Bonjour,
We have bought a car. And she will be named Clio. That’s because she is a Renault Clio.
Like many things in France, dealing with the bureaucracy of buying a car is not for the fainthearted. We ended up buying through a type of broker arrangement which meant paying and having it delivered before we had even seen it. Clios are very common in France so that says something and so far it seems fine. It’s all been experience and here are some things we have learned:
- Nearly all cars are manual and diesel. Buying or hiring automatics is a LOT more expensive.
- Most cars we see are French – Renaults, Peugeots and Citroens. There are a smattering of other makes, but those three make up the huge majority.
- Don’t assume that the four door car you see advertised has back seats. These are sold as commercial vehicles by the manufacturers so they can be used as a van substitute. Didn’t occur to us that seats were an optional extra.
- And it all takes time. And forms to be completed. Lots of forms. And making sure that everybody has every copy of all these forms. In French.
Anyway, she’s here now. So let the road trips begin. Just have to learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road (yikes!)
The other news (not so exciting) is that I joined the library. It’s a pretty impressive three-story place with a underwhelming selection of English books (about 20 I would guess). But probably that would be 20 more than you would find if you were looking for French books in a regional library in Australia. Apart from the usual books etc, you can borrow music and musical instruments. So far they only have guitars but they are getting keyboards and drums. I’m sure the neighbours would love that.
That’s about it for now. But here is a feast for your eyes. We just went out to the local boulangerie for lunch (basically a sandwich shop) and here is a small selection of what you can drool over while standing in the queue.
love
L & M
thefrenchfeed 