Danny, the "Coupleur", and Heerlen.
By now we were well settled-in in the Peugeot, and the more we saw of it, the more we liked it. The Coupleur did absolutely everything it said on the tin. On the steering column the arrangement
was:
..............#..(wheel, side on view)
R-2-4......#
+=+=+=#..(neutral)
1-3.........#
..............#
1 would climb up a wall. 4 was a geared-up (0.75, I think) overdrive. All your town driving was done in 2 and 3. Start in 2, it would easily take you to 40, then 3 went on to 75. On the open road/autobahn you'd "hook it up" into 4. This would take you very little faster (only to a true 80), but much more restfully, apart from a faint and not unpleasant whine.
The lever was spring-loaded to 2-3. Obviously you pushed away for R-1 (ideal for "shunting"). And the beauty of the whole thing was: you couldn't abuse it, whatever you did ! Start in 4 ? Certainly, Sir ! (it would be perfectly smooth, if you didn't mind being beaten from the lights by Steptoe's horse). Leave it in 3 in traffic, drift down to walking speed (or stop), pull away as slick as silk - no trouble.
As smooth as the best hydraulics, no slip, no creep, no penalty in power or consumption - and no clutch pedal. The little Coupleur handbook was not translated, but I was charmed by the requirements of maintien - pratiquement nul ! - although this was rather spoilt by the start of the next paragraph: "En cas de non-fonctionment", you were advised to consult "L'Agence Peugeot la plus prochain" - (there to be royally ripped-off, of course, but Peugeot was no worse than all the others in that respect).
The summer days passed by, we got to know the town centre shops, particularly the big department store "Vroom & Dreesman", from which you could get pretty well all you needed in the household line. Sometimes we went further afield to Geleen, but I don't think we did much shopping there. But we used to have dinner from time to time at a hotel, because we were always sure of a window table, directly under which we parked the car so that we could keep Mary, sleeping in her carricot on the back seat, in view all the time.
I shall never forget our first bottle of Sekt . (I don't recall what we were celebrating). I unwired the cork, the first impact left an indentation in the plaster on the wall, the lethal projectile went round the kitchen about three times before finally succumbing to gravity (reminding me of our cat Peter). The stuff (what was left of it) didn't taste at all bad, but our favourite was Moselle (not so far away on the map).
And the never-to-be-forgotten day when we had parked Mary's carricot normal to the settee back, so that the end stuck out over the carpet. She awoke and scrambled down to see what was afoot, The C.o.G came with her, carricot rotated 180º, and she landed on the carpet with carricot on top. The welkin rang with her indignant reproaches; we gathered her up and consoled her; and fortunately she proved to have incurred no damage.
Of course we paid the customary visit to Keukenhof to see the tulip gardens in all their glory. After we got back, we learned of the impending date of our move to the Volkspark, but before leaving Heerlen, we had a flying visit from my sister-in-law and nephew, who had been staying with our Dutch in-laws in Eindhoven. Iris's brother (in the RAF) had married a Dutch girl at the end of the war.
Together we went to Cologne, I had the address: Grossrotterweg 3 - (Big Red Lane), - off Hitzelerstraße (this always shocked the British ear; as they usually misheard, missing the all-important "ze"in the middle, and had to be reassured that no, we had not let the Germans name streets after their late unlamented Führer). "Hitzeler" means "Furnaceman", or "Stoker" (IIRC) - if you really want to know.
Armed with a good street map, it was not difficult to find, after we'd regained our composure from negotiating the Köln-Sud roundabout: this was almost as bad as the Paris Rond-Pointe, redeemed only by German lane discipline. As I don't think we had the keys yet, we could only marvel at this vast mansion that was soon to be our home. On the way back, we pulled in at GK; I remember showing Barry my room in the Mess: he was much taken with my Mess kit. Later "Isn't he a bit old to be a Flying Officer ?", he asked, after the individual had passed by: "Ex-Warrant Officer", I replied, rather surprised by the question, (for Barry had done his NS in the Army). Then back to Heerlen.
Bit late now. Goodnight, all,
Danny42C.
On our way again !
Last edited by Danny42C; 3rd Nov 2013 at 15:11.
Reason: Spacing.