Lavage Voiture

Washing a car in France. Notice no trigger. Not a great idea.
Today I decided to do something extra special that we've wanted to do since we arrived but never made the time to do: I washed the car. There is one of those self-service car washes near the Auchan and I was all alone and had lots of 2€ coins in my purse.

I pulled the car into the last empty spot (I did notice that the other three bays were all occupied by women) and got out to read the instructions on the box where you put in your money. Seemed exactly like the ones I have used in the US, just in French. For every 2 euros you get 3 minutes and 20 seconds. You can choose "Lavage (wash), then "Rincage" (rinse), and then to finish some other word that I didn't recognize but assumed was somehow important to the process.

Just to be safe, I put in 4 euros, then I pressed the "Wash" button. The sprayer was sitting in a holder attached to the wall. What I did not realize is that the sprayer piece is not controlled by a trigger like in the states, but just IMMEDIATELY turns on when you press the Wash button. When they say three minutes and twenty seconds they mean it. vite vite!

Those pressure sprayers have A LOT of power. That thing went absolutely beserk twisting and jumping around on the ground, all the while blinding me and drenching me in water! I couldn't help but think it was funny. Although I was not at all happy to be wet, I was laughing while trying to get hold of the darn thing.

USA: Clearly marked! "Squeeze TRIGGER"

I did finally mange to wrestle the sprayer and get control of it and begin washing the car. By the time I got to the third stage of the wash, I was again taken by surprise when the person in the next bay over did the exact same thing! Her sprayer jumped under the wall and tried to attack me, but she managed to get a hold of hers as well.

Dave almost cried when he saw that I had washed the car (and vacuumed it!). It looks great now, except for that giant gash in the side where I ran into a stone wall. But I'll leave that story for another day.