An Expo Too Soon

Since last Monday - Ed's renovated main café.

Zagato or King's Hot Rod?

Paris:- Monday, 21. February 2000:- The weather is continuing its 'one day nice - one day not so nice' cycle as it has been doing for some time now. On the 'nice' days it is nearly spring-like.

Quite often Paris has no season known as 'spring,' so having a fake bit of it in February is more than welcome. It is something to try and remember around Easter, when the weather plays at being winter for the benefit all the Europeans who take a short break to visit Paris.

Usually, just before Easter and for a long time after, Paris has no weather 'season' at all. Not winter, not spring; it is some season nobody ever bothered to name because all anyone remembers about it is its rottenness.

The weather is not a perfect thing. It could play a trick and produce a perfect spring during the calendar section normally reserved for this season. I just do not remember it ever doing this; so don't get your hopes up.

I don't want to put 'Who Reads' in the headline above. I 'write' the darn thing, but last Wednesday I learned that I should start reading it carefully too.

The Ville de Paris has announced an exhibition called 'Liberté à la Une' - Freedom for the Front Page' and I put this item into last week's 'Scene' column, with the mention that it continues until 15. May.

Last Wednesday, I arranged to meet Allan Pangborn at métro Grands Boulevards - ex-Rue Montmartre - with the idea of strolling down to the Bourse to see this expo. Oh surprise! When we got there, a guard told us the expo hadn't started yet.

I neglected to look at its 'start' date. This exhibition begins today. But last Wednesday, with no other 'target' in mind, we were kind of at loose ends.

'Loose ends' produces no features for Metropole. Well, sometimes it does, but not last Wednesday. If you are at 'loose ends' in Paris anything can leap up in your path, just so long as you keep going.

We checked out a guns and hunting equipment shop near the Bourse and we visited the Bibliothèque Nationale in the Rue de Richelieu. This got us into the Passage de Beaujolais and from it into the garden of the Palais Royal.

All along the way, there were posters to see and shop windows to examine, and scenes to photograph. Coming out behind the Comédie Française, we decided to head east on the Rue Saint-Honoré, to do some shopping at the BHV.

Walking along this street is not the quickest way to get there, but walking was what we were doing instead of riding underground in the métro.

The north, east and south horizons were building up a big, thick-grey cloud show, but it held off until we passed the Boulevard de Sébastopol. Allan said it was snowing, but it was just miniature ping-pong balls or white soot.

After coming out of the BHV without setting off all the shoplifter alarms, the sky looked blue-black, about 100 metres up, and ready to fall.

Allan went one way on Rivoli and I took the métro back. When I climbed out of it there was a blizzard of falling slush, trying to pass itself off as snow. Total score for the excursion: no exhibitions, but 35 photos all the same - just from walking around a bit.

Last Sunday I was spending the day the way I spend most Sundays - trying to put an issue of Metropole together. During the evening an email from Italy arrived. This is what it said:

"I was contacted by a person that visited the Retromobile exposition. He told me that there is for sale an old car that I'm interested in buying. Not being in Paris, for me it is hard to contact the vendor. His name is Christoph Grohe from Switzerland and his car is number 39. Can you tell me how to contact the person in charge or the vendor directly? Thank you very much, I'll be waiting for your reply. Enrico"

I had no particular intention to re-visit Rétromobile because I had already written about it for the issue. But the salon's organizers have no Web site or email address - 'because they are Rétro' - so I saw no way for Enrico to get what he was asking for without going there.

As it turned out, Enrico's email wiggled in my head all week. On Friday I decided to give it a shot. Wht did I have? The name 'Grohe' and the number '39.'