A Tale of Two Cars

To get from Orly Airport in Paris to Ferriere Larcon, we rented a Peugeot 208.  A two day rental was only  $8 more than the one day, which would also give us the extra day to deal with our jetlag.   So, on Sunday morning we got up and drove to Descartes to the market.  (Silly us didn't take any pictures, blame it on the jetlag!)  The house car, a Citreon, stayed parked.

Peugeot 209

Monday, we did the morning chores and dog walking, ate a light lunch and cleaned up to return the car to Tours, planning to do a bit of grocery shopping on the way home.  Bill was to drive the rental, me the house car, but the house car wouldn't start!  The ominous sound of a dead battery was coming from under the hood.  We looked around for cables to jump it, but no luck.  What to do?  Bill found an illustrated French dictionary with the words we needed.  We tried calling the numbers left for friends who might help; one wasn't home, the other only spoke French and didn't understand mine, even though I did use my very best pronunciations. (Which were probably incorrect!)

Both cars in front of the house before we realized the battery was dead on the Citroen.

Bill took the dictionary and walked down the street to a neighbor, Jo Jo, we had met while walking the dogs the first evening.  When he arrived at her house, the top of the door was opened, so he knocked.  The couple were eating their lunch, the man looked up, we had not met him.  He said something in French, then his wife waved her arms, looking very angry and told Bill to go away!  Every time he tried to say something, she would repeat,  Go AWAY!  Bill stepped back from the door, then stood there thinking what to do next. She realized he was still there and came over to the door.  Before she could say anything, Bill said, in French, I am living in Pauline and David's house.  Jo Jo was immediately apologetic, saying she saw the book and thought Bill was a missionary!  Her husband, NauNau brought his cables and we jumped the car.   Merci!

The drive to the airport in Tours went smoothly, but I never turned the car off!  We drove back to Ligeuil to the smaller grocery store, Simply, instead of trying to find the big Le Clerc in Tours.  Bill sat in the running car while I did the shopping.  As he was waiting, a couple came up to the car saying in French, This is David's car!  Turned out they were the French speaking friends we had talked to earlier.  Between Bill's French and both of their use of charades, a fun conversation was had!  They were gone by the time I finished shopping.   We arrived home, finally turning off the engine.  Later in the evening, Nau Nau came with his battery charger to run over night.  It worked like a charm!   Merci pour votre assistance, Jo Jo and Nau Nau!