The thaw has begun....not soon enough for the cars!!

I have not been that impressed with my dedication to the whole blog idea over the last few months so am trying to make a bit more of an effort! The trouble is is that we have been virtually house bound over the last couple of weeks and one can only post so many white out photos...


We have had some comings and goings and shared some lovely moments with guests passing through en route to the Alps though...even a cat en route to Rome...

With these hideously low temperatures in the morning the run for the bread has become a challenge. After experiencing brake issues with our main Citroen car, and its mechanic...but that is a whole nother story!!... we were left with the runaround VW Golf....but after minus 9 at 8am caused this car to blow a gasket we were down to the 2CV!!

We had heard that these wee cars, while hardly the cutting edge of modern motoring, were actually brilliant in the snow! Thin tyres and light as a feather this proved to be right on the button. As long as you dress up warm and cosy the 2CV is the perfect winter snow mobile...

 So as crazy as it may seem that has become 'the' car in our lives after a run of disasters with the other two!! After much research we are now obsessively scanning the internet for a new 4 x 4 version of an estate...

Life in the country is quite a different kettle of fish from Central London...NO public transport and a taxi 15 min's up the road sets you back a small fortune...sooo those of you who live in the city and have had some transport disruptions of late due to inclement weather...do not despair...be grateful that you have the option of a bus, train or taxi and think of us heading off out in the 'Noddy car'!

FOOTNOTE:
After the car drama's of January we were delighted that a very knowledgeable and generous spirited  returning guest offered to double check the C5 as he felt that it was all sounding a little odd...given that we had now written the car off and consigned it to the big garage in the sky on the advice of our local mechanic who insisted it was 'dangerous and unable to be driven' there was nothing to lose!!

SO Ricky, after some 2 hours of pulling the car to bits, discovered that the calipers all looked fine BUT the handbrake had been over adjusted and was seized on one side...he released this and then he took Mike out for a drive...car drove fine with no pulling and all seemed back in order!! So we waved him off and were then secretly hopeful that a new car was now off the shopping list!!
The car continued to drive just fine and then when Mike returned to the UK the car went straight to our trusted UK mechanic who checked everything and declared all in order...a small bill and 2 new brake discs later and we have our car safely back on the road...and it is still driving perfectly in mid March!!

IN CONCLUSION: Upon much reflection and chat over many a coffee and glass of wine we can only conclude one of two things from this experience...either our French mechanic was dreadfully incompetent or he was trying to rip us off blind!!! We will never know BUT we will not be pulling into his garage anytime soon. He will continue to see us drive the car to the local Boulangerie opposite his business and will probably scratch his head as to why 'that dangerous car' is still on the road OR he will nod to acknowledge us as the ones that got away...without a huge 'facture'!! I doubt we would have got this treatment if we were not 'anglais' and the wonderful excuse of 'lost in translation' stood between us and the real story but we will never know!!

Cheers and thanks to Ricky!!! Champagne is on us next visit!!