It’s Easter

Not having taken part in the last few club runs and meetings due to work commitment, I was delighted to be joining the group with Miss Titinne this Easter week end. Little did I realise that it was also April fool’s day and upon arriving at the rendez-vous point (with about 10 minutes to spare may I say), I thought that perhaps I was the victim of an April fool as Celeste, Jo & Mark were the only one there.

We grabbed a couple of bacon rolls, and before too long (well 10 – 15 minutes after the due time) the others started to trickle in, Eddie, Annie & Gary, Spencer & Julie, Debbie & Allen (Debbie now being the proud owner of Millie, a light blue little beauty). Celeste looked ready for spring today with her lovely daffodils decorations and Millie’s Easter bunny ears gave her a little cheeky look too ! 10/10 for effort to their owners.

Off we went

So off we went, with Jo & Celeste at the head of the convoy since she was first on the scene, we cleared some much needed parking spaces at St Catherine and headed towards the West. And as we were leaving, who was coming from other direction? Lynne & Steven in their Earl Grey…. who it, turned out later, had to make a petrol stop on the way which had delayed them.

The route took us through Gorey village, along the coast road, up Mount Bingham, along the old harbour, through the esplanade, where fast Eddie (yes Debbie, the nickname will now stick) decided to leave the group and head toward a petrol station and then home. then through St Aubin, and it later came to my ears that Jo was thinking about going up Ghost hill in St Aubin, but thought better of it or “Murielle (me) will kill me”…. She was quite right there, hill starts in Titinne are not my forte having short limbs, I find hill starts a bit of a challenge….  So thank you Jo for changing your mind 😃. We then drove through St Brelade, down La Pulente to park our rides at the Watersplash to partake in hot beverages and have a catch up.

You don’t have to be mad but it helps….

It downed on me when we left, that all of us lady owners of 2cvs and meharis have got one thing in common, Jo, Lynne, Annie, and myself, are all outgoing and dare I say it, a little bit batty, we still have to discover the batty side of Debbie and Helen, but I am sure we will see it when we go to the French week end in June….

Until next time… keep on driving!

Murielle

Baby it’s cold out there…

After the snow and wind earlier in the week we were promised some sunshine and out it came, along with half a dozen or so 2CVs and a Mehari for the early Spring meet. Not that a few flurries of the white stuff would put anyone who owns a 2CV off as apparently they are the best cars in a snowy crisis!

At the start

First to arrive at St Catherine was Fast Eddie and Helen & Debbie soon joined him in Terry Le Main’s Gogo Bar for a quick bacon roll before the other tin snails arrived. With the ugly plastic conservatory having blown away, everyone was able to watch the parking skills of the later arrivals whilst congregating at a leisurely pace in the café before setting-off towards the Goose on the Green. Even Peter (our chairman) was early (his coughing was preventing him from lying in), and he was swiftly followed by the Pallots in the 2CV with no name, Duarte & Paula in Cecille, and the Austin-Vautiers in Quackers.

Off we go

Fast Eddie took off to lead the fleet on an interesting route through the delightful lanes in the northern parishes, taking in St Martin, Trinity, St John, St Mary and St Peter. The pace was good and we managed to stay together, amusing many onlookers as we glided past. There were a few challenging ascents thrown into the mix, when one driver who shall remain anonymous took a late decision to drop down into first gear and consequently backed-up the fleet who were soon on his tail. The hedgerows were looking beautiful in their coats of many daffodils.
As we neared St Peter’s Valley we took a pretty short-cut down La Rue de la Potirons and La Dimerie, and at that stage we thought Eddie might be leading us down his new cycle route through the valley, but it was already being well-used so perhaps we shall save that for another day.

The watering hole

Having parked at the Goose we were met by Spencer and a very fetching yellow Fiat 500 which drew great interest from the car collectors within the group. As keen as they might have been, even this one was perhaps one challenge too far. But who knows…….
Over a coffee in the pub, Eddie collected forms and money for the French meet in June at Lanveoc. It seems there will be a good contingent going from the 2CV Club de Jersey – everyone is welcome so if interested please get in touch with Eddie or Murielle for further details. A la prochaine……

Debbie x

Article & Photos yy Debbie Podger Brown

The words from Meatloaf – “It was a hot summer night and the beach was burning” – were hardly running through our minds when we opened the curtains on this cold January morning. We are not soft southeners, however, and when we have a 2CV Club De Jersey meet then we sure have places to go & things to see. A few apologies started trickling-in due to the force 8 winds and general damp stuff, but that would not put-off some of the die-hards.

First to arrive at Jardins de la Mer (such an exotic-sounding name) were Annie & Gary in Cassis, soon followed by Helen, Ben, Millie, Debbie AND Allen in a very laden Scarlet. Yes, ‘Debbie does’ have a husband and this was his first meet with the Club in anticipation of Millie their car joining the group sometime this year! Then arrived Fast Eddie sporting his cosy topsides, and finally a new recruit – introducing Spencer and his son with ‘It’. ‘It’ is a super smart Mehari, recently purchased and beautifully restored by his new owner, Spencer Raynes. Spencer had contacted Murielle on the Club Facebook page and enquired if she knew of any Meharis for sale, and lo & behold, Spencer had become ‘It’s owner within a couple of hours thanks to Murielle’s introduction to a willing vendor.

So there we waited for 40 minutes whilst a scattering of classic cars and motorbikes arrived, but no more 2CVs. Scarlet was out-numbered by 3 to 1 by the Meharis which was such an unusual scenario!

We decided to make a quick exit with the thought of a bacon roll & hot drink at St Catherine’s café in sight. Fast Eddie took off at lightning pace, followed by Cassis, It, and Scarlet. Annie was delighted to follow a fellow Mehari so she could see what a Cassis-type looks like from the rear! ‘It’ had a port lean due to book-reading son being a quarter size of his Dad, but ‘It’s orange paintwork glistened beautifully in the spray. It was to be the quickest route possible today – through the tunnel, Grouville hill, Gorey, & Coast road to St Caths, dodging the waves & holding tight to the steering wheels during the gusts. We literally had to stop on the Pinewalk to wait for a lull in the waves, and again at the Breakwater where the sea was as rough as ever as far as the eye could see.
Phil Rondel (hardly recognisable without his Christmas suit but it was the glasses on his head which gave him away) caught up with us at the café and it was soon time for a dive into the wind-battered shelter for that hot drink. We missed our fellow owners, many of whom had work commitments or Tan Hill raids to attend, but we discussed the French Mehari meet in May and the 2CV de Bretagne meet on June 16th, as well as the many local meets we have to come over 2018.
As we left the café, replenished, the words of Michael Buble came to mind – “It’s a beautiful day, the sun is up, the music’s playing, and even if it’s started raining, you won’t hear this boy complaining”……

Happy New Year one & all, from all in the Club!

Article & photos by Annie Birbeck

Very last minute decision, got up ready to go heard the wind down the extractor fan, looked out the window mmmmhhhh. Back to bed checked emails in case it had been cancelled.
Imagined our little fibreglass car doing a Mary Poppins!
Decided probably not today, then heard Debbie and Helen the boys and Millie were going. So out of bed again, got ready and off we went.
We sat in the car only ones there. Hooray Helen turned up, then Eddie and another Mehari Spencer and his son arrived. Beautiful orange one.
It was jolly cold standing out in the car park chatting, so we drove to St Catherine’s cafe. Boy that sea was wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think Helen had a wave over her car after Anne port.
The vintage cars were meeting at 10 30 for 11 00 so least we got to the cafe before it got busy.
Phil Rondel joined us he is looking well. His white 2cv is not in the photo he parked around the corner away from the sea spray (sensible)
Those waves were pretty scary . We were so cold those bacon rolls were so welcoming.
Think all the cars had a hose down back home sea spray on all of them. Cassis is back in the garage and dry again.
Let us know if we are having a meal out before the next run in February.
Stay warm and safe. Glad we don’t have to go out again today.
Lots to do

A la prochaine …

The weather had decided to be awkward today, extremely strong winds and squally showers.  A few hardy 2cvs (Stacey’s, Phil’s & Peter’s ) as well as our 2 star meharis (Eddie’s & Gary’s) were joined on the Jardin de la mer car park meeting point my myself, Helen & Jo in our more modern cars and Sean on his superb mortobike.

As we all congregated in the car park, the original plan of a convoy was quickly dismissed as the appeal of a hot drink and long chat in the Castle Quay chart room was too strong to resist. We invaded Cooper’s coffee shop ‘en masse’ and i’m sure the guy behind the till was happy to have our money in his till….

We soon huddled on chairs around the tables of Castle Quay and the chatter started from all directions, members, being glad to catch up and new faces getting to know the group.

A few club matters were discussed and decisions made (these will be communicated via email to members) and then the chatter went back to what we love to talk about, our cars, where to get the best paint work (Spencer’s body shot in Hansford lane), best mechanic (Chris at Chevron), who was going to the June meeting in Brittany, or to the Corsaire run in St Malo in September…. The usual chit chat then.

I hadn’t been able to make a meeting since December and I was glad to meet most of the gang as some of our other members were off gallivanting elsewhere or too busy to join us.

Until April everyone, drive safely and see you then

Murielle.