Thursday evening, we lost an hour, trying to find a “pompe a essence” where we could either pay cash or with a credit card or foreign bank card. We didn’t succeed and in the end had to ask someone else to pay for us with their “carte bleue” in exchange for € 40.

Today, we were once again in need of diesel, so we left the highway and drove to a “centre commercial” more or less next to the highway to take diesel there. Because at the gas stations on the highway, they charge at least 20 cents per liter more than elsewhere.

No more personal service

Earlier, all centre commercial in France had manned gas stations where you could pay cash. Apparently, that has changed. For even today, Saturday, there was no one there and the only option to pay for our diesel was with a carte bleue. Which we don’t have.

So like Thursday, Christophe worked his charm on someone taking fuel, asking if he would pay for ours if we gave him € 50. He refused. Said there was a manned station just around the corner and it was only 1 cent more expensive than this one. We’d actually been there, and it was 12 cents more expensive.

Sudden and (hopefully) temporary amnesia

So we waited for the next car, which came soon enough, and asked the woman if she would pay for us. She said yes. Hurray! After taking fuel for her own car and parking it a little further so other cars could pass, she took out her carte bleue, inserted it into the machine, and suddenly couldn’t remember her PIN code anymore. She gave it her best shot, consulted her smart phone for the correct code, but messed up and had to give up after three tries. She returned our money and apologised. We apologised in turn, because the experience had obviously been very stressful for her…

And another amnesiac!

Fortunately for us, the next person we asked agreed to help. We gave him the € 50 bill, he inserted his carte bleue into the machine, did some magic and exclaimed that he had suddenly forgotten his PIN code!

He was only joking and we had a good laugh. We managed to take enough diesel to make it to our next appointment, near Lyon.

Nationalism or retardedness?

But what a strange policy here in France to accept only the national card for payments. How do other tourists pay for their fuel I wonder? From the beginning of June, we’ll be spending at least 5 months in France, so we’ll have to arrange for a CB in order to have peace of mind.