As it's holiday time, I thought you might like a quick look at a little piece of Unmitigated France. Or La France Profonde? I've always been a bit of a fan of Vilac wooden toys, because Ashley Towers just isn't crowded-out enough with English juvenilia, and last Friday Youngest Boy and I found ourselves inexplicably in The Conran Shop. Of course we were only there to look at the racing car ceramic tiles surrounding the original Michelin building it's in, but half-an-hour later saw YB clutching a bright red Vilac racing car. Which he has subsequently not let out of his sight. All the way back home he kept suddenly bursting into song: "Vilac! Las Vegas!". I then remembered that I'd been given a Vilac garage for a birthday past, and we rummaged in the woodshed for it. It took us a while, but for what it's worth here it is. Ici. It really is La France Profonde, as the prices for fuel are in good old Gauloises stained francs. Still, perhaps it will come back to its own very soon. In the meantime, anyone for a quick depannage?
France and things French must be in the air...like the whiff of Gauloises 'Caporals'. Your garage is divine - what a lucky YB you have (I'm quite a fan of French Dinky toys and Meccano myself.) As luck would have it, yesterday saw us driving a 1950 Citroen Traction from Cirencester to Sussex...for a while everything seemed to turn to black and white as we wooshed through the countryside on sci-fi inspired 'floating power'. But as we crossed the M4 I woke up and bugger me, we were in North Hampshire...
You lucky boy Jon. A 1950 Citroen Traction would be the car of choice in La France Profonde. I also raise a glass of Ricard to Maigret, (with Lucas riding on the minimal running board shouting 'Oui Patron'), zinc bars, gable ends with 'Pernod' painted on them, gallettes on the beach at Deauville. langoustine in St.Malo, SNCF ceramic station signs....(that's enough French. Ed.)
Ah, the Traction. The car beloved both of policemen and gangsters, as the Richard Bohringer character says in the film Diva.
Maigret, incidentally, never drove. He feared that the brown studies brought about by mulling over evidence and suspects would distract him, so Lucas would be behind the wheel, no on the running board.
Welcome Rashbre. I remember that garage very well. I used to talk to the bloke as he worked on the Citroens. A single bulb at the back lit up boxes of original spares. He kept ones he had for sale on Gabriel's Wharf, as well as in the surrounding streets.
We're having a Citroen Traction as our Wedding car, it is beautiful. If I could buy an old Citroen though I would love a DS, still looks so good and so far ahead of it's time. My Brother has 2 Citroen Mehari's and an H Van (He's a bit of a fan).
I am a designer, writer and photographer who spends all his time looking at England, particularly buildings and the countryside. But I have a leaning towards the slightly odd and neglected, the unsung elements that make England such an interesting place to live in. I am the author and photographer of over 25 books, in particular Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2006), More from Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2007), Cross Country (Wiley 2011), The Cigarette Papers (Frances Lincoln 2012), Preposterous Erections (Frances Lincoln 2012) and English Allsorts (Adelphi 2015)
"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England". Clive Aslet
Preposterous Erections
"Enchanting...delightful". The Bookseller "Cheekily named" We Love This Book
The Cigarette Papers
"Unexpectedly pleasing and engrossing...beautifully illustrated". The Bookseller
Cross Country
"Until the happy advent of Peter Ashley's Cross Country it has, ironically, been foreigners who have been best at celebrating Englishness". Christina Hardyment / The Independent
More from Unmitigated England
"Give this book to someone you know- if not everyone you know." Simon Heffer, Country Life. "When it comes to spotting the small but telling details of Englishness, Peter Ashley has no equal." Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
8 comments:
France and things French must be in the air...like the whiff of Gauloises 'Caporals'. Your garage is divine - what a lucky YB you have (I'm quite a fan of French Dinky toys and Meccano myself.) As luck would have it, yesterday saw us driving a 1950 Citroen Traction from Cirencester to Sussex...for a while everything seemed to turn to black and white as we wooshed through the countryside on sci-fi inspired 'floating power'. But as we crossed the M4 I woke up and bugger me, we were in North Hampshire...
You lucky boy Jon. A 1950 Citroen Traction would be the car of choice in La France Profonde. I also raise a glass of Ricard to Maigret, (with Lucas riding on the minimal running board shouting 'Oui Patron'), zinc bars, gable ends with 'Pernod' painted on them, gallettes on the beach at Deauville. langoustine in St.Malo, SNCF ceramic station signs....(that's enough French. Ed.)
Ah, the Traction. The car beloved both of policemen and gangsters, as the Richard Bohringer character says in the film Diva.
Maigret, incidentally, never drove. He feared that the brown studies brought about by mulling over evidence and suspects would distract him, so Lucas would be behind the wheel, no on the running board.
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There used to be a garage by Waterloo (in the arches) that specialised in renovating those Citroens.
Welcome Rashbre. I remember that garage very well. I used to talk to the bloke as he worked on the Citroens. A single bulb at the back lit up boxes of original spares. He kept ones he had for sale on Gabriel's Wharf, as well as in the surrounding streets.
We're having a Citroen Traction as our Wedding car, it is beautiful. If I could buy an old Citroen though I would love a DS, still looks so good and so far ahead of it's time. My Brother has 2 Citroen Mehari's and an H Van (He's a bit of a fan).
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