GUIDE, CHAUFFEUR AND FRIEND

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 5, 21 December 1928, Page 3

GUIDE, CHAUFFEUR AND FRIEND

PERFECT WOMAN DRIVER. Mv friend was not only an ideal drver but an ideal companion and oukle. To her I dedicate a hymn of nrnW and if, as I believe, . olhc) women can display in similar carcumctnnces such an abundance of good qua ties as were hers on our journey Kn Caen to Munich .there should be endless new opportunities for hem .w this triple role of chauffeur, guideand holiday companion, writes Ivatneme Claire Perm in the London. Daily T l?s?'outsetr I discovered her -first good quality. On the rack above the Kwrii-wh&l she had placed a plentiful supply of cigarettes, a tin of bisuits a' large powder-puff and a light revel. But there was the staking omission of any road man in her store of travellers' necessities.- A road map, she at" once informed me, was not always a necessity. She knew the road rcugnly from Caen to Paris, from Pans to Trier, where we had some business, and from Trier to Munich.

LATE RISING PERMITTED. At the end of our first day I discovered her second good quality. JSo penalty was demanded of the late riser. I was not ordered tfl take the -road at an unpleasantly early hour the next morning. Why should we struggle against the odds of sleepiness she argued, to save an hour of dayligM.' Autumn evenings were pleasant and fresh; driving by night was; equally pleasant, and we could no doubt find a resting-place, some time, somewhere. She was delightfully inconsequent and vet essentially competent. ■ " She knew her car as well as any male- could disembowel it, clean it thoroughly, and put it together again without a'id. This was a happy accomplishment in towns where garage mechanics were too busy to attend to

us ~ . Her third good quality was, perhaps a social one. It was a magic way of dealing with tired owners of overcrowded hotels and guest-houses. At the end of a day's run, at the outskirt of a town or village, my chauffeur's right foot would descend firmly on the brake. For five minutes she would con centrato on her toilet. A nose must not bo coated thickly with powder, but it must not shine; hair must not be untidy, but it could be slightly ruffled. Her toilet completed, she would ask the way to the nearest clean and comfortable lodging houses where the charges were moderate. Being satisfactorily directed, she would carry us to our destination. Invariably the destination proved over full, but seldom were we turned away. At worst, sound advice as to other accommodation was given us. Not once was my chauffeur met by failure. In Munich she revealed herself as the perfect guide. She acquainted me with Munich shops as well as with Munich picture-galleries, wit'i Munich churches and Munich theatres; with Munich beer and Munich frothy cream cakes, with Munich pottery and glass—and Edgar Wallace in German! In other words, all Munich!