The ease of doing things

I went out fairly early today to pick up some of the decking boards from a builders merchant. Before I went I spent at least an hour the night before looking online as to where I could buy them, which brings me on to pretty much the only thing I miss about not living in the UK.

The ease of doing things

Back in the UK I could have gone to anyone of maybe up to 20 different places within a 20 minute drive to pick them up, here in France it is a lot different. None of the outlets in our nearest town had what I wanted in stock and eventually I found them in a merchant some 40 minute drive away.
Back in the UK I would have just picked up the phone and had them delivered, here, even though the builders merchant is a large outlet they don't deliver at all. They will hire you a truck at maybe 80-100 euros if it is available but other than that you have to collect.
Anyway it was a nice morning drive and one of the advantages of living here is the lack of traffic, in forty minutes of driving there I doubt that I saw more than a dozen vehicles!

My little Citroen C1 is maybe not the ideal vehicle for transporting lengths of decking boards but all at home now ready to be laid.

On reflection it was a pleasant drive through some lovely countryside with hardly any traffic to speak of,  so which would I prefer living here or back in the UK? ...........................................I think you all know the answer to that.

Driving in France

Living where I do in rural Brittany, driving is a real pleasure as there seem to be very few other cars on the road. I have even driven right through our local town without seeing another moving vehicle.

After approaching the Blackwall tunnel in London the other week in bumper to bumper traffic in the dark and in the rain and being carved up by a lorry, I was really glad to get back here for some sanity!

However driving here is different that's for sure.
How is it that whenever a car comes up behind you they think it absolutely necessary to sit right on your tail absolutely determined to pass you at whatever cost? Or, If driving at night exactly the same but this time with their headlights full on.

Of course on the rare times when you are in a moving line of traffic once you hold back slightly to give some space between you and the car in front it's taken as an immediate invitation for the car behind to overtake!

One thing to look out for is a diamond shaped sign in yellow and white with a black background and a black stripe though it.  This means that even if you are on an obvious main road then all roads ( even dirt roads ) coming onto it from the right have priority! To be fair these are only usually in towns and are also marked with a red cross, that is if you can see the cross due to cars parked on the pavements!

Of course If you break the motoring laws here in France you may be disqualified and get your driving licence taken away. No problem, this is France after all, just go out and get a Voiture sans permis, literally, a car that you don't need a license for! Admittedly it is small and slow and has only forward and reverse but you could still drive home from the bar in the evening so beware!

As for parallel parking.....................