Images seared in the brain…

Often, my sharpest memories are a succession of special or vivid images and moments that I can see as if they just had happened today. Many of these them are tied to a certain music or to some powerful feelings that have contributed to my remembering them so realistically. 

One of these images goes back to 1972 or 73, when I was driving between my home village of Montriond to visit my friend Michel Duret who was living in the village of Habère-Lullin, about 45 minutes away, just over a bunch of passes and through winding roads in the Haute-Savoie mountains. 

It was before I would be smart enough to call in advance and make sure the person I was visiting was indeed at home. Sure enough, as I cleared the “Col de Terramont” a small pass leading to the “Green Valley” where Michel’s ski factory was located, his brand new blue Porsche 914 came into view and here we both stopped.

My brother Gaston was accompanying me, Michel was with his young wife, Nadine, and both were on their way to Châtel, another ski resort, home to Nadine’s. 

I recall the fancy license plate he got for that convertible that said “914 NM 74”, In which 914 was his model car, NM stood for Nadine and Michel, and 74 the Haute-Savoie department number. France never had and still has no vanity license plate available, so my friend or his family might have had some pretty strong connections at the Annecy Prefecture!