Frenchman, 85, reunited with bike his parents gave him when he was ten

An 85-year-old Frenchman has been reunited with the bike given to him by his parents for Christmas when he was ten years old.

It came about after a fellow villager in Abelhan, Hérault bought it for him after being contacted by a friend who is a junk dealer based 30kms away.

Villager Thomas Christiny said: “I often recover old objects and I love to hunt for antiques.

“I have a friend who contacted me saying that he had found an old bike and that on this bike there was a plate with the writing ‘Joseph Carayon, Abeilhan, Hérault.”

It was not difficult to locate Mr Carayon as he is well known in the village for the newspaper round he still does there.

“Jojo is an emblematic figure here, he is 85 and works every morning delivering the newspaper about the village,” said Mr Christiny.

“The bike was in good condition”, he said, so he inflated the tyres and brought it to Mr Carayon.

It turns out that the bike had been assembled by Mr Carayon’s father from spare parts when he returned from World War Two. He was given it for Christmas 1946.

Joseph ‘Jojo’ Carayon had later parted with the bike when he was 18 and had not heard of it since.

It was Mr Carayon’s first-ever bike and still has the original wooden handles and vintage saddle, although the pedals have been changed.

Since reuniting with it, ‘Jojo’ has given it a fresh coat of paint and it is now stored under a blanket in his garage.

He does not plan to use it, however, as he has a more modern bike (specifically lower, to allow him to climb onto it) and a 1973 Renault 6 TL that he uses to deliver newspapers to around 60 homes around the village.

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