Is *nothing* sacred?
As anyone who has spent time in France will know, Parisian cars carry the mark of the beast - by way of the number 75 on their numberplates.
However, the simple pleasure of identifying (and hissing at?) Parigots when in La France Profonde is about to be taken away from the French people, and those sad individuals like myself who know far more departmental numbers than is even remotely healthy.
Anyway, this sort of thing is on its way, photo borrowed from AFP:
Meanwhile, France's MPs - a spectacularly supine breed in general - have risen en masse to damn this prospect, so a rather feeble compromise will allow regional identifiers to be added to the plate, if one likes that sort of thing.
I hope the Germans are not intent on messing with their plates - note that Volkswagens often have WÖB for Wölfsburg, Audis In for Ingolstadt etc. More prosaically, German plates starting with one letter - F, H, B, D - identify the larger cities.
I know, I should get out more, and once there ignore number plates.
However, the simple pleasure of identifying (and hissing at?) Parigots when in La France Profonde is about to be taken away from the French people, and those sad individuals like myself who know far more departmental numbers than is even remotely healthy.
Anyway, this sort of thing is on its way, photo borrowed from AFP:
Meanwhile, France's MPs - a spectacularly supine breed in general - have risen en masse to damn this prospect, so a rather feeble compromise will allow regional identifiers to be added to the plate, if one likes that sort of thing.I hope the Germans are not intent on messing with their plates - note that Volkswagens often have WÖB for Wölfsburg, Audis In for Ingolstadt etc. More prosaically, German plates starting with one letter - F, H, B, D - identify the larger cities.
I know, I should get out more, and once there ignore number plates.
Labels: France, Germany, Transport
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on Friday, June 06, 2008 at 1:09 pm.
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It looks like they are even getting rid of that rather (nice) distinctive font. Sacre bleu!
[I always liked HH for Hamburg]
A rotten business, ne c'est pas?
Ma Croydonian sports a 34 on her number plate....
Something similar's happened in Italy.
Where before, there used to be obvious two-character prefixes that told you where a car came from - SI for Siena, MO for real cars from Modena, and so on, now there is just a uniform inscrutable series of numbers and letters.
I bet it's all caused by an EU directive.
And I bet it will be imposed on us soon, too.
Watch out for the usual denials, followed by the usual "We won't allow it", followed by the usual "it's too late, it was all decided years ago".
And it's so fun on family trips to try to teach what the different departments are -- also to notice where it's all coming from when there's a lot of traffic around. It's also helped me identify people who seemed lost in my village and offer to give them directions.... I think this is a very sad initiative too.
Great life, Mr. C, number plate spotting.
Oh for God's sake is nothing sacred? Probably all to do with the NWO freaks.
I am deeply unchuffed by the whole business. I would rather like county identifying number plates in these parts.
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