Cold Fingers

Today I got up with grand dreams of writing a scintillating travelogue.

But then I spnet 2 hours wandering in La Defense, trying to spend the rewuired duty free minimum of 180Euros during the January Sales. I got up to 160 but thenI faltered. I have enough crap - and the 45 euro bag saying WARNING: I COME FROM THE SUBURBS (wiht flales on it to re,ind people of the riots) looked like an overporiced cheesy ripoff of what I could find at the fle,arkets in the same suburbs.

Anywya after Le Defense, I struggled past the cheesy shopping mall food, back to the brubs for a 5 eruoe feast of couscous & veggies. sitting net to lme was the lest eligible bacherlor of Paris. Single men take note/ YOU MUST LEARN TO EAT QUIETLY AND NOT SLURP NOISILY. No woman, however desperate, can ever put up ziht such slurpy gross shit.

So now..... mind blank, surounded by garcons giggling in Arabic. Amazed to read english on my browser and trying to type fster so my fingers donùt feel the cold.

This week anna & I have been hanging out with Lee, our neighbour whose been in Paris for the holidayof a lifetime. She's staying in a hotal near montmartre and was disspointed to discover that the Moulin rouge is a sleazy strip joint in a sleazy tourist strip..... (pigalle)

But she's forced us to get out and enjoy Paris for the pretty place it is. Lest night we went to an intimate concert of some guy from PAris Combo, doing Django Reinhardt covers with his mates. the whole cafe started singing along and one chick did a flamenco dance. tres noice.

The night before Anna & I had a brief foray into dykerama, shoing Lee the Unity Bar, where we met, whihc was........ full of butch dykes singing cheesy 80's songs in little girl voices. I felt human for a change.Also felt like a veteran.....

Highglihgt of the week was Lee collapsing on the Champs ELysee. I'd like to say she was shocked by the queue outside the grande Palais (imagine waiting 2hrs in 4 degrees for an art exhibition). but its was more like scary septicaemia. So we got a ride in the Pompiers (fire brigade who also act as the parisian ambulance) and got to hang out in a hospital for 3 hours. My dormant micropbiology degree kiccked in at the same time as my french which was lucky cowz anna & I had to be the translaters.

Lee's OK now. thank god for penicillin.she's gone off today to piss on Jim ?Orrisons grave.

I've been transcribing the interivews i did for my PhD and also tryign to arrange an interview here in PAris wiht the life drawing teachers at the Ecole Nacionale Beaux Artes; Negotiating bitch faced secretaries over the phone in my dodgy french is a bit of an adrenaline rush........ thank god for Chutzpah.