Last week I noticed that the car registration sticker on the windscreen of the Scenic said 05/15. Since we bought the car in May 2013, I assumed that this meant that the car was now unregistered. Not being familiar with the system over here, I asked around and discovered that this was the case. Unlike Australia, you receive no notification that your vehicle is unregistered, and have to notice that yourself. But there is no “re-registration” as such. Every 2 years, cars in France need to get a Control Technique examination (a “roadworthy certificate” in Australia), but once that is done there is no further registration process. So we phoned one of several CT garages in Moissac and surprisingly got an appointment for half an hour’s time - not even enough to give the car a clean! So off we went, and handed to car over to the CT technician who gave it a thorough check-out using a variety of sophisticated equipment which tested all aspects of the vehicle - emissions, lights, engine, transmission, suspension etc. All very professional and high-tech, as we waited in the adjoining glass-walled room. Within 30 minutes he had finished, made out a new sticker (for 2 years) and stuck it on our windscreen and also placed a sticker in our “carte grise - grey book” which is our proof of ownership of the vehicle. He advised us that our steering arm bushes needed some work and that the rear tyres were getting near to the end of their safe life, but that we wouldn’t need to bring the car back for re-inspection. I guess this just means that we need to get the work done before we bring the car back for another CT in 2017.

Having replaced all the barge halogen lights with LEDs, we have now put LED lights in the wheelhouse and engine room, using self-adhesive strings of “fairy lights”. These are unobtrusive during the day and very effective at night. With all the LEDs and the new solar panel lights in the wheelhouse and rear deck, our lighting power consumption when cruising will now be minimal.

In the evening, Don and Laura drove up from Castelsarassin to have dinner with us on the back deck of Kanumbra. A very enjoyable evening, and we were later joined by our C&W/Calypso neighbours from the boat next door. We all then went up to the house for an inspection. Don and Laura had seen the house last year, and were impressed at the changes that had occurred since then.