R is for Roadworks and Roundabouts

R is for Roadworks and Roundabouts

Je ne vais pas attendre cent sept ans — I’m not going to wait forever

For the past few months they have been resurfacing the road outside our house. Every so often, we receive a note saying that no vehicles should be parked on the road, as work is happening on a certain date. It never does. The date comes and goes, but no workmen appear. Then, one, two or three weeks later, some large, noisy, green vehicles arrive and work goes on for a day or two.

During the time that no work is being done, they may or may not remove the signs from each end of the road saying that it is closed. Not that it matters, as whenever it’s there, drivers just get out of their cars, move the sign, drive past and then put it back again. There may be a little skirmish further along the road as car and large green vehicle meet, but somehow everyone gets through.

On the first occasion they turned up unexpectedly to do the work, we couldn’t get out of our drive. This was slightly inconvenient as I had a dental appointment. Gavin explained this to the workmen. They kindly cleared everything up and escorted us out of the drive and we bumped along the road to the dentist.

The latest missive we received about the roadworks, informed us that they were being carried out to improve our quality of life. That’s very considerate of you. (Unfortunately a couple of potholes remain. But don’t worry, we’ll continue to drive round them.)

The French government must have appointed a roundabout czar. Everywhere we’ve been lately, new roundabouts seem to be springing up. I can only assume the money earmarked for roundabouts must have been underspent over the past few years. So now it must be used up quickly because there seems absolutely no need for new roundabouts where they are being placed.