The warmth, comfort and familiarity of my own home.
Arrrr….. relax……
Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin this tale on the Thursday eve…..
I hadn’t seen Sarah for over a week and both of us wanted to
meet up before I disappeared to France
for a few days. So she popped over on Thursday night with the aim of watching School
of Rock and an episode or two of
Spaced whilst filling our bellies with pizza. We ended up going through my
recent downloads and CD purchases whilst getting more and more drunk on
straight Southern Comfort (I’d run out of all mixers…).
It was beginning to seem that we’d never get round to food
or DVDs when Lady Bug called. As I hadn’t seen her ladyship for over a month
(and it being her birthday a couple of days later when I was to be in France)
the planned evenings activities were thrown from the window (not that they were
getting anywhere in any case) and Sarah and I decided to head over to the Bugs
flat and continue drinking.
To give you an idea on just how tiddly we already were I,
for Gods know what reason, ended up giving Sarah a piggy-back most of the way
to Bugs. We eventually got to Bugs three bottles of wine and 40 cigarettes heavier
(plus bag of Minstrels which ended up in Paris
with me...) and finally ordered that pizza I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, an evening of chatting, farting about and going through
Bugs playlist (she has some really good stuff) ensued. Sarah ended up getting a
cab home just after midnight I think and
I finally started to stagger home about 2am.
I needed to be up at 4am and still had to pack and also make a quick list of what
books I wanted to buy so I wouldn’t forget. “Hmmm…. Bit drunk now, I’ll do that
when I wake up” thought I.
For some strange reason wake up in time I did. I actually
awoke shortly before 4am and was out
of the house just before 5 fully packed, listed, and awake. Unfortunately when
I got to the station I discovered that the first train out was at 5.30am which would possibly get me to Waterloo
a little late to check in. Oh well, taxi it was then. A bit more expensive than
a one-way ticket but at least it got me to Waterloo
in time!
(Fast forward a few hours)
Despite most of Kent
and Northern France being under snow Paris
itself was reasonably clear. I was staying just off Boulevard St-Germain which
is near the Student and Latin Quarters (Notre Dame was about 5 minutes walk
away too…). I generally get hotels in the area and know my way around pretty well
now. I’m always pleased with myself for remembering streets and can even do
short-cuts now :p Another reason for liking that area is that there are TONS of
roleplaying and comic shops. Yes I know its nerdy and a bit of a ‘bus-mans’
holiday for me but I love going to French RPG stores. There is just so much
available in French that we never see in English-language stores and many of
the games have really interesting settings or ideas behind them. Anyway, I got
to the hotel, booked in, and waited for Delphine to arrive as she was getting
into Paris an hour or two after me.
It was great seeing Delphine again. I wish her and Alexandre
lived closer (ie IN Britain
:p) or we could exchange visit on a more frequent basis. At present we’re
averaging once or twice a year which just doesn’t seem to be enough. Anyway,
once we’d dropped everything in the room and refreshed a little we headed off
for lunch followed by LOTS of shopping….. and at this point I do mean LOTS. I
hadn’t made it over to France
for 18 months since I went over to see Delphine with 
dodgyhoodoo and
weaselbitch so a lot of books had come out that I wanted. I treated myself
alright.
Anyway, for those RPG nuts reading this, I ended up getting
the following:
Pavillon Noir: La Revolte (Pirate RPG)
Pavillon Noir: A feu et a Sang (Supplement)
C.O.P.S – Gangsta Paradise (mid 21st century LA)
C.O.P.S – Helter Skelter
C.O.P.S – 10-99
C.O.P.S – 15 Minutes
C.O.P.S – OSS666
C.O.P.S – 4 Juillet
C.O.P.S – Hitek Lotek
Post Mortem RPG (You play the dead)
Post Mortem: Asylum
Post Mortem: Brainwasted
Post Mortem: Donjonia
Post Mortem: Necronomicon
Post Mortem – Camp
Golgotha
Arkeos 01 – L’Ombre du Conquistador (Pulp 20’s/30’s)
Arkeos 02 – Les Masques d’Ebene
Arkeos 03 – Les Cendres du Dragon
Arkeos 04 – Les Reflets de l’Histoire
Vermin RPG (humanity has crumbled and insects have risen in
a ravaged Europe of 2037!)
Vermin RPG – Livre du Joueur (Supplement)
Vermine: L’Ecran (Screen inc additional sourcematerial and
six scenarios)
I also got a free very large dice. I think both Starplayer
and L’Oeuf Cube liked me….
The shopping continued as I hit a record shop whilst
Delphine hit some clothes shops. FNAC (a big chain in France)
had a sale on and I ended up picking up 6 Dead Can Dance CDs and a Lisa Gerrard
CD for very little. I also picked up another copy of Nouvelle Vague which is a
present for someone and Vidocq on DVD. Delphine also brought me ‘Les Triplettes
de Belleville’ and another collection of four animations by the same people
which includes ‘La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons’, ‘L’Anniversaire de Bob’, ‘Bzz’
and ‘Ponpon’ which is also Delphine’s favourite and “I have to watch!”.
To be honest most of the weekend was spent shopping, drinking
coffee, eating lots of food at various restaurants and loads and loads of
chatting.
Delphine ended up leaving earlier than planned on Saturday
because her cold had gotten a lot worse during the day and she felt sick.
Although I was sad my ‘Delphine-time’ got cut by 5 hours I was also relieved in
some ways because I didn’t really like the idea of her travelling back alone at
midnight and she was beginning to look rather poorly.
Saturday night saw me wandering the Latin Quarter
and Notre Dame by night – which was great fun. I ended up at a nice restaurant
I’d visited a few years ago with live music (a pianist and female singer knocking
out well-known tunes with their own twist). The waitresses were very nice :-) I
also got befriended by an Italian couple on the next table who were in Paris
on their honeymoon. They ploughed me with a fair bit of free wine and we ended
up chatting away for a while before I said my goodbyes and found my way back to
the hotel feeling decidedly wobbly.
It was a nice break and I think I needed it. I certainly
spent a lot more money than I probably should have (especially when I take into
account all the food and hotel costs over the weekend!) but I haven’t had a big
blowout for a hell of a long time and really needed to treat myself. I love Paris
and Paris when it is snowing is one
of the most beautiful places imaginable. Paris
helps refresh me and I hope I get back there again a lot sooner than 18 months!
refreshed