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On a lighter note, here’s a goofy, silly fun online holiday greeting card from Rail Europe. This is what our turkey friend here looks like if you go to France. You can choose your destination and your turkey will dress accordingly.
[via]
From greencarcongress:
France’s Ministry of Ecology (Ministère de l’écologie, du développement et de l’aménagement durables) announced a new feebate system based on CO2 emissions for new vehicle purchases.
Under the scheme, a bonus will be paid to purchasers of new passenger cars emitting less than 130 g CO2/km, which now represents about 30% of sales. The bonus will be supplemented by an extra payment when the acquisition of the vehicle is accompanied by the scrapping of a vehicle that is more than 15 years old. Conversely, buyers of new vehicles that emit more than 160 g CO2/km will pay a penalty. This will affect approximately 25% of new vehicles sold. Buyers of vehicles emitting between 130-160g CO2 will not receive a bonus nor will they pay a tax. This “neutral zone” will apply to about 45% of vehicle purchases.
The payments and the penalties are based on a sliding scale—the less (or more) carbon dioxide emitted, the greater the payment or penalty, respectively. The threshold points for payments or penalties will advance 5 g CO2/km every two years to encourage ongoing development efforts.
To encourage the development of extremely low emission vehicles—especially electric vehicles, the government has a special bonus of €5,000 (US$7,300) for the purchase of vehicles emitting less than 60 g CO2/km….
The Sécurité Routière, France’s Department of Road Safety has released this year’s television spots that will again send shivers down your spine just like last year’s. The TV spots focus on the concept of “just,” i.e., “You’re driving just a little too close” or “You just forgot to signal that you were turning” or “You just ran a red light” or “You just killed someone.” The French Sécurité Routière doesn’t mess around! But these spots effectively show the catastrophic consequences of a driver’s small actions.
Watch these ads here and here.
france road safety accidents in france driving in france
In conjunction with the French October 26 release of Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort (Deathly Hallows), the publisher, Gallimard, is organizing la Tournée du MagicoBus Harry Potter, a Magic bus tour that will stop by major cities in France to meet young Harry Potter fans. From October 17th through the 26th, fans will be able to take part in magical activities and games inside the bus. All participants will receive a poster. Three big winners per city will receive a diploma from Gallimard jeunesse and a collection of novels including the 7th Harry Potter tome. You must have a ticket to enter the Magicobus (Available at participating bookstores). Here’s the bus schedule:
Oct 17 - Lille - place Rihour
Oct 18 - Nancy - porte Desilles
Oct 19 - Lyon - place Louis-Pradel
Oct 20 - Aix-en-Provence - place Batard (Cité du Livre)
Oct 21 - Montpellier - esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle
Oct 22 - Toulouse - rue de Metz /rue des Arts
Oct 23 - Bordeaux - place dal Victoire
Oct 24 - Nantes - place de Bretagne
Oct 25 - Paris - rue Sébastien-Bottin
Oct 26 - Paris - parvis Montparnasse 9am / place du Châtelet 3pm
[via Univers HP]
Links: Gallimard, Official Press Release
Him: You know what they need in France?
Me: What?
Him: Those awesome signs in the U.S. on trucks that say, ‘How am I driving?’ with a number to call and report dangerous truck drivers.
Me: That could be interesting if they had that in France.
Him: I’d be the FIRST to call.
From Treehugger:
“When the French do something, they do it in style and make an impact. Some things like the Concorde suck a bit too much gas and don’t quite work out as planned, but when they decide that they don’t want to suck gas, they go out and buy ten thousand electric vehicles to deliver the mail. “There has never been such a big order [for the vehicles] in the world,” said French Industry Minister Francois Loos…”
Or would that be ugly in a cute sort of way? Or is it just plain ugly? I like it for a minute then I hate it. It’s cutely creepy. France’s train company (SNCF) made headlines last week with its ultra-fast train breaking its own previous record. I do think there are other trains that go faster. I could be mistaken, but I’m specifically thinking about the Shinkansen in Japan - but I shouldn’t take the limelight away from my hexagonal, host country home. I do think that fast train is pretty neat.
Back to the cute and ugly mascot in the form of an USB 512 MB key. This new mascot is one attempt on the part of the SNCF to change their image to be….cute? Fun, I guess. Trains are fun, I must admit - and keys do come in handy once in a while. (Of course, I’m not crazy about all that plastic.) I’m not sure where you can get these but you probably can find them at the….(drum roll)…train station!
I like that the French are not afraid of PINK. I think I even saw a French rugby team with bright pink jerseys. (maybe they were German or British) Anyway, I imagine an American rugby team (or any sports team for that matter) would flat out boycott pink. Too girly for them. Pffffff. Don’t they know that REAL men aren’t afraid of pink?
[via akihabara]
British tourists and expats must get Beyonce’s song out of their heads! (You know, “to the left, to the left…” Ok. anyway.)
There have been several accidents caused by English people driving on the left side of the street in France, so a small French town (Flers) in the north has launched a campaign reminding them to cut it out. There are posters up and they give drivers stickers to put inside their cars. This reminds me of when we were driving in England, we put post-its inside the car like this, “<–LEFT!” Silly, but that saved our lives, probably.
This also brings up the subject of why British people do not have to take a driver’s test when living in France. Their English driver’s licenses are automatically permitted in France, while other drivers, like say, from United States, have to take a test if they live in France more than a year. C’mon, the English freakin’ drive on the left!!! (Yes! I’m bitter.) 
Back to the story. Here’s an excerpt:
“Police in a small town in northern France have launched a poster campaign to remind British expatriates and tourists to drive on the right side of the road — literally…”
Read the full article from Associated Press
In 1991, Guy Négre, a French engineer founded a company (Moteur Developpment International or MDI) that would continue the development of his invention, the Air Car. He would ultimately aim to put it on the global market and manufacture it. To date, it is not available to purchase. Why isn’t it - 16 YEARS LATER? Will the same fate kill the Air Car as it did the Electric Car?
What is the Air car?
The Air Car is a car that uses compressed air technology and is powered by an air engine. It does not use any gasoline whatsover. Compressed air is stored in carbon or glass fiber tanks at a pressure of 4,351 pounds per square inch (psi). This air is fed through an air injector to the engine and flows into a small chamber, which expands the air. The air pushing down on the pistons moves the crankshaft, which gives the vehicle power. It is inexpensive to manufacture, and most importantly, does not pollute.1
Advantages Over the Hybrid
I may be one of the few to say this in public but I honestly don’t know why hybrids are getting all the buzz. Admittedly, they pollute the air less than standard cars, but they still do pollute AND they create a different pollution problem that is horrible. That itty-bitty detail seems to be getting overlooked. People should know that they have mongo sized batteries and no one can tell me exactly how long they last and where they will end up like other dead batteries. But we know where they’ll end up, don’t we? Yup, in a landfill. Batteries are one of the most hazardous elements to leach into soil from landfills, so while the beloved hybrid won’t pollute the air as much, they will cause harmful pollution in other ways. I personally find that biodiesels and Air Cars (with their zero pollution) are the true wave of the future but I can’t fight multinational lobbyists - so I think hybrids may be here to stay for a while.
In any case, I’m rooting for the Air Car even if isn’t the most attractive car (either is the hybrid!), and even if it will suffer a slow, torturous, unfair death. Or will it? One very big company in India, actually THE biggest automobile company in India (Tata Motors) has agreed to help further develop the air engine technology. Plus, the Air Car has been in news more and more lately so at least I know it is still alive and kicking. Go Air Car go!
The Air Car
Watch a video of The Air Car on YouTube
Zero Pollution and Low Cost
Tata Motors
My French sweetie and I had the weirdest conversation just the other day.
Him: “Waaah! Look at that truck, it’s oomungoose!”
Me: “Yeah. So?”
Him: “You know, here in L.A. nearly everyone drives an SUV.”
Me: “No, not nearly everyone. Everyone.”
Him: “And the bumpers are all different places even if they are about the same size SUV.”
Me: “I’m totally lost.”
Him: “Americans never take into consideration how a car will damage a person if they hit him.”
Me: “What? You mean hit them with their car?”
Him: “Yeah.”
Me: “Usually when people get him by a car here, they don’t survive.”
Him: “EXACTLY!”
Me: “I have no clue about what you are talking about.”
Him: “In Europe, when they design cars, they design them so that in the case where someone gets hit by this car, their bones will break in places that will be easy to heal. That is, if they survive. For example: it’s easier for a body to heal with a bone fracture on the thigh (the femur), rather than getting your hip broken. You know? Or, it’s better to get hit on the tibia (shin bone) and have the bone fracture there, than getting it cracked right on the knee. Etc.”
Me: “But people are all different sizes.”
Him: “True, so they base their calculations on averages.”
Me: “I get it. So a short person like me would have a bone broken in a bad place.”
Him: “Probably. If you survive.”
Me: “That’s lovely.”
Him: “See how thoughtless Americans are?”
Me: “I guess. Where did you learn about all this happy information?”
Him: “From a documentary on ARTE.”
Me: “I’ll make sure to watch more of ARTE when I need some cheering up.”
From Reuters:
“French motorists may be driving more recklessly than usual because they are counting on the traditional pardon by the incoming president after the election in May, the transport minister said.Statistics to be released by the transport ministry on Wednesday show a 13.9 percent rise in deaths on the roads in January, with 394 victims, the daily Le Parisien reported, after an 11.6 percent drop in fatalities in 2006.
France has a reputation of producing some of the most cavalier drivers in Europe but a concerted push by the government has seen a 43 percent drop in road deaths since 2002.
The surge in fatalities in January has raised concern that drivers are counting on having traffic offences wiped off when the new president takes office in May, Transport Minister Dominique Perben said.
“I hope that’s not…” Read the full article
From Busabout:
Who could fail to be seduced by France? There’s no other place like Paris on Earth with its majestic boulevards, fabulous shops and night-life. Out of the capital, Busabout takes you to a choice of towns including: Tours, Bordeaux, Avignon and Nice. Each town having its own particular brand of French attitude, fantastic food and wine, and a particular “je ne sais quoi!”
Busabout destinations in France
Avignon
In an idyllic location in the south of France, Avignon is nestled on the Rhone River and has spectacular views and stunning palaces.
Bordeaux
Vineyards, wide avenues, public squares, beautiful parks and architecture are just some of the amazing sights you’ll see in Bordeaux.
Nice
The gateway to the Riviera, a fantastic place to relax and explore the Cote d’Azur. Soak up the sun, sea and sand and see how the other half live!
Paris
Stroll across the romantic streets and bridges of Paris and discover its mystique and beauty. Enjoy a picnic of wine and brie on the grass by the Eiffel Tower and watch your troubles melt away…..
Tours
This Loire Valley gem is a stunning castle town, complete with turrets, moats, and drawbridges.
For more information: Busabout
SNCF Travel in France has added a CO2 emissions comparison tool to their booking site. It takes several modes of transports and calculates (and compares) the impact on the environment. [via]
Though I’m not much into cars, these are an exception because they are so mini and cute! I’m not very excited about seeing them on the highways, however, because they usually don’t go very fast, which makes them dangerous road hazards. They are best seen at exhibitions, and due to the existence of many micro car fans, you can go see them whenever they exhibit. Here’s their site:
On their website you’ll be able to find out about upcoming events all over France.
From August 21 to the end of this month, Peugeot has run a “special promotion.” They will apply up to 3,700 euros toward the purchase of your new Peugeot (specific conditions apply of course) plus the blue book value of your OLD car. I’ve seen the ads in spam mail in our mailbox as well as television spots of this particular promotion.
They really, really bug me. The TV ads shows this guy pushing his 20+ year old, crappy car off a cliff, then he remembers the “special” and uses his magic powers to bring it back up. Reverse tape and voila: old crappy car back on top of the cliff and ready to be redeemed at a Peugeot dealer. That sounds like a great deal!!
The print ad shows the same promotion with an ad babe sitting atop an old Peugeot 104, which is a Peugeot model that began production in 1972 and lasted until 1988. But you’re not supposed to be paying too much attention to that because afterall, there’s a babe in the picture! I guess you’re supposed to be blinded somehow by the babe so you don’t read the fine print.
Peugeot’s fine print is like practically all fine print: very tiny at the bottom of the ad necessitating the use of a magnifying glass. In the TV ad, the fine print is scrolled really fast at the bottom of the screen. Try not to be distracted by the great deal or ad babe! Always read the fine print!!!!
The deception here is that Peugeot uses these examples of extremely old cars and they imply that you can exchange them for real value. The Peugeot 104 in the print ad, for example, is at best 18 years old, and could possibly be as old as 34 years old if it was one of the Peugeot 104s built in 1972.
The fine print will probably not surprise you. It didn’t surprise me either but nevertheless bugs me. Here’s what the fine print revealed: the promotion is only valid for cars less than eight years old.
If that isn’t a case of extreme and shameless deceptive marketing, I don’t know what is.
This parking game, “Parking Perfection” from Peugeot is slightly easier than the other parking game I’d written about not long ago. Each level has different challenges and as you progress, you’ll have obstacles like dogs to park around. Don’t hit them! And try to avoid bumping the cars around you. Be sure to read your mission for every level. Sometimes you’ll be required to park front first; other times you’ll have to back up into a space. Use the cursor (arrow) keys to steer and the spacebar to stop. You have a minute to park in your spot.
Strangely, the French car maker, Peugeot, has offered this game from their UK site and not from their French website.
More fun flash games from French developer Jean-Philippe Sarda at Pepere.org! Yup, this is the very same company that made Pépère, sa voiture et son créneau (Pepere, his car and parallel parking), the fun parking games.
This most recent game released by JP was inspired by the classic BMX series and the famous Nanaca crash game. The beauty of Jump Gear comes from the driver’s ability to jump (using the spacebar). You must adeptly control all of your jumps over the hills (left & right cursor arrows). Use the up and down arrows to accelerate and reverse. Cute, fun and challenging. Click on the picture above to play the game.
Imagine driving along the highway in France, and you can’t help yourself, you have to speed just a little, thinking every little bit helps to get to your destination quicker. Yes! you think, 30 seconds ahead of schedule? That strangely sounds like good thing while you’re driving. No, no, no - not speeding like a crazy maniac. Just putting some perk into the ride; nothing pedal-to-the-metal dangerous. There are hardly any other cars on the highway and traffic is moving divinely until…you see a highway marquee sign with a message.
You read it, and it says, “585971, you’re driving too fast. Slow down!” You think, “HaHA 585971 you got busted!” Then, you begin to wonder why that number sounds hauntingly familiar.
A few minutes later as you’re singing loudly with your car tunes, the realization finally hits you: that message was for you. That was your license plate number. Yes it was for you and YOU alone. “Nah!” you think, “that wasn’t for me” In the distance you see another traffic message sign. As you approach it, you read it to verify that it wasn’t for you. It says:
“See! Just a generic message saying to drive gently, economize (on gas) and pollute less.”
Denial will get you nowhere. That was, indeed, your French Grand Frère warning you to slow down. Wasn’t he nice, though, that he didn’t give you a speeding ticket?
Support France by posting a message on the traffic panels around Paris. Please. Don’t distract drivers too much. Short and simple messages work best. Avoid shameless plugs (oops).
To post your message to the traffic panels, go to the Paris website below. (submit your post before 4pm Sunday) Allez!
[via 3couleurs]
The Sécurité Routière, France’s Department of Road Safety has just released a spot for television that is so shocking and traumatizing, it’ll leave you in tears.
During the last several years, France has been trying to reduce their embarrassing statistics regarding the amount of fatal automobile road accidents due to drunk driving and negligent driving such as speeding. They’ve decided to take drastic measures and from the looks of this PSA, it far surpasses anything resembling “drastic.” In fact, the word drastic never seemed so tame in comparison.
It is so effective, you may never have the desire to ever step foot inside a car again.
To view the spot, go here: Sécurité Routière and click on the 90 sign, then click on the poster in the scene (like the one below) then click on “SPOT TELE.”
Despite the news on television that purports that France is a literal copy of the landscape in Gangs of New York, this is the best time to plan a trip to France. I know Condi just issued a warning to Americans traveling to France, but if you come during the summer, no one will be on strike. Believe me. France takes a vacation during the summer no matter what. If disputes still remain between the government and the unions, the manifestations simply will have to wait then resume in the Fall. How convenient! Just like the Sunday family dinner in France (you know, le repas dominicale en famille?), Summers are sacrosanct.
Even if you’d like to come now, you can still see the cities though there may be some disruptions here and there. I certainly don’t believe it is as dangerous as they claim, however.
But, just to play it safe and to try something different, my recommendation would be to travel outside of the cities. It is a whole ‘nother kind of vacation. You have many choices but I’ll only focus on one for now (then revisit other options later possibly): Independent cruising along the French canals.
Warning: If you cannot handle a mellow trip, clean air, a calm atmosphere, breathtaking scenery and relaxing tranquility, this is NOT for you.
There are about 8 regions in France with cruisable canals: Alsace, Burgundy, Camargue, Franche-Comté, Maine-Anjou, Midi and Sancerrois.
Trips are extremely customizable so if you want to take a week long trip on the canals, stopping in different towns along the way, or if you just want to test it out for three days, taking a shorter trip, that is possible as well. One ways or round trips are also available, so you can pick an end destination town (for example, Montbard in Burgundy) where there might be a TGV (fast train) back to Paris to catch a flight back home. The fast train from Montbard to Paris takes only 45 minutes.
You do not need a license to drive many of the smaller boats (like in the photo). There are bike paths alongside many of the canals too if you want to bring along (or rent) a bike somewhere - to change pace and grab some exercise.
What you do need to know, however, is that from time to time you’ll come across an écluse which is a canal lock. It’s an enclosed section of a canal with gates at each end, used for raising and lowering boats from one level to another by admitting, or releasing, water. You’ll have to stop and have someone open the écluse so your boat can pass through.
[This is a late Lulu Lundi photo!]
Usually, there is a house at the écluse and someone will come out and help, but sometimes no one will be there and you’ll have to do it yourself. It’s not hard and will take only about 10 to 15 minutes. Last summer we were driving over a canal bridge and saw a board approaching the écluse so we got out to help them.
Watch a slideshow here of the process of working with the ecluse. Click here: Canal in France - Ecluse (quicktime .mov file)
The other option with canals is to take a barge cruise with crew included so you don’t need to worry about anything including gourmet meals; everything is taken care of for you. [see la tortue, a Dutch barge company in France or check out Swan Cruises, Canals of France and self-catering Barging in France]
Information on DIY Canal Cruises (find price schemes on the websites)
France Afloat
Franceway
Locaboat
Travelogues
Barging Through Burgundy, France
Travel Guide Books on Canals in France
Cruising French Waterways
Insight Guide Waterways of Europe
Through the French Canals
Barging in Burgundy
Watersteps Through France: To the Camargue by Canal
Doesn’t it seem like car repairs in the U.S., no matter what kind of car repair, cost inevitably a minimum of $300 - $500? Never is it less than $50 or even $100. Sometimes I think it’s a conspiracy. Labor’s expensive in France as well and it’s no different with the total costs each time. Our last car repair fit in that equation: we paid something like 300 euros ($358). Oh where oh where is that garage that charges less than that? Here it is! O’garage, in Roubaix, located in the north of France, is that very garage!!! I’m sure some repairs are above and beyond 300 euros but the cool thing about O’garage is that you can do some of the work at the garage yourself, and get a huge discount. Ok, admittedly, working on a car doesn’t seem all that appealing to me but this garage significantly cuts down on your total bill and that is always a good thing. They provide coverings to protect your clothes, and you even get a free liter of oil if you change the oil yourself. You do, however, have to rent the space and tools for a small fee. If you don’t know how to do a certain repair or procedure, someone will teach you how to do it (also for a small fee). All parts and repairs are discounted and you can save as much as 40%. For now, there’s only one location for Ogarage, but hopefully in the future, they’ll be able to expand to other parts of France. O’garage Hours: Monday to Saturday : Telephone: 03 20 03 20 20 |
Just this morning I received an email from someone (thank you Mat!) with a link to a website for information on the highway speed radars all over France. As you can see in the photo, they are hard to miss, however, if you have your pedal to the metal, it might just look like a blur and you’ll be oblivious to its existence. At least for a while. In that case, you’ll simply receive a speeding ticket in the mail later, because those radars don’t just measure the speed of your car, they take a photo of the speeding vehicle’s license plate then issues the ticket based on information in the system. Every hour, the all the photos are uploaded to the government servers to then be processed. Here’s the link that indicates the locations of all the radars in France by region: Controle Radar (in English and French) Of course, this is not giving you permission to speed just because you know the location of the radars. There is still highway patrolling with hand-held radar guns, and while they are not allowed to hide (like they do in the U.S), you would swear they were hiding. While I was looking into this radar issue, I serendipitously fell upon a hacker forum and read a funny story. A guy was recounting a time when he was speeding on the highway and saw the radar…but it was too late. The radar got him. Crazed and desperate because he knew he was driving so fast that his license would be revoked*, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Literally. He went back to the radar box and found the IP address of the radar on it. He then used that information to hack the box. The photo of his car had not yet been uploaded, so he had time to alter it before it was sent. Using a photo editor, he changed one number on the license plate. Apparently, the speeding ticket went to someone who claimed his vehicle was unable to reach the speed that it allegedly was going. Others claimed the same thing happened to them (in French). * If you speed more than 30 kilometers over the speed limit, your license will be revoked for 3 years. Other Info: UPDATE Of course, the hoax could be a way for pirates to continue the hack… (sorry, the conspiracy theorist in my doesn’t want to die!) |
ignoring last month’s announcement by the automobile manufacturer ford that they will be laying off 30,000 workers within the next 6 years, the french ford division decided instead to celebrate, step out of its conservative marketing shell and have a little fun. ford france has launched a hilarious marketing campaign that promotes their cute little economy car called the “KA” with a website featuring “the Kaboys.” on ford’s micro site for KA you will find all kinds of information about the car as well as videos of the Kaboys doing strip-teases a la full monty. phil, one of the Kaboys, is particularly ridiculous. [via le blog du marketing alternatif and adverblog] |
and i do mean that literally. you see, these SUVs from china called, “landwinds” manufactured by Jiangling Motors, have not been able to pass any european crash tests. based on evaluations of the landwind at the frankfurt auto show last september, experts noted that the landwind was poorly assembled, used bottom-of-the-line plastics, had exposed cables - basically a low quality vehicle that is extremely dangerous to drive. the most important factor, however, should be the crash test results. the landwind failed european crash tests but miraculously passes chinese crash tests. (with flying colors of course) the landwind company, however, has declared that they are determined to remedy some of those faults by the time it premieres in france this october. i certainly hope so. |
the models coming to france will be fully equipped: electronic air-conditioning, leather interior, car radio/CD, power-steering, electric sliding sunroof, backup sensor and alloy rims — priced at 15,500 to 20,600 euros ($18,752 to $24,922). Compared to other SUVs, that’s dirt cheap but considering the craftsmanship, cheap materials and labor, but most importantly the CRASH TEST RESULTS — remember: you get what you pay for - and you may end up paying with your life. i hope that consumers can put price tag aside to seriously consider how unsafe this car really is. Please think about the safety of your friends and family. from the words of Ad Vonk, the spokesperson for the Dutch Drivers’s Union (ANWB)… “I have never seen such a dangerous car!” the landwinds are already available for purchase in germany and the netherlands. [via le monde, autoactu and le blog auto] |
