July 2025 Newsletter

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Volume 9, Number 6, June, 2025

 Dear Friend,

You’d think by now, after thirty-three summers and three books, I’d know better. I think after thirty-three summers and three books that I know better, but apparently, I don’t.

       In the U.S., when I add an item to a list, address it, and cross it off (with minor or major fanfare, depending on the item: minor for going to the post office, major for getting my shingles shots) my expectation is it’s over and done, fini, in the past, a place most Americans hardly know and rarely look. We look forward—but in France, where cities are built in circles not grids, and round-points sans lanes impede the forward flow of traffic, the past—where you’ve been—is always in view. So I’m sorry—more than you know—to be writing about driving and toll paying again….

       Ulys—remember them, the French company that provides my FasTrak-like tollbooth and boothless Autoroute toll-paying transponder? I wrote about them in previous newsletters (which you can read on my website) and thought I was done with it and them as a topic. I thought, I have my transponder and that’s that. Ha!

       I recently received a letter from Ulys telling me I haven’t used my transponder in the last eight months, which is true.

       Last year, when Donna and I left France, we flew from Brest (in Brittany) to Paris, and from Paris to San Francisco, avoiding the A-10, A-11, and A-81 toll roads. This year, we flew from San Francisco to Paris and Paris to Perpignan (in the south of France) and crossed the Pyrenees by train—The Little Yellow Train—stopping in Villefranche de Conflent, Puigcerda, Girona, and Barcelona, then flying direct from Barcelona to Brest where we got this year’s car, avoiding the A-10, A-11, and A-81 toll roads. Between leaving France last year and returning this year we were in the U.S., and as far as I know (which at this point isn’t that far) the transponder doesn’t work on American highways. Hence, the transponder hasn’t been used in the last eight months. But that isn’t their point. This is: if I don’t use the transponder in the next six months they’re going to take it away from me, or disconnect me, or do whatever they do to shut me down.

       Donna and I are in Brittany now so this shouldn’t be a problem, but, of course, it is, as Brittany is the only province in France with no Autoroutes, tollbooths, or péage highways. The roads are free, which in all circumstances except this one is what I want.

I got the transponder not for Brittany driving (where it is not needed), but for paying the tolls on the Autoroutes from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Brittany, and—forward looking American that I am—in anticipation of (1) future travel in other parts of France on the new Flux-Libre tollboothless highways that are coming, and (2) to avoid the exorbitant late fees I’ll have to pay after missing the next to impossible 72-hour toll payment deadline….

       So here I am in Brittany, Ulys letter in hand, worrying about losing the transponder I wanted so badly and worked so hard to get. The nearest péage toll road is the A-81 outside of Le Mans, 4 hours and 400 km away, and there’s no way I’m driving there to pay a toll I don’t have to pay. The other option, according to the Ulys advertisement, is to use the transponder to pay for parking, which I have no idea how to do. As far as I can see, parking is free or paid at the meter, neither of which requires a transponder.

       Bruno told me about Ulys, so I call him and ask how to use the transponder to pay for parking. He doesn’t know so he asks Françoise. She doesn’t know so she Googles Ulys on her phone and discovers there are multiple parking lots throughout France that have a t at the entrance, a t I know well, because years and years ago I got into a t-marked tollbooth lane along with dozens of other cars, all of which had to back up to let me out, because, tstands for télépéage, which requires a transponder to pay the toll,  and I didn’t have one. Now, I do, and I want to keep it.

Françoise Googles ‘parking payment by télépéage near Plobien’ and finds several places in Quimper, about 30 km and twenty-five minutes away.

       Usually, I search for free parking. Now, to keep my transponder, I’m looking to pay. I’ve been to Quimper six times already this summer, and I’ve yet to see that t. I’m starting to feel like The Music Man, Robert Preston, finding trouble in River City, ‘Trouble With a Capital T….’

       In preparation for our next trip—Lucky 7, I hope—I Google ‘Quimper parking payment by télépéage’ and find ‘Liste parking télépéage/Ulys-Vinci’ in French, and ‘List of compatible car parks’ in English. I click on the link and a map appears, and I see either the map has changed since Françoise’s search, or Quimper has only non-Ulys approved tparking, because the closest places on the Ulys map are Reze-Confluence (230 km and 3 hours), Les Sables D’Olonne (325 km and 4 hours), and Caen (375 km and 4.5 hours) and I’m not driving to any of them.

       Luckily, though, we’ll be driving on the A-81, A-11, and A-10 to return the car at Orly Airport. That’s the good news. The bad news is if the transponder doesn’t work or Ulys decommissions me early the late fees will kick in in 72-hours, and we’ll be in California, where, according to the original announcement about Flux-Libre, my late fees will be turned over to a collection agency…. I’ll let you know how it goes.

       Meanwhile, we’re upgrading the internet connection at the house to 5G fiber optics—and I haven’t forgotten that I promised to tell you what happened to the dishwasher.

News about I Am Finally, Finally French, My Accidental Life in Brittany

  • Linda Witt, Vice President of the Federation des Alliances Françaises USA, has written the following blurb for the book:

Mark Greenside shares his decades-long journey in France with tremendous warmth, love, and especially humor. Time slows down in a very French way as his friendships and foibles unfurl in ways that provide meaningful lessons for us all.

  • On July 19, France Today, the largest U.S. circulation magazine about life in France, published a review of Finally, Finally by Janet Hulstrand, author of the excellent and wonderful books, Demystifying the French and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France. Click here to read the review.

  • On November 6, Charlottesville, Virginia Alliance Française will host a zoom conversation with me about the book;

  • On November 12, Alliance Française USA will broadcast a members only nation-wide conversation with me about the book;

  • On December 4, Napa, California Alliance Française will host a conversation with me about the book in Bookmine bookstore in Napa;

  • On November 20, France Today will host a one-hour subscribers only webinar conversation with me about the book;

  • Janet Hulstrand also sent me a series of questions for an interview with France Today. I'll publish the answers and a link to the interview in the next newsletter along with additional blurbs from Craig Carlson, Adrian Leeds, Leonard Pitt, and Jane Bertch.

    Please, feel free to share this newsletter with anyone. If you’d like to read previous newsletters, they are available on my website and on Substack. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Mark


Copyright © 2025 Mark Greenside
Illustration by Kim Thoman

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