Amazing Walking

No Buzzards

Paris:– Thursday, 2. June 2005:– Whatever the weather was supposed to be like today it has been pretty good, without it being a true blue sky type of day. Right now the evening sky is clear except for a few purple wisps of cloud near the horizon, which is kind of high because of the black trees in the cemetery across the way. Not a leaf is stirring.

Tonight's TV–weather news lady started off by saying that there's a low over the UK and things are going to degrade here tomorrow. This is complicated because there will be confusion out west and later in the day there will be a wave of clouds to the east, but stretching up from the Pyrenees.

We are supposed to be in sort of a trough, ditch, gully, or gulch, and with the temperature supposed to go up to 29 degrees I suspect it will be heavy, muggy and maybe humid – in other words, great weather for sitting on café terraces until midnight.

With the arrival of Saturday, it should be pretty clear just about everywhere except up along the Channel coast, but the high temperatures will tumble to 20 degrees even with a fair bunch of sunshine.

The only difference on Sunday will be a sky veiled with a lot of high, thin cloud, and a sub–standard temperature of 19 degrees. This might be perfect weather for the sports show on the Champs–Elysées some time during the day and for the free concert on the Champ de Mars beginning at 19:00 in the evening.

Having gone to so many meetings of the Café Metropole Club I have to no more than set myself on autopilot and cruise out the door and sail down to the Métro at Raspail and swing on to the first train that comes along and scan the posters while it slides through stations while I decide where to step off and hit the surface for a little walk to the club.

The result is the realization that I've memorized the whole route and I could do it in my sleep, so I do it without really waking up until I see the cops on horses riding across the Pont Neuf. Where are they coming from and where are they going? From the ranch and back to the barn? On the bridge they could be going to the Palais de Justice, or are they going to ride over to La Palette and feed their nags some oats while having a well–deserved beer?

The next thing I notice is the closed newspaper kiosk in front of the Samaritaine. Some of these have been on strike since Monday because they have a lousy life and poor working conditions because publishers put out so many new titles that there's no room left inside the tiny paper kiosks for the paper people.

So I arrive at the café La Corona with no paper to tide me over before members show up. In a totally empty 'grande salle' I twiddle my fingers for a while, until Olga and Dan Ciupitu arrive. Coming as they do to multiple club meetings, we simply pick up our conversation from where we left off last week.

But before I can write one lousy note members Kim and Ed Hurwitz from Sanibel in Florida pull up and install themselves. The last time they were here Florida was having hurricanes and they had traded houses for one in Paris, and this story gets topped up with 'what happened next.'

But before I can write a note about any of this members Shirley and Walter Pappas come in and take over some spare chairs, and the French political situation becomes the topic of the minute. "You can't have too much democracy," Walter says, or says somebody said.

Had I been somewhat more nimble I would have note about this but at this moment Annie and Bill Pratt arrive. They met Kim and Ed on the plane coming over so here they are here without knowing why, but the seats are free.

Luckily for the club, the Pratts are from Charlottesville in Virginia, allowing me to note, 'City of the Week.' Ed wants a special mention for arranging this, so, here it is – thanks to Ed Charlottesville is this week's 'City of the Week.'

I am just about to make a note of this when Walter begins to tell me about the great – and free! – view from the top of the Institut du Monde Arabe. "It's got a better view of the Seine than the Tour d'Argent," he says, without actually saying this is a free view.

There is an orphan note here that says, 'Charlottesville, University of Virginia?' Then another that reads, '1€ = 75¢' Oh, I remember now. Kim was telling me about how Paris fans in the United States sit around reading the exchange rates until they decide they can afford the beating they are going to take from them.

Then Kim tells me about the islands in the Caribbean that Canada decided not to buy. They were probably some that France doesn't feel like selling just yet. If someone would offer something fair for Corsica I'm sure France might consider it.

Well, that line of conversation didn't last long. I wonder what this 'vocal groceries' was about? Maybe the 'v' is an 'l.' Now I remember!

Many visitors to Paris are amazed that we walk to shops. They are amazed tat there are shops in neighborhoods where we live or vice–versa. If we want a loaf of bread we just pop out and buy one in a local boulangerie and carry it home. It takes about five minutes.