Relaxed Parents

When we arrived to pick up the modest family sized car from Hertz at Carcassonne airport, they presented us with a modestly sized 4×4.  It felt like we were climbing into a truck and we could feel our carbon emissions suddenly rocket.  As if flying hadn’t been bad enough.

Still, if you’re suddenly driving on the right when you’re used to driving on the left and when everyone else on the roads seems to drive as though the local speed limits are actually in mph not kmh, being a couple of sizes larger has its uses.

Many of the roads in this part of France are bordered by rows of lofty plane trees forming a natural set of sylvan eaves over the centre of the roads.  To date, we’d seen this as a charming part of the local scenery.  Then, without warning, a tree dropped a large branch directly in front of us as we sped down a major road.  Supermum managed to swerve a little but the Guilt-Mobile still had to plough straight through what she described as “definitely a log”.  In the 4×4, it felt like going over a speed bump.  Our little town car at home would probably have have picked up some serious damage so  we pulled into the next lay-by to check out the lights, fender, suspension etc.  Not a scratch.  I shudder to think what would have happened if we’d hit it in something less sturdy or if it had landed on, say, the windscreen.  At any rate, we stopped making smart-arse remarks about 4×4s for a while.  They’ve got their place, even if it’s only in countries where trees are likely to throw excess lumber at you.