09/06/23 09:00

My last entry went dark.  But it was a joy to write.  It’s like I had a story to tell, I told it and that’s now done with.  I know I didn’t show as much as I have been told to do in the past, but I still believe the reader us educated and imaginative enough to create their own pictures.  If it were something that needed to be explained more, I’d have broken it down more.  Yet, sitting in the Portuguese owned boulangerie in Gentilly, outside the periphique of Paris, it provided me with enough material.  The pastry chef downstairs, rolling out, filling up and cooking the viennoise to sell creates the aroma of freshly baked goods as the breads that are due to be brought out of the oven in only a matter of minutes.  The smell brings back the feeling of those warm evenings in Brick Lane, waiting to order my beigal.  The sweat on my t-shirt has dried and the chap behind the counter has drawn a half-pint of ice-cold water from a “Super Bock” lager pump.

This whole area, well, the 14th where Nev and I are staying on the Parisian side of the periphique, opposite Parc Monsouris, has a very Latino/Mediterranean feel to it.  The buildings are a strange concoction of colonial architecture mixed with streets filled with sand-coloured paving stones and thin, green-topped trees.  The unexpected heat of this early summer in June adds to the sensation of it all.  And they are still predicting thunderstorms for today.  I know the app is accurate to about 10 minutes and they’re suggesting it’s going to happen at 1500.  We’ll wait and see.  Today is our resting day before tomorrow’s 10k.  I suggested keeping it local.  And despite this, I left Paris to come and write in this wonderfully out-of-place Portugues boulangerie.  It’s like one of those old snack bars you find in the family resorts in Ibiza.  There’s no playground here, yet the ambiance is strangely familiar to me.  As is the orange fountain pen ink I’m finding on my fingers again.  I think it’s where the nib connects to the pen.  I’ll have to take a proper look, but I honestly don’t want to break this one.  It’s my first 3D printed pen from Kickstarter.  Although the part that’s leaking isn’t directly connected to the barrel. Anyways, this part of Paris, outside the periphique isn’t so bad so far.  I’ve not ventured too far away from the main road and being a sunny Saturday may be altering the true perspective.  But all things considered – 3 bonjours later – it has a nice local feel to it.  That could just be the company they’re keeping, though.