Tuesday 6 September 2011

In the bubble

I am in Paris with a Bubble Card. A fashion trade fair. Hats, heels, jewellery. More spanking handsome men than you can shake your croissant at. Possession of the Bubble Card means that at the end of the day you can hobble up to the counter and decide how many flutes of champagne you can juggle across the pavillion. Yesterday it was five. Or six.

After work the Parisian sky drifts over us and each evening there is a sort of happening outside. Mild dancing, mild eye-snagging, more champagne. Then gorgeous food. In our off-beat area the food does not disappoint.

I've yet to go into town, let my eyes graze over the buildings I used to love. It is bubbling up inside of me - memories of the skinny pram-pushing au pair crossing bridges, crossing parks, selecting 'tarte au citron' in her favourite patisserie, shifting through the secondhand stalls. That young cropped-headed thing without a clue, typing her first novel above the Indian sweat shop, with her father-figure lover nourishing her education in film, and the lady with the whip next door to Bruno-the-Swiss-banker, her stilted admirer.

I wonder where that tough determined young woman has gotten to. It's time to shake that Bubble Card.

8 comments:

  1. Be careful of champagne. It has a way of dislodging one's balance.

    I hope you do manage to get into town. With such nostalgia brimming inside of you at the moment, you're bound to get into an adventure or two.

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  2. What a life! I wish I could say my father-figure lover kept me in Paris, where I wrote my first novel. Sadly, mine was a guitar player from Little Rock, who played in the house band on a fake Egyptian barge at Caesar's Palace. Pretty damn dysfunctional, as father-figures go, and all I wrote during those days were checks for him to cash.

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  3. So tell me, how does one get a bubble card?

    Downith

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  4. Yes MSB champagne has a wonderful way of tugging one off-balance. Going to town was beautiful - though a chilly stroll is never enough and there were adventures to be had!

    Averil, guitar players are always a liability, although you have a great story in the wings... Sadly, it's all over now and autumn writing will be distracted by my love affair with a pair of Martin Margiella boots...

    Downith, the Bubble Card expired on the last day! I heeled up to the bar that eve to find empty cartons and the perfume of regret on the air...! Back to work!

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  5. How beautifully written. I actually sighed when I finished reading this.

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  6. Thank you so much Rebecca! Glad you have joined up. I've spent the past few days wishing I were back there, wandering around with clouds in my head, Bubble Card in hand.. ciao cat

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  7. Cat,
    I adore your writing. It makes me want to jump ship and float around the world touching down to just to type a few words before the bubbles push me up and into the next adventure. Sigh.

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  8. Cara Lyra, thank you so much. Taking off has been such a blessing and now it's time to knuckle down and work. Lovely September skies here. Ciao cat

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