On mange une croissant

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Hi from Paris.

One quicky before I'm back in Toronto this Friday.

I've been in Paris since the beginning of the month working on stories. Originally I was going to stay at Shakespeare and Co., the English language bookstore that will sometimes put up writers from abroad for free, but they were entirely full when I arrived; so I called up a friend from Jerusalem who is studying here (at a Yiddish-language library! in Paris! to think!) and proceded to his place for the purpose of crashing on his floor for a night or two until I could find a hostel. We had discussed this possibility in advance. To make a long story Ottoman, turns out he was going off to Turkey for a week's vacation a few days later, and so he quite generously asked me if I wanted to housesit his little fifth-floor bachelor apartment by the Bastille for the week he would be gone. I would have to water the plants.

So for two weeks I've been writing in cafes, drinking good wine that costs little, eating meals of bread and cheese, and generally having a pleasant time being here. I like Paris very much. I like how traditional people are, how courteous, how polite. After the aggression of Africa and Israel the existence of a polite form of address here ("vous"; in West African French everyone is "tu") seems almost impossibly delicate. It feels like a creative place to me. I saw an extraordinary adaptation of Chekhov short stories at a black box theatre the other night. Paris may no longer be the center of the literary world (and I've little interest in the carnival that has been made of that history, the tourist bubbles of Montmartre and the Latin Quarter) but literate culture is enough ingrained here that sitting all day over a notebook in a cafe draws no strange looks. And there's an aesthetic part of it too: I find the city beautiful. There is something to be said for a place that retains a sense of beauty even in gloom and rain.

In Glasglow for a couple days from Wednesday, back home in Toronto Friday afternoon. Looking forward to seeing everybody.

Daniel

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Comments

[david wagman]

edinburgh over glasgow
if you have your choice, choose edinburgh; i just returned from 8 days in this beautiful city; the fringe festival is on; it's one of the best parties i've been to, not to mention the great theatre that's happening everywhere. go to the royal mile and just walk around - festival is all around you

[Nicole]

Great laughter when needed
Greetings from Navrongo, Upper East Region, Ghana from a University of Alberta student's partner. We've just had a rough week of illness and adjustment issues in our second of six months here, and reading your blogs tonight was great therapy. I laughed tons and read a lot of your stuff to my partner (who's just getting over malaria). It's great to see this perspective - not hiding any of the discomforts of travel here. It's inspiration to carry on, write some good blogs, and to know we'll soon enough be eating croissants in Paris. All the best with your writing career. You've got talent!