Paris and I ~ 'Uplifting Experience'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Uplifting Experience ~

Uplifting Experience, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Imagine a couple trying to keep their weary young'un entertained as they wait for a train, possible contender for the most boring activity known to man, never mind the kiddies.

Imagine they decide to give him some swings, some fancy wings, just for fun, just for gentle, nothing serious, just a slight uplifting experience...

Imagine, now, that opposite them are a hundred happy, tipsy tourists (it's Friday night), who spot the show and start to orchestrate this improvided syncopated symphony of mores... because, timid as he is (the flyer) he suddenly has a captive audience (from the height of his two and half years, as the French would say), and he likes it, he likes it, and he wants more and More and MORE..!

At each lead up - there are three false starts - (to the kid being launched into the air by the weary parents, in case you are losing the plot, like me ;-) the chorus rises to a crescendo, until 'Lo!', or rather 'Hi!': he's projected into metrospace with a shout.

The first indication that something was happening was the rising roar, and most of us, no doubt, tutted and frowned, thinking 'Bloody tourists', or something along those lines, including me, being an inverted Paris snob up there with the best of them, sine paris... ;~S

But then I thought, well, hang on, what exactly is going on here, and wandered over, and witnessed the scene.

It's Friday night (did I mention it's Friday night?), people are pissed. I mean vomiting. Travellers are tired; commuters are comatose; you get the idea. And yet EVERYBODY is smiling. Like EveryBody in the entire, boring, miserable, smelly, slimy station is SMILING at this minor earthquake of a slighting event.

There is still hope people. We want to enjoy life.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Counting Moments'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Counting Moments ~

Counting Moments, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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It strikes me that life goes in cycles, or so we sometimes find it convenient to believe.

Since this existence (yes, that's right, this one) is patently all we've got, childish fantasising aside, we look for patterns, anything in fact which we can imagine we recognise and which gives us that comforting sensation of familiarity, hence belonging.

We do 'belong' here where we are of course; it couldn't be any other way. But on a much more down to earth and visceral level we enjoy the familiarity even of things which do us no real 'good' at all: the regular pint, the weekly flutter, the ciggy break, the inevitability of yet another failed relationship (so we can very satisfyingly wallow in our grief to anyone who'll listen), the nightly soap complete with puppets acting out our daily woes so we don't even need to do that any more either.

As cynical as this may all sound, it's not. It's just this life (this existence, the one I like to think of as 'me', or 'Sab' or so-and-so's son or dad or acquaintance) sitting on a park bench using up a few more of my counted moments getting a few more thoughts out there, with love and positivity and, I almost forgot, a rather curious photo, stolen from a corner of the Denfert Rochereau train station in Paris. Then Sabbified. Let the moment count.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Another Bloody Statue'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Another Bloody Statue ~

Another Bloody Statue, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Bloody statues, they're everywhere in Paris, I can tell you, and since I can tell you, well, I bloody well will: bloody statues, they're everywhere in Paris.

Although perhaps not always as bloody as this one, tucked away in a handy late night peeing garden, much to the delight of the locals, if you can negotiate the railings that is (I seem to remember from some sort of hazy shady past life) now if that isn't inventive subversive digression I don't know what is and wouldn't want to be remembered for anything less...

And talking of remembering, doesn't this take you right back to 1867 when the oh-so-shocking Opéra Garnier's saucy statue had black ink thrown at it in a shambolic, excuse me, symbolic imposition of mores.

It seems the opera-goers of the time found the statue far too licencious for their liking, I mean, beautiful music is one thing, but six very naked women frolicking around the 'dance genius' was a bit much to swallow.

Beautiful digression, ahh, now where was I? Oh yes, bloody statues, and this one has suffered more than most, it would seem, although for what crime or obscenity I've yet to exvaginate, along with the poor chap's name and origin (no doubt discoverable by reading some small plaque encrusted around his pedestal) so what are you waiting for? Impress me. It's through a small passage to the right of the Institute de France, you can't miss it. I'll be forever in your debt. If you can tell me: just who is the dude who deserved a right royal dousing?!

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Paris Calm, Brussels Wavering'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Paris Calm, Brussels Wavering ~

Quiz Me Paris, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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This one's been hanging around for a while and I'm still not very sure how to categorise it, so I'll just extemporise all over it and be done with it.

One of the most beautiful things a writer can experience, I reckon, is watching mystical, rinse-cycle rubbish and riches drip from their finger-tips as they type (coz we type now, don't we?)...

That's what's happening now, as you read, there's no script, no deadline or 140 character limit, it's pure, unadulterated brainshit, comin' right up atcha, but before I do too far down this slippery slope of free-thinking, let's come back to reality with this rather intriguing glimpse at... someone's reality.

What is going on here? It's a monument near the Eiffel Tower, on the Champs de Mars, which should mean something to you now, but look at it! What a mess!

Either the engraver can't spell to save their life, or there's some hidden message being transmitted to those who are able to receive it.

"Brussels" seems to be how we spell this word in the English speaking western world. In France it becomes Brusselles, or maybe Bruxelles which creeps into a few places if you let it.

So is this inscription trying to have the best of both worlds, but which worlds, and what a curious way to do it.

It's a bit like as though the sculptor considered this stone as his scribbling pad. I like it. It's a Paris curio. And you know where I stand on those, now don't you?

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Quiz Me Paris'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Quiz Me Paris ~

Quiz Me Paris, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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This here is an attempt to prove that I'm not 'just' some miserable anti-social wierdo who sits at home or roams the streets with a camera in one hand and a loaded anti-social attitude in the other. I'm much more than that folks.. ;-S

Look: I socialise, I meet people, I even take part in conventional events such as 'going down the café' and buying cocktails at €9.50 a shot (a snip at 'only' 6.50 during 'happy' hour).

Here were are during Adela's wonderful Paris If You Please quiz - great questions, great bunch of people, and above all a great winning team atmosphere.

We've finally found Nirvana, I believe: a Paris café, centrally placed, with a big back area which can be casually reserved on an early week day for a bunch of us - perfect. I'm so fired up I'm going to do another quiz very soon indeed :-D

I must admit, I thought a few of the questions were a bit hard, although someone uncharitably suggested that was just because I didn't know them, which, well, I can't 'argue' with that as such, but for some reason I think I should almost by definition know EVERYTHING about Paris, and when someone so obviously proves how far from the truth that is I go into a mega-sulk and cry into my cocktail, sometimes even tripping over my bottom lip and taking my bat and ball home into the bargain.

So I'll do the questions next time and people can be appropriately awestruck by my encyclopedic knowledge of the capital, as I smile benignly, secretly hoping that no-one has the book I stole all the questions from was occasionally inspired by.

Example 'toughy' question from Adela the quizmistress (top left in the pic): "Who is Sequana?" Send your answers down the Seine to me in a pea-green boat...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Swanning It'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Swanning It ~

Swaning It, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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An author friend of mine invited me to lunch the other day. After the usual preamble and small talk we got to the crux of the matter. "It's like this Sab", she said.

She'd finished her book with one little glaring detail, because details can glare in Sabsworld: the nookie, the steam; the sex. Her characters were to get intimate, said her editor, the story needs it, the readers deserve it, you know it makes sense, so off you go. Only she couldn't, which is where I came in...

"Which is where you come in, Sab", she continued, "because you're going to write it for me!" she finished triumphantly, not even realising that I don't even know on which side of the speech marks the comma's supposed to go.

"But I don't even know which side of the speech marks the comma's supposed to go," I cried, never mind getting a Kama sutra's worth of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' in the right place.

She grimaced as I grinned. "Nope," I said, "It's your book, and you're just going to have to write about the sweaty stuff the same way you sweated over the righteous stuff. So she went home and did.

With the moral of the story being, as Osama or Obama or whatever his name was said, of course you can. It's amazing what you can, and sometimes all you need is someone to have a million times more confidence in you than you, to laugh contemptuously in the face of the hint of the slightest idea of failure, and mention that they're looking forward to seeing the results into the bargain.

Which brings me back to me. For some reason I've let myself be talked into teaching four groups of French school kids four hours of English today, having been out of the circuit for a few years. And I'd quite like someone to laugh contemptuously on my behalf, in the face of my enormous feelings of foreboding, and sneer, "You, nervous? Hah, what a joke! You'll knock 'em dead, they'll love you. It'll be great. Oh, and let me know how it goes..."

There, I've done it; my imaginary friend thinks I'll be fine, and to be honest it probably will, but, you know, sometimes it's just nice to be told.

P.S. My author friend also told me there are black swans on the lake in Parc Montsouris. This photos' for her.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Cumbersome Cues'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Paris and I ~ 'Cumbersome Cues' ~

Cumbersome Cues, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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No-one's really sure what's going on right now, as far as the green stuff's concerned. And a bit of the red too.

After the cucumber conundrum, should consumers start treating tomatoes, lettuce, and all other veggies for that matter, with suspicious circumspection?

That's what's happening, and in and around Paris 'frigos' are being eviscerated faster than a goose in a fois gras factory.

It's quite a shame to throw what's probably perfectly edible vegetable in the bin, but better safe than sorry, they say. And death is no laughing matter.

Personally, I'm dying to get back to normal with a big Greek salad, but if their ingredients are as rotten as their economy at the moment I guess I should just say no.

Hey, I know, I'll start the Dukan diet like everyone else seems to be - that's so poor in fresh food and obsessed by overdosing on protein or whatever, it should at least protect me from the ECEH bacteria, until I fall off it and put far more weight on than I started with, of course.

Oh fuck it. Pass the cucumber, Pierre...

Paris and I ~ 'Morning Sickness'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Morning Sickness ~

Morning Sickness, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Although it's been hanging around for a few days now (since the start of the DSK scandal), it's quite appropriate (this pic) as I start a new chapter on the language side of my doings here in France.

At the risk of boring you, I've done the teaching, I've done the web sites, I've done the teacher training and I've done the book. I've even set up my own school, albeit in Greece, not in France, and looking at the Greek state of affairs, I hope it's still standing for those I left it to.

What I hadn't done in the world of English teaching was run a language school as Director of Studies, or the slyly acronymed 'DoS'. Holders of this post inevitably get called 'dossers', of course. Anyway, it's chose faite, as the French might say: I start shortly. In a small school with big ideas - sounds just my sort of place.

So the daily chug into Paris will again become part of my daily grind, after a rather stay-at-home period, and I think it will be a positive change. Will my Paris street photography suffer? Not necessarily. For a start, I'll be in Paris far more often than I am at the moment, so I'll actually have more chances to grab some street shots than now, where I'm stuck in the sticks and have to make a special trip in for the purposes of picturing.

That'll do, I'll tell you about yesterday's visit to a place I've been meaning to go to for, ohhh, maybe 15 years. It is, also, chose faite, and a remarkable place it is too. You'll see. Over and out till the morrow.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Pont des Arts Pondering'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Pont des Arts Pondering ~

Pont des Arts Pondering, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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As a purely photographic consideration, it would be interesting to know if you feel this photo goes to far in the abstraction of the subject.

Of course I had less 'artisticky' versions, but the original was also almost impossibly dark - I'll include it here for comparison.

So I tried to both rescue it (i.e. make it usable at all thus not losing the moment) while at the same time making it worth publishing in its own right without it having to hold its head in shame in comparison to other images it might end up alongside.

Luckily, the vast range of (shhh..) post-processing possibilities we have on the iPhone allows us to do this with ease. But that doesn't guarantee that the result will please, which is why I'd be interested in your opinion on this.

Personally, I'm pleased with it, as I try to move my photos away from grim reality anyway, but there is an additional benefit which was as unexpected as it was welcome I reckon: the very messy picnic detritus lying on the Seine-side has got nicely blown out, allowing us to concentrate better on this contemplative moment as young Eric considers another year of PDP picnics to the hazy muse of the Pont des Arts and, further on, Lady Eiffel herself.

So the question is: what do you think of this photo, and what would you have done in my place. Be reading you.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Stranger Than Fiction'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Stranger Than Fiction ~

Stranger Than Fiction, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Possibly I threatened, but never actually got around to publishing a picture of Paris' potentially most controversial shop sign on my Paris and I blog. So here it is.

"Au Nègre Joyeux", says the panel, a throwback to times gone by when the slave trade was not such a distant memory and the attitude to 'negros' was somewhat different than it is today.

I go into much more detail on my free series, '20 Quarters / 20 Quirks', so I won't go on about it again here. Suffice it to say that it's a remarkable relic from another time, still allowed, in my mind thankfully, to huddle, along with its picture, against the wall of a bustling square on rue Mouffetard.

The picture itself is almost more controversial than the sign, as it seems to show a black servant serving a white woman with a ludicrous smile on his face. On closer inspection, however, it is quite possible that the truth lies elsewhere, and as is often the case, reality just may be stranger than fiction.

Go and see for yourself... and let me know what you think!

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Mind Your Step'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Mind Your Step ~

Mind Your Step, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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It was a perfectly sunny afternoon and the soleil was having fun painting patterns on the facades of Paris

But here's a double whammy; not only does it look as though there's a column of perfect little parallelograms chugging up the side of this building, it also seems as though a wall has been ripped out, leaving a scary, lop-sided halloween pumpkin mask of a sideways smile for us to admire.

This in the middle of the Marais, my new favourite quartier, maybe, with its extraordinary amount of quirks and curious eye-candy of an architectural or historical sort.

Back to the sun and the patterns on the wall, the amazing thing is how perfect those lower rectangles on the wall look, whereas in reality only half of them exist, with the left-hand side being purely shadow. You can see that as you get towards the top of the wall and the angle of the shadow veers off, destroying the effect.

The reason for these metal bars is, of course, so that you can climb up to the chimney and the roof, if you feel so inclined. What you might do once there, and if you haven't fallen off by mistaking one of the shadows for the real thing, I don't know. Real fires aren't allowed in Paris any more, but that doesn't stop a bunch of con artists called 'ramoneurs' from coming round every year trying to convince you that the law says you have to get your chimney cleaned out once a year. Or is that only in the suburbs?

Be that as it may, it's yet another great argument for one of my favourite adages when shooting in the street: always look up!

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Turnstile Tantrums'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Turnstile Tantrums ~

Turnstile Tantrums, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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I don't want to put a downer on things or anything, but just in case you weren't aware of it, today is the end of the world.

Isn't there a song about 'circles of the mind', or was that windmills. Anyway, here's a strange circle in the middle or a rather famous place; a road builder's flight of folly on a boring street-spreading afternoon, or is there a deeper significance?

That's right, it's the latter, and in fact there are a whole load of interesting stories about this place and the various curiosities it holds. I was chatting to the director of the medieval Tour Jean Sans Peur the other day for a forthcoming interview on Paris If You Please, and he told me about the possibilities of reopening this thing to the public.

He told me that access was one of the biggest problems. In other words, how to get people across what is an undeniably busy and complicated road junction to actually be able to start climbing the column in the first place.

Options would include a(nother) pedestrian crossing, but blatantly stopping the entire volume of traffic just to let a few column climbers saunter over to it. I mentioned a sort of zebra flyover, but immediately realised that the chances of that being built in image-conscious Paris would be next to none.

The final possibility would seem the most logical: an underpass, otherwise known as a 'tunnel', taking people over from the edges, or why not simply a direct access from the extensive underground network which runs all over the place, well, all under the place in this case. After all, they've done it at the Arc de Triomphe, and if it's good enough for the Big Arch...

Indeed, and this is where it gets interesting, given the labyrinth of tunnels under the place, (and if you've ever needed to switch from line 1 to line 5 or line 8 in a hurry you'll know what a painful reality that is), it turns out that the difference between being in the metro system and being in the sort of museum under the column is a question of... a brick wall.

That's right, all they'd have to do would be knock down a wall and they'd have a ready-made entrance into one of the most impressive columns in the city. With no disruption to traffic whatsoever and extreme convenience for all concerned. With one exception.

Apparently the entrance would be well within the hallowed confines of the metro station, which would mean that in addition to the entrance fee to go up the column, visitors would require a metro ticket... even if they didn't have the slightest intention of taking the metro. And therein lies the rub. No metro ticket = no column visit, and the proverbial spanner in the works strikes again, as no-one seems prepared to budge on this point. So you'll just have to enjoy my picture for the time being, and dream of revolutionary days gone by, and perhaps to come.

P.S. Did you ever work out what that circle's all about then? And no, it's not where the tunnel to get to the column's going to go...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? ~

Judgement Day, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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I don't want to put a downer on things or anything, but just in case you weren't aware of it, today is the end of the world.

According to judgementday2011.com, 'The Rapture is Coming!' I don't know what 'the Rapture' is exactly, but apparently they are looking forward to it, so it must be good.

A Google search served up the rather tantalizing snippet you see above, and as I'm rather worried that I won't be one of those 'saved', as I really have no idea what they're talking about, you can understand my concern. Unfortunately, clicking over to judgementday2011.com at first just produced the following, which is understandable really, as today must be quite a busy time for them...

The advice to 'try again later' would seem somewhat redundant though. I finally got through to them, and learned a few details although it wasn't at all clear exactly what is going to happen today (presumably a bit later, because it's now 4pm where I am and not much is happening around here). If I've understood correctly it may just be that it will seem like NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. Yes, but AH-HAH! That's where you're wrong, you see.

The way it works is that if you are not saved, it will seem like nothing has happened, while if you are saved, well, off you go I suppose. Those of us left behind (again, I'm not presuming that I'll be among the lucky few) will be able to wallow in our regret and dread until October, I think it is (the page is down again so I'm trying to remember all this stuff). In October it really is, no, seriously, the end of the world, and that's when all hell breaks loose, so to speak.

The funniest thing of all is that apparently there are millions of morons mentally ill idiots religious people around the planet that actually believe this stuff.

I don't generally sound off on really heavy subjects on the net, but if I do it's on this blog that I'll do it, and I must admit I'm getting less and less tolerant towards religious nutters of any flavour as the years go by.

Luckily I'm in a country where I can say that without incurring more than an occasional bit of wrath from the odd believer. Frankly, I think there's more chance of seeing a man-sized chicken crossing the road on its way to the Paris Opera on a Saturday afternoon than being plucked off the planet by the Almighty.

Having said that, I guess that if I ever did see one (a man-sized chicken) crossing the road I'd certainly have to admit that everything would indicate that he was, indeed, on his way to the other side...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.