Raymond, the soda man...

Soda and bier wholesaler, you name it, Raymond Marullaz and his brother were lemonade-makers, soft-drink and beer merchants in my home valley of Morzine, France. Raymond was essentially the salesman, the front-of-the-house guy and as someone who could turn lemons into lemonade, he was a very likeable individual.

My family had a small mountain restaurant and was of course was buying almost all of its beverages, except wine and spirits, from the Marullaz brothers, so every so often, Raymond would come by with his little notebook and would ask how many bottle of bier, coca-cola and orangina were needed for the upcoming delivery.

I only bring that story up because in latter years, something like 1966, our soda man was driving the sport car of my dream; not a Triumph or a Ferrari, but a sleek-looking Panhard 24CT. Even though its tiny 848 cc, 50 hp engine was anemic, it had unlimited power to make me dream very, very big...