many thanks for the messages off-List about the little tale I recently spun .To my mind if we can mix our love of old bikes with a bit of foreign travel, our lives become richer.
However, as I have been reminded, I cannot let this moment go without paying a deep debt of gratitude to "my agent in Ireland" who did the Ebay bidding for me..and held the fort magnificently in the face of numerous emails directed to him in French....while in the meanwhile I delighted in the bucolic splendour of the Loire and Saone valleys. I can well imagine the unvoiced yet deeply felt Gallic expletives....
The rich point that I missed out in my narrative was the point where, having just,,really only just entered the sellers garage..less than thirty seconds I reckon..the mobile phone harboured in my jacket pocket started to ring furiuosly.
Not a man lost for words .. well did you ever meet up with an Irishman lost for words ....my Irish agent started bellowing at .." where the ... are you? I cant keep this French guy off my..... email intray... he's boiling over...wants to know if you are for real?"
" Willie.." I replied "..a second..!" With that I turned to the seller to whom up to that point I had only addressed the single word "Bonjour"..and asked him "Parlez-vous Anglais, peut-etre, Monsieur?"..wondering if he had managed to hear the choice terms of abuse being hurled down that phone line. "Non" came the reply. "It's OK Willie, fire away..I'm actually in the guy's garage, he's standing just a couple of feet away but he's none the wiser about what you're saying...And..Oh by the way..it is a Sauvage-Lejeune.. yes and it is a 56cm ..just your size..and No! you can't have it..Thanks anyway"
Willie is a member of the List.. and he won't feel too bad about this because he knows that last year I did get him a 56cms Lejeune Team Replica with almost full Campag equipment on it...a beauty in that special red.... But I'm still not convinced that the seller wasn't Hercule Poirot. Nobody could possibly have such a waxed moustache and not be a detective...Can you imagine talking to a CYCLIST who tweaks his long waxed moustache as he negotiates with you? Very inscrutable...pity about the monocle too!
Now for the Rene Vietto machine..I think it's a late 30s Alcyon...
Norris Lockley..Settle-sur-Loire..about 5kms from Seattle-sur-Loire ..where I hope to meet up with fellow List member Nelson Miller..and a rendezvous with one of the Monsieur BIGs of French Ebay..