Friday, January 27, 2006
Thursday 26 January 2006
It has been good to be back here again at Saint-Denis and to enjoy what N calls being a Parisian animal, more so than I had thought, as I was so keen to get on with all that needs doing at La Neuve-Lyre, but I am beginning to realise how complicated living in two places at once can be, and trying not to have the wrong thing in the wrong place. For example, when we left on Friday afternoon it was raining so I took my rain hat with me; it is now quite dry but very cold and I have not got a warm hat here. However, it is good to be able to sit on the sofa after dinner (and sometimes after lunch, as well) and catch up with TV news. We do now have a TV at LNL but no aerial as yet, and there is a video/DVD machine on order which should arrive next week. I have done Pilates exercises twice with my new Christmas DVD since arriving here on Friday.
On Saturday I had my eyebrows shaped at the beauty salon round the corner, having efficiently phoned from LNL and made an appointment. They are rather thinner than usual, so I hope that either I will get used to them, or that they will grow back. Or possibly both. In the afternoon we took the 255 bus to the Marché aux Puces (Flea Market) at Saint-Ouen, where we spent a lot of time looking at Italian marble-topped tables similar to the ones coming from Soliera, and N was pleased to see that in most cases the prices were sufficiently high to make it more than worth paying to have them delivered to Normandy. We also looked at gilt-framed mirrors suitable for the chimney breast in the salon (golden yellow walls and white panelling) and found one that was just right which N bought to celebrate having sold Soliera. It is rectangular and upright; square corners at the bottom and rounded ones at the top, with a fairly plain frame. We were told it was 19th century, which suits the house (circa 1854) and had to carry it home on the bus, as that was part of the deal (not the bus, just not having it delivered…)
The main reason for coming back to Saint-Denis when we did was an invitation on Sunday to N's friend Odile, at Seine-Port, south of Paris. I had met her only once, and not seen her house, which was unusual and interesting; part of a larger house, with beams in the attic; (not as good as ours, N said) a living room that had once been a conservatory, and a wild wooded garden. N had said she had a large old dog, but there was also a 4 month-old white kitten – as yet unnamed – rushing about in and out of the house and garden. We had been invited to eat Galette des Rois - a rather movable feast – along with half a dozen other friends and neighbours, who reminded me very much of Cambridge Muesli Belt inhabitants, all discussing wayward teenage children and exhibitions. We took a couple of bottles of our very local cider, which was much appreciated. An interesting young Russian woman, wearing a dress covered with coloured pom-poms, had brought an electric samovar and some excellent tea – Lipton's Russian Earl Grey. I would like to have discussed with her the significance of tea drinking in War and Peace, but there was no opportunity. N took the chance to continue his search for a portrait artist, and found a few more leads to follow.
The drive back took a very long time, longer than coming back from LNL, but very interesting as we came right through the centre of Paris and down the Boulevard Saint Michel; a good thing to do when you are not in Paris very often.
Since then I have caught up with washing and shopping, revisiting my usual haunts at the local boulangerie, vegetable store and Carrefour, where I bought more reduced bed linen. There are many sales, some described as Nouvelles Démarques (new reductions) In many ways it has not been easy moving into a new house at this time of year, and was certainly not what I had hoped when Ainsworth Street first went on the market, but it has to be said that January is a good time for buying household items, including a great part of my new kitchen, which was reduced by 10%. As I accidentally left War and Peace at LNL I have been reading La Porte Etroite by Gide, as N keeps referring to the little door at the end of the garden there as la porte étroite, and am enjoying it very much, especially after finding the story was set in Normandy. N played string quartets on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and has been twice to visit various archives in connection with his history of Les Ursulines. On Tuesday afternoon I set off to Montmartre in search of cut price toile de jouy curtain material for the dining room; the tan I saw before Christmas was no longer there but I found some very good black and white. I also got little lace panels for the small windows in the three bathrooms plus rods to hang them on. I had been glad to hear on Sunday that Odile bought the material for her (vast) curtains at the same place - Le Marché Saint Pierre - and pleased to think that I had discovered it for myself. Unlike Saint-Denis or LNL it was full of confident, purposeful women of about my own age, some from far-off suburbs, all knowing exactly what they were looking for.
For reasons far too complicated to go into here, the second pair of Ainsworth Street curtains needs the tab tops sewing back on, and the Montmartre curtain shop was not big on haberdashery, so that made a nice excuse to revisit Bon Marché on Wednesday. I hesitated before taking the same route as with M & C last November – walking from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est and getting the 39 bus – as it took a long time, but then decided it was good to take a bus through central Paris and the Louvre and across the river on a sunny Wednesday morning just because you can, and was pleased I had. It was bitterly cold and the puddles were still covered in ice. I got my tape and thread and spent some time in the linens sale buying napkins and pot holders, and then went next door to La Grande Epicerie where I was very pleased to find Lipton's Russian Earl Grey tea! and to get a nice smoked salmon sandwich that I ate in the little garden next to the metro – the first picnic of the year. It was slightly warmer by then and still very sunny; the first time I have sat in the sun since Lerici and Nice.
What I was really looking for was large curtain tie-backs with tassels, something I've not dealt with before, and often very expensive. I remembered there was a curtain shop opposite the Epicerie, and managed to find white tassels there for the bedroom, and then took the metro to the Grands Magasins and bought some in beige and gold for the salon at Galeries Lafayette. I also went past the white porcelain shop in the Boulevard Haussmann and found a jam pot for the greengage jam. By the time I got home (by RER) I was quite exhausted, but pleased to think that I didn't have to go back to Cambridge and the office the next day, as often used to be the case after such shopping trips.
N was busy writing up research when I got back, so along with my Russian tea I put my feet up and watched the video of the 1990 film Madame Bovary, which I wanted to re-see since having become better acquainted with Normandy, and was pleased to see familiar houses, streets and countryside, not to mention a fireplace, staircase and doors like mine. After dinner we got caught up in watching a programme about Hollywood's treatment of the Holocaust, including quite dreadful things like documentaries sponsored by gas appliances. It spent some time on Schindler's List, but other holocaust films I had seen (La Vita è bella, Europa Europa) were omitted as they were not made in Hollywood.
Friday 27 January 2006
There has not been much music to catch up with this week - apart from the very important Mozart anniversary today of course - so it was a pity when I set out yesterday evening for my first visit to the local chorale in several weeks, to meet two ladies coming back the other way who told me it was cancelled as David (le chef) was ill. I was hoping I might have found out about the next concert.
Yesterday afternoon I checked my phone messages at LNL - an excellent system - and found one from the mattress shop telling me it was ready for collection so called and arranged it for Saturday afternoon. There were also two other local calls where no message had been left, but I was able to note the numbers, so will try to identify them when I get back and have paperwork to hand; we are waiting to hear from so many people regarding things which need doing.
On the way back to Normandy this afternoon we plan to call in at the local branch of a store called Leroy Merlin which has an excellent lighting department. First however it will take some time to load the car with recent shopping, the mirror, two oleander plants and items of leftover food, not to mention our bags. I think I shall be posted outside on the pavement with the luggage while N goes to fetch the car, still in its temporary home in the municipal car park.
It has been good to be back here again at Saint-Denis and to enjoy what N calls being a Parisian animal, more so than I had thought, as I was so keen to get on with all that needs doing at La Neuve-Lyre, but I am beginning to realise how complicated living in two places at once can be, and trying not to have the wrong thing in the wrong place. For example, when we left on Friday afternoon it was raining so I took my rain hat with me; it is now quite dry but very cold and I have not got a warm hat here. However, it is good to be able to sit on the sofa after dinner (and sometimes after lunch, as well) and catch up with TV news. We do now have a TV at LNL but no aerial as yet, and there is a video/DVD machine on order which should arrive next week. I have done Pilates exercises twice with my new Christmas DVD since arriving here on Friday.
On Saturday I had my eyebrows shaped at the beauty salon round the corner, having efficiently phoned from LNL and made an appointment. They are rather thinner than usual, so I hope that either I will get used to them, or that they will grow back. Or possibly both. In the afternoon we took the 255 bus to the Marché aux Puces (Flea Market) at Saint-Ouen, where we spent a lot of time looking at Italian marble-topped tables similar to the ones coming from Soliera, and N was pleased to see that in most cases the prices were sufficiently high to make it more than worth paying to have them delivered to Normandy. We also looked at gilt-framed mirrors suitable for the chimney breast in the salon (golden yellow walls and white panelling) and found one that was just right which N bought to celebrate having sold Soliera. It is rectangular and upright; square corners at the bottom and rounded ones at the top, with a fairly plain frame. We were told it was 19th century, which suits the house (circa 1854) and had to carry it home on the bus, as that was part of the deal (not the bus, just not having it delivered…)
The main reason for coming back to Saint-Denis when we did was an invitation on Sunday to N's friend Odile, at Seine-Port, south of Paris. I had met her only once, and not seen her house, which was unusual and interesting; part of a larger house, with beams in the attic; (not as good as ours, N said) a living room that had once been a conservatory, and a wild wooded garden. N had said she had a large old dog, but there was also a 4 month-old white kitten – as yet unnamed – rushing about in and out of the house and garden. We had been invited to eat Galette des Rois - a rather movable feast – along with half a dozen other friends and neighbours, who reminded me very much of Cambridge Muesli Belt inhabitants, all discussing wayward teenage children and exhibitions. We took a couple of bottles of our very local cider, which was much appreciated. An interesting young Russian woman, wearing a dress covered with coloured pom-poms, had brought an electric samovar and some excellent tea – Lipton's Russian Earl Grey. I would like to have discussed with her the significance of tea drinking in War and Peace, but there was no opportunity. N took the chance to continue his search for a portrait artist, and found a few more leads to follow.
The drive back took a very long time, longer than coming back from LNL, but very interesting as we came right through the centre of Paris and down the Boulevard Saint Michel; a good thing to do when you are not in Paris very often.
Since then I have caught up with washing and shopping, revisiting my usual haunts at the local boulangerie, vegetable store and Carrefour, where I bought more reduced bed linen. There are many sales, some described as Nouvelles Démarques (new reductions) In many ways it has not been easy moving into a new house at this time of year, and was certainly not what I had hoped when Ainsworth Street first went on the market, but it has to be said that January is a good time for buying household items, including a great part of my new kitchen, which was reduced by 10%. As I accidentally left War and Peace at LNL I have been reading La Porte Etroite by Gide, as N keeps referring to the little door at the end of the garden there as la porte étroite, and am enjoying it very much, especially after finding the story was set in Normandy. N played string quartets on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and has been twice to visit various archives in connection with his history of Les Ursulines. On Tuesday afternoon I set off to Montmartre in search of cut price toile de jouy curtain material for the dining room; the tan I saw before Christmas was no longer there but I found some very good black and white. I also got little lace panels for the small windows in the three bathrooms plus rods to hang them on. I had been glad to hear on Sunday that Odile bought the material for her (vast) curtains at the same place - Le Marché Saint Pierre - and pleased to think that I had discovered it for myself. Unlike Saint-Denis or LNL it was full of confident, purposeful women of about my own age, some from far-off suburbs, all knowing exactly what they were looking for.
For reasons far too complicated to go into here, the second pair of Ainsworth Street curtains needs the tab tops sewing back on, and the Montmartre curtain shop was not big on haberdashery, so that made a nice excuse to revisit Bon Marché on Wednesday. I hesitated before taking the same route as with M & C last November – walking from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est and getting the 39 bus – as it took a long time, but then decided it was good to take a bus through central Paris and the Louvre and across the river on a sunny Wednesday morning just because you can, and was pleased I had. It was bitterly cold and the puddles were still covered in ice. I got my tape and thread and spent some time in the linens sale buying napkins and pot holders, and then went next door to La Grande Epicerie where I was very pleased to find Lipton's Russian Earl Grey tea! and to get a nice smoked salmon sandwich that I ate in the little garden next to the metro – the first picnic of the year. It was slightly warmer by then and still very sunny; the first time I have sat in the sun since Lerici and Nice.
What I was really looking for was large curtain tie-backs with tassels, something I've not dealt with before, and often very expensive. I remembered there was a curtain shop opposite the Epicerie, and managed to find white tassels there for the bedroom, and then took the metro to the Grands Magasins and bought some in beige and gold for the salon at Galeries Lafayette. I also went past the white porcelain shop in the Boulevard Haussmann and found a jam pot for the greengage jam. By the time I got home (by RER) I was quite exhausted, but pleased to think that I didn't have to go back to Cambridge and the office the next day, as often used to be the case after such shopping trips.
N was busy writing up research when I got back, so along with my Russian tea I put my feet up and watched the video of the 1990 film Madame Bovary, which I wanted to re-see since having become better acquainted with Normandy, and was pleased to see familiar houses, streets and countryside, not to mention a fireplace, staircase and doors like mine. After dinner we got caught up in watching a programme about Hollywood's treatment of the Holocaust, including quite dreadful things like documentaries sponsored by gas appliances. It spent some time on Schindler's List, but other holocaust films I had seen (La Vita è bella, Europa Europa) were omitted as they were not made in Hollywood.
Friday 27 January 2006
There has not been much music to catch up with this week - apart from the very important Mozart anniversary today of course - so it was a pity when I set out yesterday evening for my first visit to the local chorale in several weeks, to meet two ladies coming back the other way who told me it was cancelled as David (le chef) was ill. I was hoping I might have found out about the next concert.
Yesterday afternoon I checked my phone messages at LNL - an excellent system - and found one from the mattress shop telling me it was ready for collection so called and arranged it for Saturday afternoon. There were also two other local calls where no message had been left, but I was able to note the numbers, so will try to identify them when I get back and have paperwork to hand; we are waiting to hear from so many people regarding things which need doing.
On the way back to Normandy this afternoon we plan to call in at the local branch of a store called Leroy Merlin which has an excellent lighting department. First however it will take some time to load the car with recent shopping, the mirror, two oleander plants and items of leftover food, not to mention our bags. I think I shall be posted outside on the pavement with the luggage while N goes to fetch the car, still in its temporary home in the municipal car park.
# posted by Chez Katherine @ 2:24 AM 
