Best laid plans...
Weather was once again dreary so another museum was on the agenda.
Compiegne is about an hour south of the farm and the GPS took us on a very pleasant drive along the lovely backroads.
We went into the centre of town to have a look around and get a coffee and then set off to find the Armistice Carriage. Steven couldn't get the GPS to recognise the destination and we didn't have a paper map. After fruitlessly going around in circles for a while, we decided to ask someone to give us some real directions... on paper!
Setting off again, the car (now named The Slug) got a flat tyre. And thus begins the adventure...
The car is a brand new Peugeot from Peugeot Leasing through Driveaway Holidays in Oz.
It is supposed to come with a spare tyre - NOPE!
It comes with 24 hours Roadside Assistance. Ring the number and you get an automated switchboard - in FRENCH!!!
Dial one for ?? Dial two for ??? Mash the keypad and hope for the best.
A real person at last - "do you speak English?" Non!
15 minutes on hold while they find someone who speaks English.
On hold - on a mobile - Roaming on an Aussie SIM card! Ouch!
Ahhh finally someone who understands flat tyre - no spare.
Read out every number, every name, every detail on the lease documents...slowly... twice... "sorry madam we cannot find your contract".
Deep breath - count to ten...
We send mechanic now.
45 minutes later a tow truck arrives!
He puts the car on the flatbed and drives less than one kilometre to the Peugeot dealership.
Thankyou - that will be 120 Euro.
Dealership is closed for lunch - of course it is!
Two hour wait for lunch and then one and a half hour wait for them to fix the tyre.
Thankyou - that will be 190 Euro for a new tyre!
What the???!!!
So what should have been a 20 minute inconvenience turned into a 4 hour ordeal.
And just so the day was not a complete loss - we went to the Armistice Carriage. This is the train carriage which was used to sign the Peace Agreement at the end of WWI and it was indeed well worth seeing.