How About Alpharetta as
'City of the Week?'

The Louvre and La Corona, from the Pont Neuf

News About the 'Café Metropole Club'

Paris:- Saturday, 19. February 2000:- Sunlight blasted the club's meeting area in the Café La Corona last Thursday, sometimes making it difficult for members to see each other or their drinks.

At the beginning of the weekly meeting there were next to no people outside on the café's Quai du Louvre terrace, but an hour later, it was pretty full. This caused the club's waiter, Patrick, to forget to propose any 'food of the week' - which is a shame because club members have not tried all of the café's treasures on its menu.

Last Thursday was also a day on which the café was fairly crowded; due to the rest of France having winter holidays and being in Paris instead of up on some Alp.

Parisians, in contrast, were on their Alp of choice, where they were finding it more expensive than being on some semi-warm beach in, say, Tunisia. Last Thursday, Parisians were getting psyched-up for the weekend's 'red-traffic' warning for their return to Paris.

Your club booked in one new member. Peg Parrish arrived from Alpharetta GA by way of Atlanta, Roissy, a taxi to an apartment in Paris, and some method of locomotion from there to the club; which left her a bit breathless. Thursday was Peg's first day in her life in Paris.

As club secretary, I am very pleased that she chose to become a member of it so early in her Paris experience. She was quite whooshed, and had also booked a sauce session at the Cordon Bleu school, which is on the way to Paris-Expo and Rétromobile - where she intended to pick up some Mini, 2CV and Triumph-related souvenirs.

Allan Pangborn was again present and long-standing Charter Member Dan Levine from New York City dropped in to pass some time before a business meeting in the Quartier Latin. But you can read all about this in last Thursday's club 'report.'

During the week, no potential new members who were in Paris wrote to say that they neglected to come by and join the club. But these members tend to send me emails after they get home; saying how close they were to becoming 'real' and they may not have returned home yet.

If you have been in Paris and have even been in the club's café La Corona - but not on a club day or time - do not worry. Your club in Paris will be carrying on for a long time to come as far as I know.

On the other hand, if you are not in Paris but up on a French Alp, then I hope you are having a good time even if it is a bit expensive up there, as well as likely to be wet and chilly.

The invitations to 'virtual' club members who have become 'real' Charter Members by taking active part in a weekly Café Metropole Club meeting in the café La Corona were sent out by email last week.

So far, about a third of registered Charter Members have replied positively. The other two-thirds of you have not replied at all. I am not assuming you will not reply or reply negatively, but I can't distribute the list with your email addresses until you do.

In case anybody has forgotten what this is about, Charter 'real' Member Kathleen suggested that 'real' members be polled about having their names and email addresses on a list that would be distributed to the other 'real' Charter Members.

Any 'real' Charter Member who is not in agreement will be left off the list - but will remain a 'real' member because official pages cannot be torn out of the 'real' members' sign-in booklet.

There is also a problem with the email invitation I sent out. Some members cannot put the 'X' where it is supposed to go, or they cannot delete the option they do not want. If this has happened to you, just send me a new email message with some expression of your choice. If necessary, you can do this with a postcard too.

I will allow a bit more time for Charter Members to return from their skiing or winter soak-up-sun holidays before distributing the list to 'real' members who have already agreed to the conditions.

For those who have not agreed, the list will be sent out without your email addresses on it. There is no time limit for sending in your decision.

If you want to know how Alpharetta GA got to be 'City of the Week' last Thursday, you can read the unofficial account of last Thursday's weekly Club meeting - even if you have already read this report.

The sole purpose of the Café Metropole Club is to offer an opportunity for the readers of the online magazine 'Metropole Paris' to meet its 'Ed,' and each other at its weekly meetings in Paris. If no members are actually present at a meeting, the 'Ed' will be in the Café La Corona, quietly perplexed, wondering if he is missing a good siesta.

If you read Metropole regularly, you will find that your 'Club' is astonishing value for what it costs - nothing - even though it has no actual real,pretended or 'virtual' benefits, except for being absolutely free.