99 kilometres

Just one short of Pierre's magic 100 km figure.

Pierre, as you may have gathered, was on duty at the Budget Car Rental office in Bordeaux. A dour and sullen character - the highlight of his miserable Saturday, would have been charging Paul and I, the additional 17 Euros (or whatever they use for money in France nowadays) should one be so silly to go over the 99 kilometres mark in a single day.

Pierre was aghast when he took the odometer reading from the black Renault Clio and his moment of expectation lapsed into deep depression. Poor chap - I did feel so sorry for him, for he was totally unaware of the shenanigans over the preceeding mintues. Having punched the air with delight in finding a filling station (so one wont incur a hefty charge for bringing one's car back a little empty of juice), I noticed with horror, that this "station automatique" didn't take UK credit/debit cards, nor cash! Panic ensued but a couple of left turns later, another station was found and this time it was "manned" so we were able to fill up.

For more details on the Bordeaux trip check out the other Blog