No Burning Hurry For You

Here is Paris: a damp spring day, the métro, a café and a demonstration.

But Rapido Rapido for the Taxpersons

by Ric Erickson

Paris:- Monday, 30. March 1998:- I don't think I have very much to say today. After this is finished, I expect to spend the rest of the day working on my income tax return. It was due a month ago, but the people who process the returns, were on strike or something.

I don't know if Professor C. Northcote Parkinson factored in the possibility of the tax employees being on strike, when he was developing his famous theory that 'work expands to fill the time available.'

I also don't know why this important fact is still considered a 'theory' because it gets proved fairly often. Maybe there is no category for it in the Nobel Prize scheme of things, because these wise men were or are 'control freaks' or they have secret access to 26-hour days.

There are all kinds of reasons why stuff didn't get done yesterday and if I could think of five of them, I would write them here, but there's no burning hurry, is there?

Readers have been writing to ask me for information I do not have on hand. I usually write the gist of these requests on slips of paper and toss them in the bag I carry on my rounds. The slips pile up. I keep a duplicate list of them in my head, and sometimes I trip across an answer, long after the person who posed the question has forgotten all about it.

All this is sort of a preamble to saying that I cannot get anybody tickets to any World Cup games, nor do I know of any hotels that have free rooms. France has a lot of stadiums, but they are small and all the tickets have been sold. There are a lot of hotel rooms, but two million extra visitors this summer has assured that they will be more than full.

In doing today's 'Coming Events' I have even found out more that I don't know. This Jardin des Serres at Auteuil for example - I have been under it hundreds of times without knowing that the autoroute tunnel goes underneath it. There is no sign in the tunnel about it.

That's it, I guess. The tunnel is a long one and there's no sightseeing signs in it. Now, I wonder if I have all the paper I need to do the tax return. But this is silly. I never had all the papers before, so this year will not be different. At this time 24 hours from now, I will be writing little notes which start off with, "Dear Taxperson..."

Coming Soon:

This year marks the centennial of Paris' Musée d'Art Asiatique, which is named the Musée Cernuschi. Henri Cernuschi originally came from Milan, when the Revolution against the Austrians of 1848 made it too hot for him in Italy.

As a Roman citizen, he also got into trouble with the French and was imprisoned, then acquitted. He moved to France and joined Crédit Mobilier in 1852. In 1869, he participated in the founding of the Banque de Paris. Then he got into trouble with Napoléon III and had to hide out in Switzerland. A year later, he received French citizenship; no doubt with the aid of Gambetta.

In the same year he was almost shot by royalist troops from Versailles - but managed to set off for Yokohama, via the United States, in October. He did his collecting and his monetary studies, but in 1888-89 he was on the political barricades again, with Clemenceau, against General Boulanger. Cernuschi died at Menton in 1896 at the age of 75 years.

From 1871 to 1873, he toured the far east, together with the art critic, Théodore Duret. Cernuschi came back with a large collection of oriental treasures, and he had the townhouse built by the Parc de Monceau to house it. His collection influenced French artists and artisans of the time, and was especially famous for its Japanese bronzes, as well as those of China and Korea. In all he brought back over 5,000 objects.

Musée Cernuschi
7. avenue Vélasquez, Paris 8. This is at the northern end of the Parc de Monceau. From Wednesday, 8. April until 21. June. Open daily from 10:00 to 17:40, except Mondays and holidays. Entry: 30 francs. Info. Tel.: 01 45 63 50 75.

This one has quietly snuck up on me, but all the same the modelling and games show starts on Saturday, 4. April and continues until Monday, 13. April. This salon will take up slightly more space than the Salon du Livre, but this will be for the flying objects such as helicopters and rockets. Hours are from 10:00 to 19:00; on Friday, 10. April, until 22:00. At Paris-Expo, Porte de Versailles, Paris 15.

This musical salon starts next Friday, at the Grand Halle de la Villette, and continues for five days, until Tuesday, 7. April. In addition to exhibitors of instruments, there will also be musicians and they will be performing nearly non-stop.

For the first time, an annex has been set up for a thing called 'Music Mania 98,' which will feature rock, techno and world music. The entry price of 50 francs covers both loations, and the hours are from 10:00 to 19:30 daily. Out at la Villette, Porte de Pantin, Paris 19. Info. Tel.: 01 49 53 27 00.