Amsterdam and gearboxes

Zipped over to Amsterdam Sunday to see Sietske and Gerry - and to escape the madcap fury of the first round of the elections (though we ended up following it all night anyway - despite being 2 countries away). Arrived first thing in the morning in glorious sunshine and despite a funny metal grinding noise from the car everything was fine. The nasty noise stopped whilst negotiating one of the (many) speed bumps in Amsterdam Centrum so all seemed well. Spent 24 great hours with Gerry, Sietske, Dirk, Dinie, Niko, Arjan etc ....hung out in the Tisfris, shopped for shoes, soaked up the sun and had a very unusual but very good bouillabaisse on Sunday evening. Followed the elections, breathed a sigh of relief that Sergo got through (even though she won't win at least she made the 2nd round and the fascist didn't), Scarlet fell asleep on the settee and we slept like logs in the lovely comfy girl-influenced flat (Arjan has new petite amie ...touches of femininity creeping in like scatter cushions and a throw or two :)) Return journey uneventful until somewhere around Le Touquet and then BANG. The gearbox on the Evasion imploded mid-downhill on a fast motorway. Lordy lordy. Fortunately the hard shoulder was gravel covered so this could be used as a braking aid. Called using the emergency services telephone and awaited transport. Ended up in a little town called Montreuil sur Mer in a very nice garage (Garage Christian) - after 2 hours of to-ing and fro-ing with the insurer we took away a hire car (from same garage) and left our poor smoking sad Evasion with them. Arrived back in St Fraimbault some 6 hours later than anticipated and felt rather shell shocked and battered. Scarlet had a ball the entire time and thinks we deliberately gave her a super exciting ride home. Adrenalin kid. Gregoire will return forthwith and pay a hugely hefty bill for the new gear box. Still. All's well that ends well eh? Now have a very nippy little sporty Peugeout 206 - finger tip radio CD controls and lovely little turbo punch, but oh 'eck does it feel small or what? Monday (hopefully) Gregoire will return to Montreuil sur Mer (only 450 kms away) and collect the newly repaired Evasion. Fingers crossed.