This morning began anxious. Once again, I effectively stole a bus trip. I had a ticket, but the machine wouldn’t take it. It was probably broken, and I should have looked for another. I didn’t. So it goes.
I walked to work, no music in my ears, trying to chase whatever miasma had settled in my head with the cold morning air.
I think breakfast managed to do the trick.
My boss reminded me, when I said I was not OK, that I am going to be with my friends and family soon. I did tell her that it’s not that I don’t like going to work! She replied she knew, but she knew it was hard.
Today was relatively relaxed. The usual run, and just preparing for tomorrow’s event. I don’t think I have ever seen as much champagne as I have today. Well, we have 9 bottles, and a lot of juice and coke, too.
We talked about medicine at lunch today. Apparently midwifery is something you have to go to medical school here for. It looks like midwives can do a lot more here than in the UK, too. And medical school here sounds like carnage – apparently at the end of each year, they cull a certain number of students, using a ranking system. Brutal. We do that before medical school, with the UCAT and BMAT. We got onto the subject because my work-crush was asking me about my education, and what I planned to do in the future. I said I was considering medicine, as that was what I wanted to do before I went into languages. It’s something I’m going to have to think about seriously.
After work, I went to Paris to do some Christmas shopping. I had one particular item in mind, and that was leather cord, to make jewellery with. I was wondering where on earth I would find such a seemingly niche item, and an RER research on Google revealed a few places that looked promising, but were closed, and one place I prayed had it, but looked a bit far, and their website a bit barren for my search. Nonetheless, I went there. It was Le Maison Fichet, an old and renowned tanner’s. I thought I was more likely to find leather to upholster a chair there than find cord, but I was wrong. As well as belts, bags, and large bolts of leather, they had an Ali Baba’s cavern’s worth of cord, in every finish and every colour, and every gauge. I was spoilt for choice. So spoilt was I that I walked away with 5 different colours, of a metre each, for the handsome price of just over 10€. That was a much better deal than the 8€/metre I’d seen in a cobbler’s on the way.
I passed the impressive Place de la République on the way there, and on the way back. What I should have done is gone back to Châtelet-Les Halles and stopped into L’Écritoire, as I had planned, but then I had an idea to have a punt at going to Le Bon Marché. In order to get there quickly, I had to take the 5th line, and then change at Madeleine for another.
Folks, I got on the 5th line, but going the wrong way. As luck would have it, it was going towards Bastille. I had wished to go back to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Fate and my folly connived for sweet perfection, clearly.
I mosied into Vingt et Une Heures Dix again, and also checked out Yay Paris, another jewellery store beside it, whose specialty is gold-filled jewellery, made by hand, in Paris. Alas, I failed to be impressed by it, as I know my way around a pair of pliers and wire, too, and I know the cost of metal. Other than that, nice, clean, simple designs. Just overpriced. As, in all honesty, is its neighbour (price of metal, again), but its neighbour is a bit more original, in my opinion.
I also did some window shopping in various clothes shops along the street, the Rue Charonne. There was Isabel Marant, Eric Bompard, Sœur, and Ba&sh, to name a few. You know what’s helpful? They display the prices of each piece that they dress their mannequins in on a little plaque that is visible through the window. I saw mostly three figures and wondered, is this the price we have to pay now, for decent new clothes? Three of the names I mentioned have been praised by chic doyenne Inés de la Fressange.
The last shop I entered, but minutes before closing time, was Altermundi. It is one of a chain of shops in Paris selling eco-friendly products, such as lunchboxes, hand-made jigsaws, soaps, and belts that seem to be woven from shoe laces. This specific one was probably one of their smaller shops. It’s quite nice.
Then I took the metro to Nation, and, boy, does that station stink. Châtelet-Les Halles is so much nicer. But what do you expect? It is beside a shopping centre, and it’s huge! It has several RER lines running through it. They probably clean it a lot. However, I did get to Champigny very quickly.
I got home, and my landlady came out to meet me, as the dog had sensed that I’d come home. She asked me how my day had been. I said good, and I told her about the leather cord, and my plans to make jewellery. I said I would show her what I made.
And I wonder, folks, is it just me, then? Have I been somewhat unfair in all my loud wishes to move, and my obvious irritability over the past few days?
Irritability, aye. Wanting to move – well, should I try and resolve some things? Can I survive the distance to work, though?
I am going to meet my friends this weekend and get some advice. I’ll also talk to some colleagues tomorrow about what happens here with regards to deposits when you terminate your lease early.
Bon courage to you, wherever you are. I think, sometimes, that is all we need.
At Least Afloat 