Need Help from French Forumers!

*Yufster* · 08-15-2009, 04:34 AM

Hey frenchies!

My mum is on holiday in France with my sisters, however it all got off to a bit of a bad start when the 'Hydraulic Slave Cylinder' on her car blew fucking up while she was driving. Now her car has broken down and apparently it's a bank holiday over there and her french in minimal, and since none of my sisters studied French in school LIKE I ADVISED THEM TO, they're a bit stuck. A bit stuck somewhere near Calais, but will be heading in the general direction of Paris today in a rented car or something.

However, if they can't get the part for their car and have it fixed, they're kinda screwed cos it's a seven seater and for some reason this is irreplaceable and will leave them stranded, I don't know the exact details because my mothers heart was too broken and she wasn't making a great deal of sense on the phone.

Can some of you French folk maybe try to locate, using the magic of phonery, from your local scrapyard, a HYDRAULIC SLAVE CYLINDER for a Mitsubishi Chariot, 1997cc, Diesel engine, year 1995, erm... let me know if you need any more information. If you can acquire it or find out a place where it can be acquired, my mum can come pick it up off you (if you live enough by, but I seem to recall most of you living Paris-area), or something, I don't know. We'll figure it out if you find it. And of course I will pay you lots of money (well, I will pay for any incurred costs) because my mums holiday will be saved, my little sisters will all be saved, and you sir, you will be a hero.

*Spaff* · 08-15-2009, 04:47 AM

model number n38w

http://www.japarts.co.uk/shop/index....e_iid=631&s=30

vimes · 08-15-2009, 06:06 AM

I don't know anything about cars, so I tried to ring three random Mitsubishi related garages/scrapyard as well as the only Mitsubishi official retailer/repairer in Paris, but the latter seems closed for the week-end (hold on the line for 15 minutes without anybody picking up) and the garages don't have the part and couldn't tell me where to fetch it.

If you've got an address or a phone number for a particular store, I don't mind calling them on your behalf.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

*Yufster* · 08-15-2009, 06:27 AM

Thanks so much Vimes, that's so, so much appreciated. I have found a part but I guess I will have to send it to her or something. Cars bah.

vimes · 08-15-2009, 06:43 AM

Well, good luck with that; if there's anything I can do, just tell me.

I'm deeply sympathizing because when I was 11 the family LiteAce*'s engine completely melted when we were trying to get to England for a summer of fun. That never happened.
And we were near Calais, so the area must be cursed.

*my older sister and brother and I were pronouncing it "lit ass" back then; but it was a wonderful car.

*Yufster* · 08-15-2009, 07:36 AM

Awww, I think it must be something wrong with Calais indeed. They need to get right to the South of France too, and there's six of them, so it's gonna be no easy or cheap task to find an alternative. And then even if they got there, they'd have to drive back to Ireland somehow...

At the moment I'm just waiting for my mum to call me back so I can talk about how to help her further, I reckon I can order the part online and send it to some address there for her, superfaststyle, and maybe she can get a mechanic to sort it out for her soonish.

DanJW · 08-15-2009, 07:40 AM

Won't her road insurance company help her out?

*Yufster* · 08-15-2009, 10:13 AM

Yeah they did in the end, I am not sure what the exact problem was. But she still needs the part for her car, which is stuck near Calais, but I have two weeks to ship it to some address for her

Okay next question for those of you who live in Paris - where's cool to go? I've done the touristy crap when I was in school and I hated it. I did some flashy restaurants and stuff another time, and that was cool. But really I wanna see some cool stuff - cool pubs/trinkety shops/little local cafes/nice parks/anything cool like that. I will be heading there to see my mum eventually so would be good to get some interesting leads....

ysbreker · 08-15-2009, 01:11 PM

The paris catacombs are supposed to be pretty impressive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris

*Marek* · 08-16-2009, 02:36 AM

The girls would love that

n0wak · 08-16-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Marek:

The girls would love that

I know quite a few girls that would, actually.

There's a bunch of cool little art galleries and shops right near the Pompidou centre along the side streets. Rue Quincampoix, if I remember correctly. And my favourite music shop was right off of Rue de Charonne near Bastille. I remember that area being fairly cool too. And if you like art, the Palais de Tokyo (near the Trocadero, Eiffel Tower) has a lot of good, contemporary exhibits. It's a large enough space in cool building (ok, the backside of it is kinda sketch though

) but not big enough to be on all the touristy maps.

vimes · 08-16-2009, 10:31 AM

Bastille is a nice place for student bars and cheap beers, but other than that it's meh.

I love the neighborhood of rue Mouffetard and as far as parks go, Les Buttes Chaumont is the best in Paris, providing it's not being renovated, which it shouldn't be during the summer.

I also quite like the part of the Canal St Martin near Republique along the Quai de Jemmapes. At night, it's quite awesome with a small bunch of nice, crowded literary coffee with pop or retro bands.

I also enjoy going rue des Rosiers, because the best falafel in town is there.

A few weeks ago, I also ended up near Les Invalides coming from l'Avenue de la Motte Piquet, and the sight of the building appearing from this perspective is amazing. Plus the gardens of the Rodin museum is on the way, and that's definitely worth a look.

Also, if your sisters and mums are into museum they might want to go to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which makes you feel like you're in Bioshock's Rapture or a weird steampunk memorial. The homonymes subway station is worth a look as well as the neighborhood.

*Marek* · 08-16-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

n0wak:

I know quite a few girls that would, actually.

I wasn't being sarcastic... I think they'd be totally into that shit. Which is excellent.

*Yufster* · 08-16-2009, 02:34 PM

Yeah he wasn't being sarcastic. My sisters have good taste, and I know my Mum would go crazy for it. It probably wouldn't even be wasted on Oscar as there are dead people involved.

Thanks for that awesome advice Vimes, I will take note.

vimes · 08-16-2009, 02:40 PM

Errrr, credits where it's due : that was ysbreker's idea.

OssK · 08-16-2009, 03:00 PM

For the whole thingy, get someone to show them arround, if they're interested I'd do it if they want to have a nice afternoon walking around.

I'd show them churches rooftops and the catacombs but... it's actually not a nice place to go outside of the tourist's attraction... Plenty of violent peoples and very disturbed ones, I've been there quite a few times and would not consider it a place to be shown to a lot of people... Appart from that do you think they'd rather get on an adventurous trip or a more classical trip ?