Jeremy Clarke Jeremy Clarke

Why French car-boot sales are good for my mental health

It is refreshing and enlivening to be among the poor for a change

Credit: Sophie Walster 
issue 19 September 2020

Hairpin bends in a stony forest. Downhill. Steep, then steeper. Smooth frictionless tarmac. I’ve got the car barely under control. A narrow bridge over a ravine. Single file only. A van hurtling uphill. A recessed drain — unavoidable. Bang, crash, wallop. The car continues but feels mortally wounded. We limp to a passing place 50 yards further down the hill and I cut the engine.

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