The farmers were late planting the seeds due to the wet spring weather. The flowers didn't develop to their usual magnificence due to the relatively poor late summer and now they are all dead and left in the fields. The ground is so wet that apparently in many places it's unsafe to use the huge harvesting machines. Here and there we see a field of blackened stalks where the farmer has managed to chop off the heads but mostly there are acres and acres of spooky looking dead sunflowers. Tragic.
About six months ago we acquired a chip and a crack in the Peugeot windscreen, just in front of the driver's view. We contacted our insurance company and they told us to take it to a branch of a repair company called Mondial.
On the Mondial website it said if the crack was in front of the driver it could not be repaired or filled, we would have to have a whole new windscreen and the nearest place we could get that done was at a branch in Tours. Rats. That would be a huge palaver involving driving there with two cars so that we could leave the other with them. The only redeeming factor might be that we might be able to time it in order to have lunch in Tours.
Time went by and six months later we thought we really should do something about it. A friend who speaks better French than us phoned the insurance company for us, the outcome being that we could get it done in the village and they would phone us back. We received a text with a claim reference number.
Two weeks later we had heard nothing so we popped down to the garage in the village. They were adamant that the hole could be filled but we could have a new windscreen if we wanted. As the conversation evolved it seemed we were at the wrong garage. A woman emerged from the office to say the place we needed was a farm "out in the woods".
Off we went in search of a different garage, which was indeed in the woods. We wobbled down an uneven track that ends up at a chateau called La Vienne and thought it couldn't possibly be there. Looking behind us we spotted what looked like a farm. We reversed precariously and sure enough, the track opened out in front of a garage business with a Mondial sign on the wall.
Hoorah! we thought. The garage man was charming and helpful and booked us in for the next Thursday but said we must contact the insurance company to confirm payment.
Nick phoned the number given in the text from the insurance company the following Monday but there was a voicemail saying there was nobody there, to phone back on Wednesday. On Wednesday (the day before the appointment for the work) there was another message to say phone back on Friday.
Nick spent over an hour trying to speak to someone at the insurance company who could give us some assurance that the arrangement was approved and got nowhere. Eventually he phoned Mondial head office who said yes it was fine and good to go.
At every conversation we had pointed out that the car needed a new windscreen, not just a repair but guess what.......as we arrived with both cars (so we could leave the Peugeot behind) at 9.00 am at the garage in the woods a little Mondial van turned up. A van not big enough to carry a new windscreen.
Sure enough, the delightful young man that sprang out of it to greet us came with his tube of glue to repair the crack. An exchange of words resulted in him fishing out his little template to look at the crack from behind the steering wheel and he then agreed..........yes we did need a whole new windscreen.
He spent ages on the phone to Mondial and after a bit of verbal wrangling made a new arrangement for a new windscreen to be fitted one week later.....at home!
Now you would think that would be the end of the story but no!
Two days before our appointment for a home visit by Mondial at 9.00 am on the Thursday we had a text to confirm it. One day later we had another text confirming it. We were having our morning tea early on Thursday when the phone rang at 8.30 to say they were on their way and would be with us at 10.00 am. Thinking we had time to get breakfast before they arrived I put a pan of porridge on to cook and they immediately turned up just before 9.00am.
Thirty five minutes later the job was done and one hour later I drove the car to Loches for some shopping. All's well that ends well but it took some getting there!
