A 'Wanted' Poster

The half-and-half 'Group Photo of the Week.'

Lima, Peru, Honored

Paris:- Thursday, 18. September 2003:- For this week's club report I am going to drop-kick the 'update' weather moan usually found here, and give you a tidy forecast that is really simple and to the point.

This week in Paris, summer is back. The sky is blue if it's daytime and it's dark but clear if it's night time. Winds, if any, are caressingly gentle. Because of clear night skies, low temperatures are about 14 or 15 C. But daytime highs are in the 26 to 29 degree range, which is way above the usual area of normal 'for this time of year.'

According to tonight's TV-weather news this situation will continue for the entire 'Journées Européennes du Patrimoine' this coming weekend. The exact outlook for next Monday is unknown at this time, but today's Le Parisien's weather map makes it a ditto. It says we should plan to have a barbecue on Monday.

Unexpectedly, before leaving for the club, I have to choose which Hawaiian shirt to wear. Since I only have two, you would think this might be easy, but I have other summer-type shirts and I think it is only fair for each to have its equal exposure.

Therefore, I choose one of the two Hawaiian shirts. Who knows when I will get a chance to wear either one again? This year, through full of surprises, seems unlikely. Brand-new years, like 2004, are just about as unlikely. It could be 2007 before I get another chance and the moths might beat me to it.

Feeling properly attired, I set out for the Métro to take me to the city centre, to where the café La Corona is located. Underground in the Métro, the air is redolent with summer-style underground air. It is nowhere near as agreeable as it is on the street, but the Métro is its usual speedy self and its makes it to Châtelet without any dropped balls or fouls into left-field.

The Rue de Rivoli has a lot of blue sky hanging over it. I scan both ends,and see that the blue reaches right to the distant horizons, without any signs of fudge. It is a blue cocktail of a sky.

Out of the shadows, by the Pont-Neuf, the sunshine seems really unseasonable. The lemonade vendors should have their tents set up to provide refreshments to the folks on foot, but we have the café terraces - run by lemonade dealers - instead. It is, in fact, their technical term - 'limonadiers.'

i am trying to get to the club's café a couple of minutes early. There is a coupon in today's Libération for a 'cadeau' - which is a G4 PowerBook with a 12-inch screen. I just have to fill out the coupon and mail it in to get my 'cadeau.' I sent another one a couple of days ago for an iMac with a flat screen. Doing this is cheaper than going to Apple Expo, which I assume is playing somewhere at the moment. I don't know where I am going to put all my 'cadeaux' though.

We all know that life is not a quiet easy river, so I am not too surprised that Mr Naudan at La Corona has something for me when I arrive. It is a 'wanted' poster. Actually it is an A4 sheet with the word 'casting' at the top. Mr Naudan says the lady who dropped it off will be coming by later.

The café's 'grande salle' where the club meets is empty when I enter. But before I can fill in any coupons I am joined by Tomoko Yokomitsu. Since it seems appropriate, I ask our star of stage and screen to hold up the 'casting - wanted' poster for its photo.

Tomoko is disappointed that the movie people are not looking for anybody except people who speak American to dress up as American soldiers, or even the President. She says, "No news is good news, except for a job."

This quote doesn't have any relationship to the 'wanted-casting' thing, but it is nearly the meeting's only quote - that has been noted - so I put it in here and you can pretend it belongs anywhere.

Today's members begin arriving when it is not long after 15:00. For some reason I have some problems keeping track of them. I think this may be because many are already members and as soon as they find a chair, they take up whatever conversation they were running when they were last at a club meeting.

For many, this wasn't last week. Angelika Cutler found out it is cold in Scotland, so she is back - and was at the meeting before last too - and tops up her news about the cricket matches at Thoiry. She says there are two more games to be played there this season. Exactly where Thoiry is, remains a mystery, but I think it is in Yvelines.

Lynda Sydney from Toronto is a club member, and she has brought along Ana Escomel from Chicago as a companion. As usual, I ask Ana if she really is from Chicago, or from a suburb that hasn't been a 'City of the Week' yet. No, it really is Chicago.

Ohh, I've forgotten. The mirror behind the club's tables often has the 'special of the day' written on it in white paint - or is it icing? - and today's says, 'Brownies Sauce Chocolat.' This is the first time that this 'today's special' has been a 'Thing of the Week.' Brownies, indeed! Having to wait for the 203rd meeting to have brownies in the club's café.

I guess it means that if you fancy brownies, this isn't the club you want to join. Nancy Macklin has arrived and tells me to spell her name correctly. She says she likes brownies too, but doesn't eat them often. "Brownies," she says, "Are death by chocolate."

Nancy has brought Jim with her. Jim becomes a new club member, but opts to keep the rest of his name to himself. He says he wants to keep his face to himself too, but I explain that in the group photo he'll come out smaller than on a postage stamp and nobody will recognize him because he's in disguise anyhow. Jim does not come from a potential 'City of the Week,' so his hometown may as well be confidential too.

In the midst of this Lauren and Steve Camera-Murray show up. This couple have been to many meetings, because, as Lauren says, "We've only been here four months but we don't know if it's a holiday or not." Lauren also says she is learning to teach English as a foreign language. Which is, if I remember correctly, called 'TEFL' for short.

A new lady shows up. This is the one who has left the 'wanted' poster. Her name is Karine Revillon and she is looking for Americans to be extras in a French film that will begin shooting soon. The details are below, but it is worth mentioning here that the director is looking for 'GIs, Air Force, Marines, Officers, MIB, and All Types.'