I was walking into town earlier and saw an old gent prop his bike up outside a shop. In these days of black/white/red "bike brands" all coming out of moulds in China my eyes are drawn to any handmade steel frame, and this was something special - one of those crazy mid-20th century British designs. I wasn't sure what it was until I spied the Eiffel Tower decal on the down tube - or what passes for the down tube. I couldn't resist passing comment:
"That's a nice bike, you don't see many of those around... it's a Paris-Galibier isn't it?"
There was a bit of confusion because the old boy didn't understand my accent. He thought I was Dutch.
Anyway, he said he'd bought it a from a friend, who happens to be one of the old stalwarts of my club. We had a brief chat about our mutual acquaintance and another old stalwart who died a couple of years ago who had something similar (turns out that was a Flying Gate).