C’est Ironique Sign of the Weeque Spotted by reader Shannon Cain. This is a flabbergaster from the past. I already mentioned Presty Women three years ago, but the mystery of its meaning lingers on… David Jaggard Have you seen a … Read More
One of the great things about the Internet is that it facilitates and encourages the dissemination of utter crap. I mean that sincerely: in the old days, before the Information Superhighway, whenever we humorists wanted to find something to ridicule, … Read More
I’ve been thinking about Stockholm Syndrome, the psychological process whereby hostages begin to sympathize with their captors. Although I have never been subjugated by violent aggressors and forcibly held under horrifying conditions, except of course for high school P.E. class, … Read More
When I wrote part one and part two of this recurring feature in 2012, I thought that France in general and Paris in particular would yield a steady supply of strange phenomena for me to comment on, rather like the … Read More
I was young. Inexperienced. Also clueless, foolhardy, resilient, tolerant of discomfort and blind to questions of personal safety. And stingy. You had to be all of those things to do what I did back in the early 1980s. No, I … Read More
Back when my wife Nancy and I were looking for our first apartment to buy in Paris, our real estate agent called one day and said that he had a wonderful place to show us. He was right: it was … Read More
One day last week, I needed to buy something. So I went to a store, was greeted by a salesperson, asked for help finding the product I wanted, found it, paid for it, exchanged cheerful goodbyes with the staff and … Read More
As I recounted in Part Three of this series last week, one of the high points of my life to date was obtaining, at exorbitant human and financial cost, a French driver’s license. I had been to driving school, studied … Read More
On first encounter, Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg would seem to be an early work. Not only is it a comedy, completely at odds with the supernatural themes that pervade his later operas, but it contains all the elements … Read More
I have heard that there is a presidential election coming up in the United States. For an American living in Paris, that means one thing: it’s time to head for the bar. Any gin joint will do, especially if your … Read More
