If You Break the Handle on a Washing Machine . . .

If you break a handle on a washing machine then you will inevitably run out of underwear . . .

Which means you will have to purchase a few more pairs of underwear . . .

This means that you will have to drive through several roundabouts in rush hour . . .

Which will put both you and the Engineer in a very bad mood . . .

So that when you get to the underwear store you decide that the Engineer should go get some fries at McDonalds for the ride home . .  .

And the Engineer will go to McDonalds near dinner time when it is really busy . . .

Because this is France there is only one person working the till while 15 people stand behind the counter doing random jobs  . . . .

This will put the Engineer in a bad mood, especially as the family if front (all 6) insist on standing at the counter together and the Engineer keeps getting hit by a balloon . . .

So that when he does finally get his order he just wants to leave . . . .

Which means he gets in the car, and drives forward a bit forcefully . . . .

So that he drives over a concrete 'garden/hole' that is supposed to have a tree so that people don't drive into the hole, except that this one doesn't.

Those are all the steps that led to this moment.  If only I hadn't ripped the handle off the door of the washing machine.  We would have saved 160 Euros

We were stuck.  And we needed a tow truck.  So at McDonald's busiest time, the lovely manager called us a tow truck (a process so long it could only be French) and the Engineer and I waited in our car.  Every person who walked past us just shook their heads and shrugged.

Finally the tow truck arrived.  The Engineer and I both glanced at each other and tried not to laugh.  Tow trucks in France are made for giants.

This is the biggest tow truck I have ever seen!

The driver took one look at the car and said 'Oeuff' - not as in 'egg' but as in 'how the hell did you do that?".  Sort of the same noise the washing machine man said when he saw our door.

It took no time at all to get off.  Well, enough time for the Engineer to get a filet au poisson meal and eat fries.

So this was our little adventure.  The most expensive fries ever at a whopping 160 Euros.

Our trip is adding up in accidents.

50 Euros for the exploding stove in Tuscany
160 Euros for the car
? Euros for the washing machine

Guess there will be no hot air ballooning . . . .