Page 26 - Jan2023

Driving in France, continued from page 25 - it is one of the most comprehensively beautiful
places on the earth. So how could such a place
At the second one, by closing my eyes and
produce a machine that was so hideous? Bulbous,
concentrating, I was able to detect a slight flow of
ill-proportioned, with a three-toned paint job of
air. It was like holding my hands near to the cute
colors that clashed and huge, chunky chromed
little nose of a sleeping baby bunny. Fortunately,
plastic emblems. Blech. But that's what they had,
my vest was made of highly absorbent cotton.
so thats what I got. At least it had a 6 speed
Les Rent al Cars manual transmission - and I had my Euro wheels
Back outside of the restroom, I made my way to at last.
the rental cars. Here there was a lovely, brand
new, sporty looking VW Golf with my name on it.

The agent was very helpful as I signed all 14
carbon copies of the rental papers.

I trotted out to jump into my fun little Euro car,
complete, as God intended, with its 6 speed
manual transmission, silver, sleek, with dark
tinted windows, and simply gorgeous.
Unfortunately, the keys were not already in the
car, as promised-- as far as one could tell anyway,
because the doors were all locked and one
couldn? really see inside through the darkly tinted
t
windows.
Back to the agent I went, and informed her of
the situation. She furrowed her brow and rustled
a sheaf of papers for a bit, then came out to the
car with me. Yep, it was locked all right. Out came
a radio, and soon a torrent of French filled the air,
followed by a half dozen other agents, all
chattering, circling around the car, shrugging, and
holding their hands out palms up. A conference
ensued, at which time it was agreed that this had
"France is a beautiful country, it has
never happened before, and that furthermore,
a long list of beautiful attributes...it
there were no spare keys, and I would have to get is one of the most comprehensively
a different car. beautiful places on earth."

Uh-oh. David Swanger
There were a limited number of other Once inside, I reached down to adjust the
unreserved cars available at this particular seat, which sat as high and upright as the metal
terminal. In fact, there was only one. Much to my folding metal chairs at my high school
relief, it did not have an automatic transmission. gymnasium, except not as comfortable. The
However, the appearance of the domestically adjustment was kinda in the regular place, but
manufactured machine that was now presented to was so near the floor that I had to fold myself in
me was a bit concerning. France is a beautiful half to reach the lever, banging my forehead on
country. It has a long list of beautiful attributes - the steering wheel in the process. I was then able
the scenery, the art, the boulevards, the gardens, to adjust the seat fore and aft, but the back was
the fashions, the people, the food, the architecture still nearly vertical.
26