The Rain In Le Var...

The Rain In Le Var..., originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

(and other regions of France in August)... falls mainly on the car, it would seem.

Paris has enveloped me, it's official; I'm now a fully fledged Parigot participating in one of our favourite annual rituals.

Yep, I'm writing this from a rain-drenched A71 traffic jam from hell, desperate to relieve myself (you do want all the details, don't you?), listening to the motorway radio cheerfully telling us it's only going to get worse but here's Bill Withers... Yeah, right!

The (cunning) plan was to get a head-start on the rest by hopping down to Orléans on the Friday night to stay with conveniently located relative, get to bed early, hit the road around 5am and laugh all the way to the Pyrenees.

The Friday evening restaurant was our first mistake. The hearty breakfast our second. The real circulation problems started around 10am on the Saturday morning. Strangely enough, so did we.

Traffic conditions in France are colour-rated, which appeals to my artistic soul, from Green (Good), Orange (Ordinarily irritating), Red (Really bad), and Black (Bloody awful).

Not wishing to be labeled racist, I'll just refer to today's conditions by the colour of the clouds: totally dark grey.

Makes me ruefully think I should have shut up and stayed Seine-side, listening to Knoffler-challenged hobos playin' tunes on their geetars...