French transportation

back from France. Strange that 962 should mention Bob Geldof as he was on our Ryanair flight! It was LSS who noticed him first - normally when he says, oh, look, there's [fill in name of celebrity], it turns out to be someone who bears only the most fleeting resemblance to Martin Scorsese, Christopher Walken, et al, but this time, even sceptical me was convinced. He had to hang about waiting at the carousel for his luggage just like everybody else too.

Went to the car rental counter (Sixt - they are useless, avoid them like poison) to find that the automatic "Ford Focus or similar" that we had booked was not available. Instead they gave us a manual BMW, which I had to drive, quaking in my boots, as LSS and manuals do not get along. The next day they exchanged it for a Peugeot 407 coupe. Neither of these could be described as a sober family saloon. Then to add insult to injury they highlighted two pathetic scratches caused by brushing up against Provencal shrubbery and a "stain" (read "biscuit crumbs") on the upholstery and said they would be writing to us to tell us what the repair cost would be. The guy in front of us in the queue got the same treatment. All I can say is if I hear anything more from Sixt, they can forget about my custom in future.