One of the things I'd forgotten about life in Bretagne was how much people judge you by the kind of car you drive. Fab and I had a 1994 BMW that was in perfect condition and looked a lot newer than it was, and you wouldn't believe the amount of negative comments that we got about. I know I blogged about it before on my old blog, but it was along the lines of "you guys are young & poor, you have no business driving a car like that".

At first, I didn't understand that kind of mentality - I mean really, who's business was it what kind of car we drove? But that was before I understood that one of the worst things you can do in Bretagne is show you have money. Buying a fancy new car or building a swimming pool in your back yard will pretty much guarantee that one of your neighbors or so-called friends will make a call to the tax-man to report that you are under-declaring your income.

I've tried to keep that in mind ever since every time I come back here - mainly renting C3's or basic models along those lines. This time, I'd reserved a Volkswagon Polo, but unfortunately, upon arrival at the agency, I found out that the person who'd rented the previous week had decided to keep it a few days longer. So I found myself with this massive, brand-new C4 minivan. To top it off, the damn thing had a 56 license plate, ie the license plate of my old department, so it looked like it was actually mine (most rental cars have a 60 on their license plate because that department - l'Oise - has the cheapest registration fees).

On one hand, that was a good thing because it meant that I didn't ever get honked or stared at while driving Jasmin around to see the sites (the patience-o-meter for 60's or 75's is pretty much non-existant here). But on the other hand, it made it look like it was mine. Every single one of my clients has made a little dig about it this week. Things along the lines of "Oh la la, The Company must be paying you big bucks now if you can afford that". Even Fab and the nice ex-SIL were like "Whoa, what are you doing with that thing??" When I drove up to my client yesterday, he was doing the whole "big eye goggling" thing and was staring at it, so the first thing I said when I rolled down the window (after "Bonjour" of course) was "It's not mine".

The thing is, I don't even think it's that nice of a nice car! I mean, it's nice enough and has a lot of options for a French vehicule, but I don't find it to be a particularily good-looking vehicule. It's a frickin' minivan people!! I even went back after a few days to try to get the Polo, but it still wasn't in yet. So all this to say - I'm really looking forward to giving the darn thing back to the rental agency this afternoon.

Paris, here I come - bring on the rhumrhums!