The first day out on the road with “Sally”  needs a bit more of an explanation than was offered in the previous post.  You see, nothing about my new life in France is as easy as it seems.

As you may remember from this summer’s blogs, my friend Geoffrey kindly loaned “Ales”, the tattered Citroen, to me for road trips out of Uzes. Sadly for him, he mentioned I might get to use his red Mustang with racing stripes when I returned in the Spring.

Arriving back in Uzes, I reminded Geoffrey of his offer. Often. Finally we worked out a “loan” agreement.  Geoffrey had stuff in his house he want to sell and I wanted stuff for my new apartment. I wanted a car, he had more than one.  It seemed to be working out great for both of us.

Sally has an interesting background. Before I go on, let me tell you about Sally’s past. She was given to Geoffrey by a wealthy man who owned her. He also bestowed to my friend another almost identical Mustang. They both are red with racing stripes. One difference between the two cars is the size of the engines. Sally has four cylinders, her twin has six.

The other difference is that the Sally’s twin Mustang is being held hostage. Whereabouts unknown. 

A bargain is a bargain.

Part of my loan agreement for Sally was that I would help find her twin sister. That meant going with Geoffrey to a meeting with the “bailiff” to sort out the issues surrounding the missing Mustang.

On the day of the meeting I walked to the bailiff’s office by myself. It’s in a two-story building that shares a driveway with the second-hand store I’ve shopped in a lot, so I knew where I was going. I had noticed the open-staircase structure the first time I visited the “brocante” store. Its architecture is totally out of character in this French provincial town. It looks like a 1970’s-style motel.

Before I got far down the driveway, Geoffrey called to me from the balcony of the building’s second floor. I walked up the metal steps and into the open door of the office. Strangely, I felt like I was on the film set of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It was all a bit “shady” — the surroundings and the people inside.

Rather than spoil the plot for a great mystery novel, I stop here. Let’s just say we thought the deed was done.

Strings attached, with knots

The visit to the bailiff’s office was three weeks ago. Still no word on the missing car.

So last week, tired of waiting to get on the road, I told Geoffrey I was taking Sally. In fact, “she’s staying with me from now ’til April”, I announced. He agreed and handed me Sally’s keys.

We were off. Stopping at the nearest gas station to fill her up, I pumped petrol into Sally’s empty tank. I just had to pay for the gas and we’d be on our way.

Not so quick.

The lady behind the register at the gas station started ringing up the sale. She looked outside at Sally. She looked at me. Instead of handing me the reader for my credit card, she pulled a slip of paper out of the drawer. An unpaid bill for 95 euros.

I gasped and said, “I don’t know nuthin.”

She politely announced she was calling the police.

Now, picture this. This discussion is going on between me — who speaks no French — and a lady at the counter who speaks no English. Fortunately a couple of men waiting in line were able to help translate our conversation.

Quickly considering my two choices:1) run, or 2) or pay the bill. I handed over my credit card to pay the 95 euros. Starting off my three-year adventure in France with an encounter with the French gendarme isn’t exactly in my game plan.

Later, returning to Geoffrey’s to re-negotiate the terms of the loan of the car, we now have a new agreement. Sally’s mine until June.

Off we go, guardly

Wait … there’s more.

You see, before I adopted Sally, she was in an accident and a burglary. When her radio was “burgled”, the robber came through the driver’s side window. Now the window won’t go up or down. That means every time I come into or out of my gated, underground parking lot, I have to put on the emergency brake; open my door; wrench my body around to swipe the parking pass on the automated “eye”; hope the garage gate will open; close the car door; buckle the seat belt;  release the brake; then take off.

As a result of the accident, Sally is sporting a spare tire. That takes us back to the story about the trip to Saint Jean du Gard.

Sally and I were raring to go. Admittedly, I was a bit concerned about taking a trip — albeit only 45 kilometers away — on a spare tire. Fortunately I ran into my friend Andy on Sunday. He had gone with me a few weeks ago to pick up my shipment of boxes from Marseilles.  He offered to take his van on the site seeing trip, instead of taking a chance with Sally on the road. Stubbornly I stuck with my plan to take her for the drive.

Luckily, there were no car mishaps along the road to Saint Jean du Gard. Andy knew he was indispensable as my road mechanic and he took full charge, giving road tips and warnings to slow down.

Sally handles like a dream. She hugs the narrow, curvy, back roads of France like a born racer.

Just wait ’til we get her “big girl” tire.

Ride Sally, ride.