Well, more to the point 180 + 11 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little over six months ago ( + 11) I did an exceptionally silly thing, which deprived me of the use of my car until yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming back from helping my daughter install her new bed in her flat near Bordeaux, I managed to get ‘flashed’ by a gendarme. I stopped (one does – they have guns here\u2026) and the nice man (called Dylan) told me that I had been travalling at 140k\/h (nearly 90 mph) which turned out to be 50km over the actual limit of 80km on that particular road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told me to follow him back to the police station where we would fill in all the papers. It transpired that this took over 2 hours, partly due to the fact that gendarmes type with one finger, but also due to annoying little bugs like not being able to find ‘England’ on the list of possible countries – I suggested \u00ab\u00a0Royaume Unis\u00a0\u00bb and the system started operating again, albeit painfully slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point the policeman asked me if I felt I needed an interpreter? I was sorely tempted to reply \u00ab\u00a0That rather largely d\u00e9pends on whether or not you speak French\u00a0\u00bb but, as previously mentionned, these people have guns, so it’s probably best just to be nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which I was – didn’t change anything – they suspended my license for 6 months (the 180 part of the equation) and also impounded my car, for the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn’t imagine that this would be a problem (as I wouldn’t be able to drive it anyway) until I learned that the caretaking charges for keeping a car are 6,33\u20ac per day! All in all my bill would be 1255\u20ac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To cut a long story short, with the help of Nadia I was able to get home – I resurected my bike and for the last 180 days have been using it (and getting a little fitter\u2026) until I received an official letter informing me that on the 19th of August I could collect my car – which we did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had already started the procedure to recreate my license, and although that actually took 3 weeks, I have now, in my hot little hand, proof that I am allowed back behind the wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.iangrandjean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/license-2-1024x678.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nApparently I was born in CHISNICK….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, more to the point 180 + 11 days. A little over six months ago ( + 11) I did an exceptionally silly thing, which deprived me of the use of my car until yesterday. Coming back from helping my daughter install her new bed in her flat near Bordeaux, I managed to get ‘flashed’ … <\/p>\n