorn and buckthorns to evolve a site. 

 

Nevertheless, Purple Moor Grass is an opportunistic generalist, with tiny windblown seeds that can travel far. High levels of airborn nitrogen, the drying out of soil and wild fires can all prove advantageous to such an adaptive species.

 

This species is native to North Africa, central and western Asia, and the whole of Europe. Since the mid-20th century its distribution in western Europe has been rapidly expanding.

 

It can be found from lowland grasslands to woodland understorey, and up to 2300 metres above sea level. It thrives in full sun but is tolerant of shade, and will survive great fluctuations in soil moisture levels. It's probably a species complex, with two ecotypes -- one adapted to acid soil and one adapted to calcareous soil.

 

Purple Moor Grass is traditionally used, with bramble, to make coiled baskets.