Category Archives: Transportation

The Peugeot Paperwork Pause

Waiting, waiting, waiting. (sigh!)

So I bought a new-old little Peugeot 306 today from a friend of a friend here in the Midi-Pyrenees. Yes, it has a few dings in the doors from encounters in the local parking lots, but it’s an appropriately inexpensive option for our frugal lifestyle — a very basic little getting-around vehicle that I hope will serve me well over the next few months as we get sorted out here and I begin to look for a more permanent place to live.

The front of the new-old Peugeot 306

The back of the new-old Peugeot 306

That should all be quite straightforward — right? Trust me, there is never, ever, ever anything straightforward in France if it involves paperwork. I have been on the phone and online for over 5 hours at this point just trying to get insurance for it that doesn’t cost half of the total value of the car per year in premiums!!!

Our insurance agency that has our previous policy is headquartered in the outskirts of Paris and they take a lunchtime break on Friday that lasts from noon until — wait for it — four in the afternoon. And THEN they re-open for business. It took me ever so long to get anyone to even answer the phone, then I hung online for almost half an hour, and then they gave me a list of documents to scan and attch to emails. I had to send 6 different emails with one piddly attachment (at a greatly reduced pixel size, I might add) on each one.

So here I am now now — waiting, waiting, waiting to hear back.

If it goes smoothly, I will be driving the new wee beastie this weekend. If not (mustn’t even think that!), it will be Monday before I can get on the road. Let’s see, how many really rude French expletives can I think of to mutter as I walk around the house? (sigh!)

P.S. It’s 7 hours later and after 6 PM now — so I guess I won’t be out and about this weekend. And did I fail to mention the mini-heatwave? That certainly wasn’t helpful today either!

Life In A Tiny French Village

Perhaps I should title this article “Life In A Tiny French Village — For Now”?

The Midi-Pyrenees village of Engomer

We arrived in the Midi-Pyrenees almost 4 weeks ago and have settled — temporarily — into a house that we are renting in a small village. It’s a pretty little bend in the road, I won’t deny that. But this particular village is so small that there isn’t even a village shop or bakery or any kind of amenities.

River bend in the village of Engomer in the Midi-Pyrenees in France

Pretty and quaint is all well and good, but you know a place is wee-tiny when the post office is only open a few hours in the morning, and only for 4 days during each week. The woman who runs the place was actually quite put out that I wanted stamps for cards and letters to Australia and the USA instead of to other locations in France. Sheesh!

Village post office in Engomer & it is only open 4 mornings a week!

The picture below is of our way-too-large house as seen across the village tennis courts. We rented this house sight unseen at the recommendation of a friend here since she knew we’d be arriving with no place to live and no time to search because Mark would be starting work a mere few days later. It’s charming and fully furnished, but thank heavens we have a month to month option!

Our rented house seen across the village tennis court

For those of you who have followed my writing for years and were familiar with our darling little eco-cottage back in Australia, you will know that a big barn of a place like this is not really our style. The ground floor of this house is as large as our entire little house back in Australia! We are firm believers in a frugal lifestyle with low energy consumption, and this house may be charming, but it certainly won’t be energy efficient. If we want to splash out a bit, we’d rather invest in a new piece of computer or camera or sports equipment — not an electric or fuel oil bill!

A plan is being formulated. Twenty minutes from here is the larger town of St. Girons and that is where I plan to aim my search. We are going to look for a house with a much smaller footprint and a lock-up garage for Mark’s tools and supplies. We are putting the wheels in motion for our household goods to be shipped from Australia as soon as the shipping company can pick everything up within the next week or so.

We had hoped to manage with only one vehicle. But Mark needs the van every day for work and there is no public transport in this tiny spot. In a similar way to our life in Australia, the distances between each village or town means that we are going to be forced to purchase a small car for me. We may have that sorted out in the next couple of weeks and then I can begin the search for another house to rent.

St. Girons is a lovely and old-fashioned market town, but it has quite a lot of amenities. There are narrow streets and tall old houses pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, market squares, and lots of cafes and pretty little shops. It’s the kind of place where you can get out and walk to the shops, the hairdresser, the bookstore, or to a cafe for lunch or dinner with friends. How fab would that be!

As always, I will keep my readers apprised of our progress as things unfold. And thanks for all of the charming off-site notes that you have sent to me privately expressing your happiness about our adventure in resettling in a new country.

Finally, enjoy a slideshow of more village scenes including two shots of the snow covered mountains as seen through our livingroom window.

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Trams Are Terrific In Melbourne!

Today’s photo of the day is one of the simply terrific trams that they have in Melbourne, Australia. This bright yellow tram runs back and forth along the Bourke Street shopping precinct in the center of the city, including through the pedestrian only shopping mall that flanks both sides of the street.

They are clean, efficient, and frequent and are a simply wonderful way for both locals and visitors to get around this wonderful city!

A bright and clean yellow tram in downtown Melbourne, Australia

Full Body Scanners Coming To Australia with only No-Scan-No-Fly Available!

I normally write very calm and measured or funny and informative travel articles on this website. I have avoided political statements and since they weren’t particularly relevant to the theme I had established, it hadn’t occurred to me to use this as avenue for a rant. But I have just discovered some news from ‘back home’ in Australia that has alarm bells clanging in my head.

It is, in my opinion, simply appalling that the Australian government has decided that it is wise, safe, or admirable to introduce Full Body Scanners to Australia. This will leave the travelling public over there with no option but to drive or take a train within the country or simply not travel overseas at all if you object to being scanned and having your body dosed with radiation.

The media reports that I have read thus far are simply not mentioning the cumulative health effects of radiation and the studies that have been done in both the USA and Europe that show that this is an unknown and potentially dangerous path to be heading down. Doctors in many countries have told their patients that if they have damaged immune systems, have just had chemotherapy or radiation for cancer, have devices implanted internally that could be damaged by the radiation, or who are already at risk for the cumulative effects of radiation to simply opt-out of full body scans.

This proposed roll-out of these machines in Australia doesn’t even give the travelling public the option of the humiliating but less health-damaging pat down that they do in the USA unless they have what is deemed to be a very serious health condition. This is plainly not a well thought out plan and I am shocked that this is being foisted on the Australian public and international travellers under the guise of the so-called ‘war on terrorism.’

I am complete unconvinced of the truthfulness of the quotes in this article in The Australian.

“The “no scan, no fly” amendment closes a loophole in the legislation, which allows passengers to request a pat-down instead of having to pass through a metal detector.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said mandatory body scans were necessary to ensure the safety of airports.

“I think the public understands that we live in a world where there are threats to our security and experience shows they want the peace of mind that comes with knowing government is doing all it can,” he said.

The Government has compared the strength of the radio waves emitted from the body scanners as the same as those from a regular mobile phone used several metres away.”

This is simply ludicrous to make these claims when the EU is banning, removing, or cancelling the installation of these same machines. This November 2011 article in a British newspaper details the concerns that are being addressed in Europe. So why is there so little regard for the health and welfare of the Australian travelling public or for international travellers who come and go on holidays or business?

If you too are concerned about the long term effects of radiation when you travel and you don’t qualify for the exemption-via-doctor’s-note option, take a few minutes from your busy day and write to…
1. The Parliament of Australia regarding Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Air Cargo) Bill 2011 at the contact links for the (a) MP list or the (b) Senator list.
2. Contact GetUp: Action For Australia and urge them to QUICKLY begin one of their very successful online campaigns to contest this legislation.
3. Make online comments in the COMMENTS BOX of articles such as this one in The Australian.
4. TWITTER your objections to all of your followers.
5. FACEBOOK your objections to all of your followers.
6. Forward this page with all of the links to your own private email list.

Let’s hope that we can stop this dead in its tracks before it is too late!

Back To France on Brittany Ferry

Long term travel in Europe has certainly been aided by the purchase of a motor vehicle from our first month of arrival over a year ago. We are now on our 3rd vehicle, a diesel van, after fine-tuning our transportation requirements.

Traversing the English Channel or the North Sea several times a year has become normal since we moved back to Europe. And one of the most comfortable trips we have had recently was on a Brittany Ferry a few days ago as we travelled from Portsmouth, England to Ouistreham outside of Caen in France.

Brittany Ferries keycard and brochure for the Armorique

Here are several pictures of the Armorique, a two year old ferry with ample amenities including multiple restaurants and cafes or bars, two movie theatres, several shops, a reading lounge, a casino, and more viewing platforms or decks than we have seen on previous versions of the Brittany Ferries that we have sailed on.

Cocktail bar on Level 7

Duty Free sign at shop entrance

Shops on Level 6

Lounge on Level 7

You’ll notice that there are very few passengers in any part of the ship. That’s one of the absolute joys of travelling in the middle of the winter when it’s a much more relaxed and adult atmopshere. The decks are not heaving with tourists, you can get a meal within minutes, and the hallways in the cabin area are free of screaming children. Bliss!

Dining area on Level 7

Airline style reclining reserved seats on Level 7

Lifeboats with easy to use ramps on Level 7

Deck diagram posted at elevator

Looking through layers of outdoor decks with a blue & white colour scheme

Compact but very comfortable cabin on Level 9

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey