France june 6th

[mickyb]

Hi folks.

Been away for a while but back now......I hope you have all kept well.

Sadly my PZ4 has sat in the shed since I last posted here...but the layer of dust it has attracted makes it look just rite....pitty I can't reproduce it for finished paintjob. It's about to be assembled if I can remember how to do it.....a couple of months is a long time and the box of parts looks daunting to  me now.

I have just come back from France. I organised a weekend trip for my car club and we drove around northern France for two days.......to say it was deserted does not quite describe the roads and villages of north west France this weekend. We spoke to the locals, and most folks had driven to north west France for the weekend...it was really spooky. I have never seen France like it before. We did not intend joining the celebrations on 6th June, and our trip was purely by chance on this weekend, but the effects were most spooky. We just walked into restaurants and sat at any table we wanted and parked anywhere. Sunday was Mother's day for them, but still had no effect on the restaurants that much. Allied Forces graveyards were strewn with flowers, some bunkers and village memorials were as well....I have never seen this before.

I wonder if any one person involved thought how long the effects of this war would last.

I will never forget this weekend in France.....the country was beautiful as usual, but it seemed haunted. Hard to explain.....but very spooky.

I notice that the new tanks on sale are quite different from those I bought a year ago. It is almost as if the manufacturers have been reading your posts and nicked your ideas. Metal chasis/gears/wheels/recoil and battle systems.......nice eh?

Is it economical to buy a tank fully loaded with this kit, then paint it to your own design I wonder.

Any news on my Sherman yet....oh and the Chally....and the Panther......anyone????????

I have a cunning plan that I will post this weekend......seeyah

Mike

[971wright]

Hi Dont go to France around Paris the first weekend in August Friday & Saturday all the motorways are backed up for about 20miles everyone in Paris goes on holiday and for those 2 days its murder driving .I was in Normandy for the 60Th D-Day never seen so many gendarmes ,Lived there for 2 years loved it .

regards pete

[wibblywobbly]

Mike...France is like that everywhere. We are just so used to crowds and people that we have no idea what it is like to live in a big country with loads of space. I go over regularly, and can drive, or ride a motorcycle from A-B without a single hold up anywhere, and then park with ease when I get there. The shops are never crowded, and the people have all the time in the world for each other.

You will never see anyone around in a French town or village, just the odd person, and after 6pm everywhere is like a ghost town. Everyone stays indoors with their family, they have no pub culture like we do.

I often remember the time that I was in the west and had to get back to Le Mans. 6 of us on motorcycles and 2 of us got split up from the other 4 whilst trying to find the motorway. When the 2 of us got onto it we had no idea if the others were in front or behind, so I just stuck the speedo on 100mph and left it there for 100 miles, without slowing down or speeding up. Never saw our friends till we got back to the hotel, they had stuck theirs on 115mph all the way and they were in front! Do you know what, I counted the number of cars I passed during that 100mph for 100 miles hop...precisely 5??

It's not the effect of the war, though, France really is a big unspoilt country.

Rob G