The Tank in the Driveway

This afternoon we were sitting in the kitchen having a snack. I glanced out the window and this is what I saw:

View from the kitchen window

There was a TANK parked in our driveway!!!  A REAL TANK!!!

I will confess that the first thought that crossed my mind was that I needed to pay more attention to the news. Then I realized that there was a bag over the big gun-thing so figured at worst we were being invaded by someone dumb.

The tank stayed there for quite a while.  We could see 3 people in the tank – two poking their heads out the top and you could just see the driver’s googles in the front.  They all waved at the girls, so we were confident that nothing violent was happening, but still didn’t get why a tank would be in our quiet little village. There appeared to be much consulting of various documents, so our next theory was that they were very, very badly lost.

About five minutes later, the scene changed to this:

A second tank drove by, this time coming from the direction of the village and going the other way.  They stopped for a while and chatted, SERIOUSLY blocking traffic for a few minutes, then the second tank left.

After another 10 or 15 minutes the first tank moved out of the driveway. That’s when we learned that tanks do not have a eco-friendly carbon footprint.

Tank exhaust

A little while later we headed into the village.  It was a beautiful day and we wanted to explore.  When we got to the village the tank was stopped there, but now it was accompanied by some kind of jeep.

Luckily the soldiers were moving back and forth, so JM managed to talk to one of the them.  They were taking some kind of exam. I guess tank drivers in France have to know how to navigate through tiny village streets (unlike me).

It was an interesting afternoon.  Not the kind of thing that would have happened in Silicon Valley, or Saskatchewan, or  anywhere else we’ve lived.