'Movie of the Week'

La Corona's terrace at the beginning of today's meeting.

Followed by 'Album of the Week'

Paris:- Thursday, 1. June 2000:- Because Paris has finally gotten a weather forecast worth looking forward to, I bound out of bed 38 minutes after the clock-radio has been blaring the tennis news - mainly that there may be some today after yesterday's total rain-out.

The forecast isn't all rosy - the prediction is only for this afternoon to hit 28, then 25 for tomorrow, before a weekend of the usual freezing late-spring droopiness.

Today is also a holiday, for some - and some will make a 'bridge' out of Friday and have a whole four days to wheel around to the furthest points of France before all rushing back together on Sunday evening.

The first signal outside says the thermometre has not budged a millimetre since yesterday. But it is early hours - relatively - still.

Oddly, Le Parisien is not jubilant about this long weekend. No 'bons plans' are offered, and when I turn to page 23, the big events mentioned are Johnny's show on Saturday 10. June and the Fête de la Musique on the 21st. Where is today?

No matter, today is really Café Metropole Club day and naturally, lesser events pale in comparison to this.

The first event to pale is my usual métro entry being closed. Uh-oh, line four has been having problems - I better catch the bus instead. No buses are in sight - right! - it's a holiday; so it's back to the métro's main entry, and hey! - s'all right, there's a train, but with no musicians and few fellow travellers.

Put a bit behind time by this, I skip the usual tour on Rivoli and forget about looking for the 'Fiat 500 of the Week.' There are a lot of people by the Pont Neuf and along the Quai du Louvre. On La Corona's terrace, few are outside. The wind from the east is a bit chilly.

This explains why there are a lot of hungry non-club members inside the big 'salle.' My timing is lucky and I 'squat' three entire tables, to hold them for club members.

I note down the date in the unofficial members' booklet and do the same with the unofficial meeting 'reports' booklet. Then, since it seems as if I have a moment to spare, I read the métro's paper, 'A Nous à Paris,' but skip most of the three pages of 'tennis-at-Roland-Garros news.'

I read all the movie reviews. Gérard Jugnot's 'Meilleur Espoir Féminin' is getting raves. They say he has 'matured.' He started out acting in 'Les Bronzés' - a spoof on the Club Med - but he's been making interesting movies for years

I read the other entertainment news. The album of the week is by 'Dimitri from Paris' and is called 'A Night at the Playboy Mansion,' which is spelled 'Madison.' Then I read the RATP's PR part. I read some of the classified ads and scan the jobs section too.

Everybody wants somebody to work on the telephone; either selling telephones or explaining why the portable telephone bills are so outrageous. There's even an ad for people who don't have anybody to call on portable phones - promising very low rates - probably for life.

With some surprise, I see the hands on my watch are telling me the meeting is half over. So far, no 'Food of the Week,' no 'Quote of the Week,' and no home-town for the 'City of the Week.' I should have looked for the 'Fiat 500 of the Week' after all.