Grasse adds 2cv French icon for flower power expo
This morning my French wife rang me to say she had seen a "deuche plein de fleurs" in the centre of Grasse on her way to work. "Tu dois aller voir" meaning I should go and look at the newly arrived 2cv full of flowers.
"The relentless pursuit of being different is very French".
Alain Ducasse
Flower power 2cv at the heart of the Rose de Mai Expo 2018 in Grasse
At the weekend we managed to get out for the first time for ages to a really nice restaurant in the famous Le Suquet area of Cannes just before it gets busy with film festival people. One of the things we discussed was the Rose de Mai which is an important part of the fabric of the culture of Grasse where we live. I want to visit one of rose de Mai growing fields and this is a good time of year to do so as it's the Rose de Mai Expo in Grasse from 10 to 13 May 2018.
I'm now planning to go along to visit the fields in a small village near Grasse called Plascassier at le Domain de Manon on a Tuesday morning at 09.00 which is the only day and time that individual visits are possible.
So it's fair to say I am in the swing of the May Rose theme at the moment and it didn't take much prompting to get me away from my computer over which I have been labouring rather a lot recently to walk up to the centre of Grasse.
2cv in the Grasse bandstand which will no doubt be adorned with flowers soon
There placed in a flower bed in the main square of the Place du Cours Honore-Cresp was the shell of a Citroen 2cv adorned with flower power images and full of flowers and another one perched in the bandstand. Both were attracting interest and it's clear Grasse has got a fun theme for the Rose de Mai expo this year.
The finger of the admiral's statue points out the 2cv in the flower bed
Walking back home I looked in more detail at the rather tasteful advertising poster which I had been admiring in passing recently mostly for the rather beautiful photograph and saw that the words "flower power" were also inscribed. Everything fell into context.
Taken from the rather nice Grasse flower power advertising poster
The 2cv does have that peace and love, ban the bomb, flower power connection and it is also very French, it is not meant for speed but it just happens to be very different from any other vehicles on the road today, old or new. I was intrigued to hear the remarks of the folk taking pictures of those 2cv's in Grasse this morning, they were all enthusing madly.
Old 2cv's are a small part of my work these days as I help supply parts to my good friend Martyn who is based in Oxford with his Classic 2cv renovation business. He is an absolute mine of information about anything you want to know about 2cvs, seriously I don't think there is anything he doesn't know right down to the smallest mechanical detail. The restoration skills of Martyn and his team are quite startling and it is a real pleasure to see how they take an old part which seems beyond all hope and breath new life into it. They do full vehicle renovations too and for me, it is both fun and a privilege to be involved as I can wholeheartedly get behind salvaging and saving what for me is perhaps the ultimate French Icon.
Classic 2cv have a Classic 2cv shop with a huge range of 2cv parts including some very old ones for the very early 1950's models. They can ship and deliver anywhere and have many loyal clients from the USA, Germany, South America even Madagascar as well as the UK and France believe it or not.
I will be over to Provence to pick up a set of 400 wheel rims for the very early Type A 2cv on Friday morning for Martyn and will visit a villa for Villas du Monde in Bonnieux on the way home. I consider myself very fortunate to be part of what I enjoy so much about this marvellous country of France and its French culture.
The Rose de Mai advertised by the Molinard perfumery car park
It's obviously very niche and not everyone's "tasse de thé" but there was something very satisfying for me today about seeing my adopted city which has an image of sophistication for its perfumes’ placing the good old 2cv at the heart of its main annual exposition.
Best wishes
Peter H. Copyright © 2018 Peter Horrocks, all rights reserved