Last Friday Paul's car broke down on the motorway on his way back from Calais, this was a bit of a shock as we had no idea what we were supposed to do. Thankfully a call to the insurance company confirmed that we did have breakdown cover included in our insurance but, because he was on a motorway, Paul had to call the Gendarmerie to send a recovery vehicle. He had managed to limp to a service area and, with a little help from the woman in the shop, managed to get the woman from the Gendarmerie to understand where he was, she was convinced at first that he was on a totally different motorway! and the recovery vehicle came within half an hour.
Paul was a bit peturbed to find himself being taken to what looked like a tractor repair shed in the middle of nowhere but managed to communicate enough with the mechanic for them to come to the conclusion that the alternator had gone, which meant that the car had to go to the Volvo garage in Amiens and Paul was sent home in a taxi, luckily paid for by the insurance company as it was over 300€, arriving some 4 hours after he should have got home.
In typically French fashion, the garage didn't even look at the car until Tuesday, when they phoned to inform us that it was the alternator! and that they didn't have the part in stock so would have to order it. We're hoping that Paul can go to Amiens this afternoon to pick it up.
In the meantime, my car has come out in sympathy and developed a problem with the steering which, thankfully, isn't dangerous but needs looking at. The man in the garage said it was to do with the "couloir de puissance", which translates as the corridor of power, but I presume it has a different meaning over here. So, anyway, that's booked in to be looked at next Wednesday, by which time I hope we will have got Paul's car back.
