In Paradise, when you start reading an article and it doesn't finish on one page, the rest of it will not be buried somewhere up the back, deep among the truss adverts (or whatever it is that's replaced the truss adverts.) In Paradise, if an article doesn't finish on one page, it will continue on the following page, and that will be that. To give it its due, the London Review of Books tries hard to emulate Paradise, in this regard at least.
Also, all waiters will be as efficient, attentive and generally sympathetic (but not intrusive) as the one that just served me lunch in the brasserie at the Gare de Lyon in Paris (some kind of delicious kind of tartare of tomatoes and olives plus palma ham, rabbit [not actually that brilliant] and rhum baba, [which was, disappointingly, not really rhum baba but brioche soaked in an alcoholic syrup - tout de meme, the whole effect was more than edible, inexpensive and without any pretension]).
I've also had good experiences with waiters in French Railway stations. With an hour or so to kill in the Gare de Nord, a dapper North African with a dishcloth over his arm engaged me in a long conversation about the size of an English woman's breasts relative to those of her continental cousins - it was not as unpleasant as it sounds and was almost in the manner of scientific enquiry.
ReplyDeleteThat has really made my morning, Gadjo. Could you summarise your conclusions?
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie, the chap had obviously seen A LOT of women of various nationalities go past his cafe in the Gare de Nord and had found a way to occupy his mind during slack periods - I didn't initiate the aforementioned conversation and any conclusions drawn were entirely his own! If I remember the gist correctly, English women are more 'top-heavy', something to do with the diet. I feel a bit sheepish about bringing this up now.
ReplyDeleteGadjo, the fault is mine entirely for asking the question. There is just something very amusing about two entirely sober gentleman earnestly debating the subject of English breasts over a croissant and a cup of coffee.
ReplyDeleteThis conversation seems to be fine without me, so I'll just say, hello, thank you for dropping in, Sophie and Gadjo, v nice to hear from you both.
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