thu, 11 March 2004 Metropole Paris 9.1O/11 – Monday, 1–8 Mar <h3>Number 9.1O/11:– Monday, 1–8 March</a> <!-- the below lines check to see if 'print' has been called. Then it inserts the correct link into the right of the navbar. Notice the second line of 'echo $_SERVER' code - and notice the '?media=print' after it. When you are in 'screen' version, this is the link that will be displayed - and this is where the 'print' call is sent to this page. If it is already 'print', no '?media=print' is inserted into the URL, telling the php to compile a 'normal page' -->
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<h2 class="c3">'Dogs On the Rails'</h2><img src="club910a.jpg" alt="photo: group, lewis, diana, heather, steve, peter" align="middle" height="220" width="330" />
<p class="c4">Today's 'Group of the Week' – Lewis,
Diana, Heather,<br />
Steve and Peter.</p>
<h3 class="c5">Before the Meeting Even Starts</h3>
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<p class="noindent"><b>Paris:– Thursday, 4. March 2004:–</b> The
score for Monday's forecast in the Café column is as
follows – Tuesday was more than 'mostly sunny,'
Wednesday really was 'mostly sunny' and pretty warm too,
but Thursday – today – the 'maybe' got nixed
and we have had low gray skies that have been drizzling on
us and unprotected grass. It is damply cold too.</p> <div style="width:300px;height:250px;float:right;clear:right;margin:1em 0 1em 1em;">
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<p>There is no good reason to dwell on weather that is gone
and past forever, other than to show how unpredictable it
is. The other reason is to fill up space that could be used
by today's forecast – or would be, if there was
anything to it.</p>
<p>According to tonight's TV–weather news prediction
Friday will be either partly cloudy or mostly cloudy, and
later in the day it might even be totally cloudy. Ditto
Saturday, Sunday, and maybe Monday too if blue skies coming
from the Atlantic don't push east hard enough.</p>
<p>The high temperatures will be like going down stairs a
degree at a time, from ten to eight to seven. The
temperatures in this morning's Le Parisien are all
different, but they are in the same register.</p>
<p>In conclusion, if you weren't here yesterday and
Tuesday, you have missed the week's good weather. Maybe not
– if you were in Perpignan today, it was supposed to
be pretty sunny and 19 degrees.</p>
<b>This Week's Only
'Club Report of the Week'</b>
<p class="noindent">I have no sooner slipped my Métro ticket through
the turnstile, taken a sharp turn to the left and am
bouncing down the stairs, when the Raspail station
announces that the Métro's line 4 may not be running
at all because there are dogs on the tracks.</p>
<p>The line has gone to the dogs somewhere between Etienne
Marcel and Gare du Nord. It means all trains are stopped in
the stations, waiting<img src="club910d.jpg" alt="photo: tea pot" align="right" height="168" width="196"
vspace="2" hspace="5" /> for the preceding train to clear
the next station. Even though the Salon de l'Agriculture is
going on down at the Porte de Versailles, dogs on the rails
beyond Châtelet are not a normal occurrence.</p>
<p>Just as I am about to switch to the Métro's line
6 to begin a lateral work– around, the station's
loudspeakers say the dogs are no longer on the rails.
Métro line 4 is running again! A few minutes later,
the train that has been waiting at Denfert, arrives. As
soon as I get on the train, the 'dogs on the rails'
announcement is made again.</p>
<p>The train finally moves on, only to pause at
Montparnasse. Before I can make up my mind to switch to
another work–around line, it starts its dash to
Saint–Placide.</p>
<p>Well, I think, maybe Châtelet is jammed up –
if the train makes it to Saint–Germain I can get out
and walk, and this is what I do. It is somewhere between no
rain and drizzling, and there aren't many Parisians around
in the narrow streets leading down to the Seine.</p>
<p>From the Pont des Arts I can see the lights on in the
café La Corona. Monsieur Ferrat is guarding the cash
from no one when I arrive. The café's 'grande salle'
is overflowing with empty booths and tables when I enter
it. Is this the deadest week of this non–season?</p>
<p>Nope. Peter Kane, member number 398 arrives. He is not
in the current members' booklet because he was last at a
meeting in September of 2001. Peter tells me he has been in
Paris the whole time, deciding whether he lives here.</p>
<p>Now, he says, he is going back to Grand Rapids to sell
his house, and get another one in Florida, and maybe an
apartment in Paris or elsewhere in France.</p>
<p>Then Steve Camera–Murray arrives, just after Diana
Rushing and Lewis Rosenthal. When I say Steve is a
part–time movie star, Steve says, "My ship hasn't
quite come in." Nearly all club members are as modest.</p>
<p>While rooting around in a bag, Diana parks a copy of
Victor Hugo's 'Notre Dame de Paris' on a table. To prove
members can read I photograph it. I do this because I sense
there won't be any 'Food of the Week' even though somebody
should have a big, hot, gooey onion soup.</p>
<p>Peter has used furniture to get rid of. Nobody else has
an empty apartment needing used furniture. Peter is going
to do okay on account of the weak dollar because he put up
a year's 'caution' when he could buy euros for 85 cents,
and today these euros are worth $1.21. Everybody other than
the club's secretary sighs, thinking about the 'good old
days.'</p>
<p>Without warning, Patrick, today's 'Waiter of the Week,'
distributes ashtrays on all of the club's tables. He
reminds the members present that the club area, within La
Corona's no smoking area, is a smoking area – and
this has been a standard 'service' since the first meeting.
Nobody uses any of the brand–new metal ashtrays.</p>
<p>Peter and Lewis rate their ability to speak French.
Peter says his is the 'survivor' variety, while Lewis leans
towards 'survival.'</p>
<p>A comment on TV the other night claimed<img src="club910b.jpg" alt="photo: book, hugo, notre dame de paris"
align="left" height="215" width="130" vspace="0" hspace="5" /> that the French have difficulty with English because
they broadcast in the 250– 2000 hertz frequency,
while almost all spoken English is in the 2000–18,000
range. The report did not explicitly say that English
speakers do not reach the below–2000 hertz range
easily – but it did say that Scandinavians are used
to covering the frequencies from
250–18,000.</p><i>This week's 'Book of the Week' has
been a best–seller for a century–worth of
weeks.</i>
<p>"I love socialism," Peter says. This is exactly what he
says. I have it written down, in very plain handwriting. I
do not remember ever hearing any American club member
saying such a thing before. It is almost too amazing to be
the 'Quote of the Week,' which it surely is.</p>
<p>But it has its explanation. Tenants have to pay property
tax, but this doesn't get assessed until a residence of a
calendar–year is completed. Peter decided to go and
straighten out his tax situation, but was told it couldn't
be done because the inspector for his tax area was away
with a lingering illness.</p>
<p>He was told at first to just 'forget it.' But Peter
persisted and finally another inspector relented, and told
him the amount of the tax – which would only be based
on 2004. This other inspector said it would be difficult to
find the time to do the extra work of putting it in writing
– such as in a properly printed tax bill.</p>
<p>So Peter then told his landlord the amount and the
landlord said he wouldn't collect the tax on behalf of the
eventual tax bill, unless he knew the exact amount –
in writing. It has to do with refunding the extra year's
deposit Peter had to put up to get the apartment. The
tenant's property tax will be about a tenth of it.</p>
<p>One way or another, Peter can't just 'forget about it'
even if it was a tax inspector who told him to do so. This
is just normal administrative tax rigamarole, and it not
specifically 'socialism.'</p>
<p>Then we have the 'Event of the Week' when member number
one, Heather Stimmler–Hall, arrives. She<img src="club910e.jpg" alt="photo: red wine" align="right" height="246" width="170" vspce="2" hspace="5" /> has come to
today's meeting, she says, because "It's too miserable to
look for an apartment."</p><br /><i>Continued on <a href="/2004/910/910clb18.html?page=2" target="_self">page 2...</a></i></td>
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