Blaye
So this morning we had a meeting with the official from the town hall to arrange the use of the rooms in the centre of town for our monthly service there. Here's some photos of the building, the entrance hall and the smaller of the two rooms we can use.
The building is the former law courts. This would be a bit off-putting in the UK, I think, but in France life is very conflictual anyway so the law-courts are seen as a place where you settle conflicts. Fairly positive, really.
It's a super situation. There are two rooms we can use; one seats 30 and the other 60. You can park opposite. There's disabled access via the rear. There's no kitchen, but apart from that it's great. Nobody else uses the building on Sunday mornings and we can have it free of charge.
Pretty good, eh ?
Aftewards on the way back to Bordeaux I had an episode with the car. I had managed every roundabout from Blaye to the Bordeaux ring road in 4th gear and I thought things were looking good for an uneventful return trip. That was when I hit the traffic jam.
What do you have to do in traffic jams ? Change in and out of first gear. What upsets our clutch more than anything ? Changing in and out of first gear.
So I had three or four of those ominous clunks with the sickening lurch of the clutch pedal that inspires so much stress. I managed to get into the inside lane ready to pull into the hard shoulder if necessary. Then the traffic got moving again so I stayed in 2nd gear as long as I could, then 4th, then got to our junction and through the lights, breathing a sigh of relief as we got into the drive.
If it's me preaching on the 16th at Blaye it's important I get there, along with the other folk I'll be taking. Anyway after a trip like that it takes me a few hours to de-stress, to calm down. Hardly conducive to preaching, really, so I think it's time to join the car-share club.
Then I can do what's necessary on the car ready to sell it - change the front tyres and clean it up. If we find we can change the car we'll get moving on that. If we can't then I'll try and find the best way to sell it.
It's a super situation. There are two rooms we can use; one seats 30 and the other 60. You can park opposite. There's disabled access via the rear. There's no kitchen, but apart from that it's great. Nobody else uses the building on Sunday mornings and we can have it free of charge.
Pretty good, eh ? Aftewards on the way back to Bordeaux I had an episode with the car. I had managed every roundabout from Blaye to the Bordeaux ring road in 4th gear and I thought things were looking good for an uneventful return trip. That was when I hit the traffic jam.
What do you have to do in traffic jams ? Change in and out of first gear. What upsets our clutch more than anything ? Changing in and out of first gear.
So I had three or four of those ominous clunks with the sickening lurch of the clutch pedal that inspires so much stress. I managed to get into the inside lane ready to pull into the hard shoulder if necessary. Then the traffic got moving again so I stayed in 2nd gear as long as I could, then 4th, then got to our junction and through the lights, breathing a sigh of relief as we got into the drive.
If it's me preaching on the 16th at Blaye it's important I get there, along with the other folk I'll be taking. Anyway after a trip like that it takes me a few hours to de-stress, to calm down. Hardly conducive to preaching, really, so I think it's time to join the car-share club.Then I can do what's necessary on the car ready to sell it - change the front tyres and clean it up. If we find we can change the car we'll get moving on that. If we can't then I'll try and find the best way to sell it.
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