Merry christmas & a happy new year

[Claire]

xxnarrow seats? Hmmm, maybe I should change my diet... Huib put me on a diet of eggs and bacon to accomplish me carying gearboxes on my own and lift them up to put them on the table. Every morning I walk for 10 minutes, holding a gearbox... And John, I can tell you, the gearbox still weighs more than I do. So I hope I will still fit in the narrow seats... Maybe, we should give it a try one day.

[Huib Geurink]

This picture below was actually taken en route to a good old fashioned bacon and eggs lunch.



The road shown is the better part of the road. Most of the road is worse, much worse.

In the peace treaty of Munster of 1650 the duchy of Brabant was divided in a northern part, which is now part of the Netherlands, and a southern part, which is now part of Belgium. The very rich center of the duchy now suddenly became outback.
The border between Belgium and the Netherlands is very irregular and twisting. Around the village of Baarle there are many Belgian enclaves on Dutch soil and within the Belgian enclaves there are again Dutch enclaves. Some houses are right on the border with the border running through the bedroom or living room. The rule is that a house has the nationality of the country were the front door is. There is one house where the border goes through the middle of the front door. On one side there is a Belgian housenumber. On the other side there is a Dutch housenumber. The village of Baarle is usually flooded with tourists, summer and winter, 7 days per week.. This is were we don't go.

There is another area on a very irregular part of the border were time has stood still and where there are no tourists. That is were we do go. It is a small valley along a very small river where they call this a traffic jam.



You can still find old farmers there who have never gone out of the valley except when they were 18 for their military service. One of the farmers has travelled though as you can see from the sign he put up on his driveway.



In this valley modern words like cholesterol, business, economy, capitalism, socialism, pesticides, chicken batteries etc etc have no meaning. Eggs are still eggs, bacon is still bacon and bread is still bread. Just like in 1650.

The place is nearly impossible to find. Maps of this area are highly inaccurate. It is about equidistant from Barts home in Turnhout, Belgium and my home in Breda, Netherlands. Bart knows to find it but he too has been sworn to secrecy.

[D'seasd Johnny48]

johnny48 has passed out, fell off the chair & is lying inert on the dungeon floor, after seeing this photo & may not recover. hHemay visit a monastery & never be heard from again .............

[Johnny48]

OK; I'll tell the truth. I weigh 1/2 what Claire does...ooops, sorry !
I weigh 2x what Claire does, thus she weighs 1/2 of me & I fit (snugly) in the new seats...
so Claire Dear...I am not too worried, yet, about the fit. just don't marry a Chicken & Pig Farmer !
When you can do knee-bends with a transmission on each shoulder, I'll pick you up,for a celery & tomato juice breakfast, in a pick-up truck !! Ha ´Ha ! Ho Ho !

[Johnny48]

This is truly ( at least i hopüe it is the truth) a wonderful story. I will have to read it a few more times to figure out who lives where & why. Thanks for this little known insight to living in Europe. Since I know where Turnhout is & where Breda is in relation to Turnhout, I may stumble onto this road some day...but not this year & not as long as it is (this is the truth) warmer in SW Finland on the water, than in SW (not in the Alps either, since there are elsewhere) Germany ! It was 7° C in Finland 2 days ago & -8°C in Karlsruhe ! According to those who know about such things, this could not happen, but...by golly...it has.
Al Gore may need to know this !!!

[Johnny48]

Huib, please tell Claire, since the motor appears to be running (or there is dry ice in the muffler) , she should drive it down the road & not push it.
Claire, is this your car back on the (sandy) road ?

[Bart Verbeek]

Yep, the story is true. My grandparents always reffered to the zone which was taped off with old newspapers: the world ended over there. On the other site of the newspapers (I believe it was the sudoku-side) there were a few villages, no…., more communities, a sort of Amish people without being Amish (because they never heard of it off course). They were self-sufficient, and they still are. They never leave town, there was/is no need for it. At home I’ve got a map drawn in the sixties/seventies. It is an excellent map for some marvellous Fulvia-excursions. On the map, the mentioned area is grey, not in color as the rest of the map. Just plain grey, as it was Area51. When we drove through the village a few years ago (1st Fulviameeting it was), we were ricocheted back in time. Back to the Future in a Fulvia!
John, there is only one road leading to the village; the chance you’ll find it is … let’s say … a sort of non existing. Huib warned me for it, it is ‘introuvable’ (French for: impossible you’ll find it). Soo, I had to ask several ‘locals’ for directions when I was putting out the maps for the first Fulviameeting.

Soo, now everybody’s history is up to date, I wish all readers/writers/drivers and family on this Fulvia-gigabyte-highway a merry merry Christmas and joyfull 2008! And remember: keep them rollin’!!!!!!

Bart & Inez

[Chasm61]

Fun series of Christmas reading! lol
Merry Christmas to All...

Chas

[Johnny48]

have a look at what is sitting on the roof of the Champagne Bar, in Huibs 2d photo above !!!

I recognize a low priced, but effective, "alternative" Fulvia part, known only to a very few afficianados.

I may still have it in the glove-box of my (lightweight, due to low fuel level) Red-Screamer ! Thisa will be determined next week when I finally get around to picking it up from the shop that installed the extra-narrow, non-colapsing sports-seats for Thin J & Lil' C's next joint*-tour (*not referring to something that is smoked) .

Seeing this part made me smile !!!!!!!! & think of you !!!!!!!!!

Speaking of the Red-Screamer; it is the only car I've ever driven that lost the car behind it due to total stupidity ! Me, not either of the cars, nor any other person described in this §.

[Johnny48]

I know you didn't really have dry ice in the muffler & were not pushing a car in this photo...
You - the lady who even sleeps with her camera "at the ready" - were obviously photo'ing the ice in/on the trees in this winterwonderland photo. plz post photos of what you photo'd, so we can all share the wonder.