--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > As much as I love the Netherlands, and spending time with my extended > family there, it is *also* an utter delight to be back in Paris, and to > be having dinner in a sidewalk cafe (covered and heated, of course, > because it's still almost as cold here as it was there -- global > colding, and all that), and enjoying both the food and the ambiance. > > The highlight of my time "back home" revolves around the time I get to > spend with young 4-year-old Maya. We have a weekend routine, in which > she comes downstairs in the mornings while the rest of the family gets > to sleep in, and we watch "Mayamovies" together on my computer. This > morning we watched the classic Disney "Cinderella" and a "Winnie The > Pooh" movie, and the morning before we watched "Despicable Me" (always a > delight) and a bunch of Nick Park's wonderful Wallace & Gromit movies. > We chat and do "film crit" all the way through them, which the other > members of my family don't appreciate as much as Maya and I do, as they > fear they'll never be able to take her to an actual movie theater > because she'll want to talk about the movie all the way through it. My > bad. :-)
It seems really fine, Barry, that at your stage in life you have the chance to love and help care for a young child. Nothing like it - you get to relive the wonder of childhood all over again! You have the time to do this and that is great. Maya is a lucky girl. BTW, I also love all the Wallace and Grommit movies, and especially the shorts that were done years ago. Did you see the one where the animals in a zoo talk about what their lives are like? Also, just a comment - and you know this is not antagonistic. I wonder why you wrote the last paragraph? Who cares if others are interested or not in your travels or in only posting spiritual things? It came across to me as if you are fishing around to push some buttons. What you wrote before was really of a different flavor altogether and stood on its own quite nicely. > > But anyway, back to here and now, and Paris. It's "happy hour" in this > cafe/restaurant, and the crowd reflects this. At a table next to mine, > there are three French women -- two from the traditional French gene > pool, one clearly from a more Moroccan gene pool, and they are drinking > coffees (2-for-the-price-of-one) and chatting amongst themselves quietly > and with admirable French restraint. Across the terrace, however, sit a > group of seven clearly American Girls. They're all in their early > twenties, and my bet is that their daddies have paid for them to "study > abroad" and they have just returned from their "Easter vacations," and > have gotten together here tonight to compare notes on their respective > adventures, or the lack thereof. They are all taking advantage of the > "twofer" happy hour discount to get tanked on cocktails, while smoking > cigarettes the way that people in their early twenties smoke them, as if > cigarettes are 'way cool and 'way French, and as if they won't kill > them. > > In contrast to the French women, all of the American girls are talking > FAR TOO LOUDLY, and far too animatedly. They've clearly been here in > Paris long enough to have picked up the French habit of gesticulating > madly while talking, but somehow when the French do it, it's cool and > sexy, and when the American Girls do it, it...uh...isn't. Their > conversations, which I cannot help but eavesdrop on even across the cafe > because they're talking SO FUCKING LOUDLY, all seem to have to do with > the guys they hooked up with while on vacation, and why none of them > measured up to their fantasies. The French girls much nearer to me, whom > I have to go out of my way to eavesdrop on because they're talking > quietly, more like actual human beings talk, seem to be talking > philosophy. Then again, they're just on their second cuppa coffee, not > on their fourth or sixth set of happy hour cocktails. If there is a > lesson to be drawn here in the difference between two cultures, I leave > it to you to draw it...I'm just reporting on what I see and hear. > > Finally the END OF HAPPY HOUR arrives, and the American girls are out of > here like shit through a goose. The French women remain, still talking > (as far as I can tell) about Sartre and l'existentialisme. Go figure. > > Meanwhile the Moroccan cafe owner collects the glasses (many) and the > tips (few) from the American Girls' table, and shrugs. He's clearly been > in the biz for some time, and knows that some people are drawn to his > cafe/restaurant only for the happy hour. Me, I was drawn back here > because they serve an admirable magret de canard (duck breast) with > gratin dauphinois et salade, and for a quite reasonable price. I also > like the place because their house wine is good and their coffee is even > better. Does that make me "easy to please" and possessed of "low > standards?" Perhaps. Your call, which doth not affect me in the least. > > Some on this particlar forum (FFL) might not be satisfied with a good > meal and entertaining cafe scenery. Judging from what they regularly > post, they might only be satisfied with their evening out if they could > characterize it as being SO SPIRITUAL, and reflective of the OH SO > ADVANCED states of consciousness they claim to live in. Me, I'm easier > to please. Good food, good wine, interesting people to watch and comment > on, and I'm happy. No "specialnessitudeness" here, and none needed. Just > everyday life, in everyday Paris. YMMV. >
