Page 134 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

We stopped at Le Havre for the night after an excellent crossing on a drive on drive off
ferry, “Dragon” which had sailed from Southampton. The Jaguar attracted attention right
from the start.

The hotel proprietor in Le Havre
where we were to stay the night,
suggested that such a car needed
to be in a garage overnight and not
just parked on the street. I had
personal assistance in finding the
multi story garage and parking the
car in a suitable location.

The next morning I had my first
lesson in counting in French. Helen loved bears and a small chocolate shop next to the
hotel had small chocolate bears in their window. I asked for 5 or thought I had, by the time
the lady proprietor got up to 15 and stopped, I managed to explain with my fingers how
many I really wanted.
She vociferously illustrated that I had asked for 15 and not 5.
We managed to leave with just 5 and to this day I have to think very carefully between the
two!

Journeying across Normandy and into
Brittany took the whole of the next
morning.
As we changed from one
department into the next we glimpsed
the sea between rolling green cliff tops
and the unforgettable first view of Saint
Michael’s Mount island standing proud
and dominating all around.

Attractive ancient towns with their black and white “colombage” architecture were
everywhere, most seemed to have their own castle in various forms of repair.

The Hamon family had waited lunch for us. Armelle, Ruth’s pen friend of over 15 years and
her brother Marcel were still living at home with their parents. As we neared Rennes, we
had telephoned their home and Marcel had arranged to meet us just outside the city.
Hamon ‘ Pere’, had just retired from his work as a police detective in Rennes and knowing
our interest in commercial vehicles had arranged a special visit to the local Mercedes Benz
commercial vehicle distributor for after lunch.

RENNES
This was a total eye opener for us. Especially as we had never been able to afford NEW
lorries until this experience with Uniroyal.
The local Mercedes dealer really looked after his clients. Obviously lorries are very
expensive to buy and keep on the road. Any time they can not earn is catastrophic and
consequently every effort was made to keep clients moving.
Spare engines, gearboxes and most other large components were available on loan.
(Slipped into your lorry while your own component was being repaired.)

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