rked out that it was actually being used to sell air conditioning. It's
hard to say what it was that grabbed me about it - I think it was the randomness of using a
cat to sell air conditioning. Unfortunately (in my view anyway) the advert disappeared before I had chance to get a photo, but I did managed to
get this shot of its replacement. As you can see, the cat's now taken to wearing earphones on
the side of its head, presumably to advertise audio systems. Hopefully you now understand. Or not.
Eventually, I enlisted the help of both
Tessa and a phrase book to mount a full frontal assault
on the place. If I could get hold of some white cat memorabilia, perhaps I would get some rest from
obsessing about the thing. On my recce, I had noticed a two foot tall cardboard cut out of the cat,
which would do nicely. It was on a shelf at the back, and being a basically honest person,
I decided to play fair and offer them something for it. As I said, most of the phrases were cobbled
together from a phrase book and Tessa's A-level French. This resulted in the following conversation with
a small, moustachioed, and rather confused Feu Vert employee. Please don't pick holes in my grammar.
It would have been hard enough to buy a cardboard cat from a tyre shop in English.
Me: Excusez-moi Monsieur?
Feu Vert Man: Oui Monsieur?
Me: (Indicating paper cat) Combien pour le papier chat s'il vous plaît? C'est très joli.
Feu Vert Man: Looks confused. Said something in French, most likely, "It's not for sale", or possibly just "Bugger off".
Me: (seeing this is going nowhere, and with a shrug) C'est la vie. Au revoir Monsieur.
At that point we left the shop under a bit of a cloud and empty handed. However, we still had a trump card to play, in the form of Big John. John is notable for his inability to suffer embarrassment, his excellent powers of bargaining, and the admirable ability to talk the hind leg off a donkey. The next day, John disappeared into the bowels of Feu Vert, only to emerge five minutes later holding something rolled up. Back at the campsite I opened it out to reveal...
Success! Good work John. Best not to ask how you did it... The poster reads "Plus de simplicité, c'est plus de bien-être. Forfait longévité 115 €"
The obsession was fairly well laid to rest at this point. However, back in the UK, I though a quick email was in order just to wrap up a few loose ends. Checking the Feu Vert website, I hit pay dirt - a TV advert featuring the very cat! In the ad, which appears to be for brake servicing, he is seen driving a car while talking very rapidly in French. At the end, he repeats the Feu Vert slogan, En route vers le bien-être, but I must admit the rest was incomprehensible. That bit was clear though, very clear, mainly because it appears next to his cat head in big letters. En route vers le bien-être, that's absolutely obvious. Only an idiot would miss that. Yes. A quick email should decode the rest...
Cher Monsieur ou Madame,Loose Ends
Play Along at Home
To visit the actual branch of Feu Vert where my obsession was born, you need to head for France. Quimper
is on the west coast of Brittany, and you can find Feu Vert and the adjacent Geant at:
29 QUIMPER GEANT - TEL. 02 98 10 24 40
You can reach Geant from Quimper by taking the D34 off the Quimper ringroad. You'll
see the Geant exit to your left after about 600 metres.
Parking is ample.
Or, if you don't want to travel, why not visit www.feuvert.fr
to see more of Ramses. You'll also be able to download his advert to view at leisure.
