The photo...

This is the english version of our yesterday-post...

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Look what I found!
A historical photo!

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My car in a photo of 2002 (or maybe 2003?) ... I kept it up to 2008 (was a model of 1998, purchased second hand in 2001) Citroen Xara Exclusive 1600cc.
Beautiful car inside and out. Absolute driving behavior and skills beyond its class...
I still remember having my baby-child at the back sit in a baby chair - must have been 2006 to 2007 - and we were caught in the middle of our way by a sudden snowstorm - unbelievable where, from Alimos to Glyfada (close to the sea areas where snowstorms are absolutely unusual!) - It got "night-like" dark  in just 3 minutes and the streets were covered by snow that got immediately frozen in the next 5 minutes!
My little "French" lit "his" lights and went normally in its path, "he" even took the turn and continued upwards with stability towards our house without any problem, unlike the BMW in front of us, from which we kept good distance as it was tottering from one side of the road to the other unable to keep a straight line!

My little "French" reached 130,000 km in a "nice and smooth" manner. Then the damages - small but annoying and expensive - gradually became really frequent and by the time it reached 160,000 km I replaced it with the "German", an Opel-Zafira -or Vauxhall-Zafira for the British-... (once again used, but in excellent condition) the absolute and beautiful and neat family-car. Never troubled me with repares, but ...

I must admit the little "French" could go everywhere (like the legendary Citroen-GS of my father). There was no road, dirt, path that the little "French" couldn't step on it with absolute confidence and safety (!) unlike the "German", that despite its 1800 cc powerful motor could only manage to step with some ambiguity in the soil and dirt. It really couldn't cope with stone-covered paths where it was almost impossible to move backwards without the rear-gear getting almost burned! Steping in the mud or wet grass would definetly lead to getting stuck... Really pleasant automobile, though, for long trips during which it would not let you understand the time, the distance and tiredness but that's all... Adventurous spirit? No chance!

These, I think, are idiosyncratic differences between people of different nationality...

The Frenchman, when the roads are bad, makes better car, the German makes better roads...

The Greek, on the other hand, does nothing... He considers that everything is a "driver's quality" issue... Sometimes, even by chance... he "manages to get through" and then he really considers that he proved his "theory"...

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After the Zafira, I turned into a cheaper, economical and honestly working, but after all indifferent Korean car (second hand, good condition) for purely economic reasons... Economic reasons summarized into three Anual Property Taxes brought upon us within a period of six months! The difference from the sale of Zafira and the purchase of Kia went right there to reduce the debt, but no way could close it...

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This photo of my XARA, taken from a hotel window, in the middle of an empty dock in front of the endless sea... with this enormous light-projector to define the scale of things that could and could-not be measured, was for me a "record of my prospects" at that time, a look at a life of open possibilities... All in front of me, all options open. A huge dynamic of mine, a huge dynamic of things...

Seems terrifying and I avoid to think how... an equivalent photo of today would really look!

(anoikta-pedia.blogspot.gr)
LipoJan ______________