Just before Xmas I decided to go to Paris - carpe diem - it turned out to be a
very good decision - possibly life-changing, since I'm now thinking of moving to
Paris rather than Montpellier, at least for some time.

Last time I came to Paris I found, thanks to the wonders of the internet, two
American ex-pats who hold soirees/parties. I went to the Jim Haynes' one last
year. This year Patricia was having one on Xmas day. It was SO much more fun
than many of my xmases; nice turkey meal and wine; an English woman sculptor,
Pre-Raphaelite looks, red hair, did an apple crumble - all this for a donation
of 25 euros.

The hostess had Aslam Ansari talk about a film he made about child labour,
mainly in Pakistan. He didn't have a lot to say, and I got into lecturing mode a
bit :-) talking about the recent popularity of documentaries like Supersize Me
and Michael Moore's docs, also about the new possibilities of making docs
cheaply, using the new digital technology. I have to say it was good for my ego,
a couple of women afterwards said they'd found what I said interesting :-) Then
Patricia asked if I'd like to give the talk next Sun. ! Actually not SUCH a big
compliment, since it means she doesn't have to look around for anyone else.



Trois Mailletz bar, Paris

I stayed on talking to her and Kathy, another American woman, and I mentioned
how I like to stroll around at night and check out interesting bars, e.g. an old
favourite of mine which I went to on Xmas eve, Le Trois Mailletz, on the left
bank, just across from Notre Dame. The guys who built ND are said to have drunk
there. It has a large cellar bar where they have late night cabaret. Upstairs.
Henrietta, a Dutch woman plays the piano very well, and a wide variety, from
opera to pop numbers. A young Japanese woman sang opera arias VERY well, and
also, Jim, an older Scottish guy, a retired pro opera singer, a great showman,
who wandered around the room singing to people. He has a very powerful voice for
a relatively small guy and a good sense of humour. There was also another French
male singer, who must also have been a pro. What a great night !

Patricia said that she knew the place, but had  never been inside, and said it's
not so easy for a woman to wander into bars on her own. So I offered to take
her, then Kathy said she'd like to go too. So I agreed to take them both on
Tues.  I went back on Monday to check that there will be music and it won't be
empty early in the week. I shouldn't have worried, it was very lively again, and
I got talking to Jim, the Scottish singer, Pauline, his New Zealander girlfriend
and to the Henrietta, the Dutch pianist. Unfortunately he and Pauline are
returning to home in Folkstone today, but there will be a female singer. We
might go to the cabaret, but I think it will be too late for Kathy, it doesn't
start till 11.30.

I then went on to Caveau de la Huchette where Leah Kline was singing with Bert
De Kort and the Intenational Jazz All Stars. When I arrived it was the break so
I stayed upstairs in the bar. Then a woman came and ordered a drink beside me
and coughed - I said: "It's all these French smokers". She said she just had a
cold - and she was Leah Kline ! We got chatting and it turned out she'd possibly
like some help with her web site and I suggested she start a blog. I also poured
scorn on the guy who was going to do some illustrations for her poems, but with
an Arty approach, i.e. they'd have nothing to do with her poems !



Leah Kline at Caveau de la Huchette

www.leahkline.com

Leah's blog set up by me.

Tues. 27th Dec



I took Patricia to the Trois Mailletz on Tues., Kathy couldn't make it. It was
fairly empty but that meant less noise and a choice of tables - on the left,
just inside the door - good view of the pianist/singer and less smoke.



I was developing my talk for Patricia's soiree in my head; it's was to be about
authenticity - after all this is the Paris of Sartre and Camus.

But there will be a media angle, relating it to Ansari's talk of the week
before; it will be about authentically documenting life (objectivity, NOT
balance, etc.) and living a life worth documenting, i.e. living authentically.
The latter involves taking a certain amount of risk and leaving oneself open to
experience, like coming to Paris at Xmas. The hostess was quite entertained by
some of my stories about what's happened to me on my  various trips abroad, so I
thought I'd build them into it, rather than making it too academic.

It will also involve the value and danger of habituation; we can adapt to almost
anything, people had good and bad days even in concentration camps. But we do
tend to stick with old habits (sensible from a survival point of view, if
they've worked they probably will go on working). I remember reading that after
about 30, MOST people don't try new things.



New Year's Eve

Patricia gave me the phone number of Mike, another expat, who was having a NYE
party. He had too many people, but, as they were mainly women, he let me in - 40
euros and a bottle of champagne. It was rather crowded and somehow I just
couldn't get in the mood. The food was good and plentiful, but I just had some
lamb. I'd told Kathy about it, and, since she knew him, she managed to get in
too and I chatted to her for some of the time. I  chatted to Bertrand, who works
on satellites, and told him about my talk at Patricia's - despite that, he
turned up for it.

I also chatted to Gabrielle Garz, who was wearing a very brightly coloured
dress, rather cheering in the Jan. gloom.



She had studied science, but now she is a painter. She showed me some of her
abstract paintings, some based on natural forms. I suggested she might do more
distinctive work if she used science as the basis for her ideas, especially as
she'd studied it. She said that a dealer had said there were a lot of works like
hers, and a friend had made a similar suggestion to mine - so she wasn't put
out.

Gabrielle's site


S. (my ex) had also made a last minute decision to come to Paris, just over New
Year in her case. We met at a favourite place, the garden bar in Studio 28, Rue
Tholoze, Monmartre; the cinema where Bunuel and Dali had shown their films in
the 1920s and where they'd met the cultural elite of the time, Picasso, etc. The
cinema was attacked by a Right wing mob.



We wandered around, S. turning down some restaurants as being too quiet. So we
tried Rue des Abbesses and seemd to run out of choices, mostly crowded bars. We
ended up at Le Relais Gascon, also very crowded. We narrowly avoided a row about
where to sit, then it got even more crowded, people queing inside and out - and
all those nice, empty restaurants just up the road.



Earlier in my trip I had done my own tour of Montmartre, checking out a couple
of piano bars on Rue Norvins.



Then I walked down to Rue des Martyrs and checked out Caveau des Arts for the
first time.



There was no show in the cellar bar, but the bar was full of boho types and a
young guy, who looked about 15, who was belting out classic songs in a very
professional way.



Continued:

Cannes, Paris