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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 10, 2018 14:45:53 GMT
Very interesting photo which asks so many questions. Is it his boat? Why is he wearing a bathrobe? What is he doing with his telephone? What are his plans for the day?
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Post by mossie on Sept 13, 2018 19:00:39 GMT
He appears to live on the boat and is idle and very late getting up, this was about 10 am. It is anyone's guess what the answers are to your other questions
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Post by mossie on Sept 13, 2018 19:01:39 GMT
Retail therapy does not appear to have worked, just waiting for the coffee and cakes to have an effect.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 13, 2018 19:04:24 GMT
I think the pastry may have been drugged.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 13, 2018 20:06:56 GMT
I get a strong feeling from that photograph that the women are old friends, possibly a couple are related to each other, and that one of them had to deliver bad news -- a terrible diagnosis? -- to the rest of them. It really looks as though no one knows what to say now.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 16, 2018 9:25:08 GMT
I'm no longer a second-language teacher, but I'd use either of those photos to get my class (adults) discussing the scenes.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 22, 2018 13:22:11 GMT
This afternoon on the metro, two uniformed agents boarded and made an announcement. "We are part of the new service of the RATP (metro authority) to promote civility among the passengers and proper use of your travel cards and tickets." Anyway, bla bla bla, but then it started becoming unusual. They started talking about how the daily commute can be stressful and that people should do a few stretching exercises which they proceeded to demonstrate. They had a music player which played Gainsbourg's Je t'aime, moi non plus and they said that everybody should validate each other. They put a metro ticket in their mouths and then exchanged them with their lips. Then they walked up and down the metro car stroking people's shoulders with their tickets. Next they ripped off their stripper pants and shirts and did a pole dance in their underpants. No, it turned out they didn't work for the metro after all.
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Post by bjd on Sept 22, 2018 15:42:27 GMT
So how much did you give them? Were they selling key-rings too?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 22, 2018 15:48:29 GMT
Actually, I contributed 0.40 euros. The whole car applauded at the end of the routine except for the Chinese tourists who were terrified.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 22, 2018 16:42:44 GMT
Hmmm. I bet the real metro authorities will be after them. No matter how entertaining, it's somewhat worrisome that people could so convincingly present as real RATP workers.
I just gave in to a cranky impulse. Every Saturday at least one couple or group go up and down the block, ringing doorbells & wanting to tell everyone about Jesus. Usually I'm polite and send them on their way. Not today. I have a little speakeasy window in my driveway gate, which I opened to see the two people out on the sidewalk. The man said something in a voice so soft it was almost impossible to understand. I snapped back, "Are you here to talk about Jesus?". He said yes, whereupon I hissed out, "You know it's the 21st century and that there is no one who has not heard of Jesus?" They sort of stumbled backward, mumbled yes, then left. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 13, 2018 10:39:14 GMT
A mother and small child were ahead of me at the supermarket. The child examined what I was putting on the belt and suddenly cried out to his mother "that man is buying worms!" She was mortified even though I smiled.
No, they were not worms. They were crevettes grises, the tiny shrimps that you eat raw and whole.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 13, 2018 12:04:47 GMT
Just as gross to put in your mouth as worms, to a child. (And to squeamish adults like me.)
And, you can GET worms from eating raw seafood...
Won’t find these on MY belt. Or under it!
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 13, 2018 13:04:03 GMT
Oh, I know you only eat things like moose and pine cones in Montana.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 8, 2019 19:17:51 GMT
Are you a glass half full sort of person, or glass half empty. If it rains, would you say, at least my top half is dry or.........
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 8, 2019 20:02:43 GMT
Really, you just want to weep.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 8, 2019 21:01:45 GMT
It seems like a perfect place for the ad since it can double as a latrine.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 9, 2019 5:10:33 GMT
Simply enough, due to the cholera outbreak last year they started making new drains all over. The bus stop was in the way so they moved it, did the drain and put it back.
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Post by bjd on Jan 9, 2019 6:52:20 GMT
I immediately thought it was a bus stop. Unfortunately there is nowhere to stand under the roof unless you stand in the ditch.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 9, 2019 16:16:48 GMT
If they want people to relieve themselves in the ditch, why are there no samples of the loo paper?
WhereTF is that?
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 9, 2019 16:54:20 GMT
You're all confusing me here. It's a bus stop replaced in the exact same position it was after they built the concrete drain for when it rains heavily - which it does do in the rainy season (which is now). It's not far from me.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 12, 2019 3:12:55 GMT
Here, a déneigement (snow clearance) offensive is under way, the little trucks are beeping to announce the arrival of the big ones, and of course to ensure that motorists remove their cars from the lanes being cleared. If not, they are towed, with a fine and the trouble of fetching them. Worse yet for people who leave their bicycles in the path of the monsters!
Livia is fascinated - since she is indoors now. If not, she'd be terrified. There is a map with the progress of the déneigement process; quite a lot has already been cleared. Toddling off to bed soon with Livia and warm bedding.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 8, 2019 21:25:35 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 8, 2019 22:58:33 GMT
Wow -- that was a hell of a blaze!
Were you being serious in saying the tent installation is coincidental to the fire which must have displaced bunches of people? What happens to the displaced -- do social services find places for them or what?
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 9, 2019 3:42:25 GMT
21 apartments were destroyed or damaged in the fire. The residents who don't have family or friends with whom to stay are put in hotels by the city. Since this is social housing, the costs are covered either by the city or the association that owns the building (and of course the global insurance policy. What I am wondering about is what happens to the tenants responsible for the fire, since barbecue grills and gas bottles are totally forbidden in such a building. I bet a hell of a lot of barbecues are going to disappear from balconies all over Paris in the coming weeks, especially when inspectors get to work. (Obviously, inspectors generally don't worry about such things, particularly in modern buildings that have no reason to catch fire. Old, rundown buildings are another matter.)
That migrant settlement appeared within the last 10 days. I go by Rosa Parks at least twice a week, and it wasn't there two weeks ago.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 14, 2019 4:58:51 GMT
That little migrant camp didn't even last two weeks before being cleared out. Other people choose more difficult to reach places. You cannot imagine the traffic noise here. i.postimg.cc/hPb07gf5/Gagarine_021.jpg
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Post by lagatta on Apr 15, 2019 13:21:53 GMT
Delousing guy looks like he's in another world. Sad.
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Post by lagatta on Apr 15, 2019 13:28:40 GMT
I watched the fire video. You can see that a lot of tenants lost everything they had. Are there any social measures to help them get clothing and other needs?
What a shame after being accepted in what looked like decent housing in other (before) photos of it, and very well located for transport.
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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 15, 2019 13:43:27 GMT
People arrived instantly with all sorts of clothing within 24 hours. One of the main things that was mentioned in the reports is that it was local kids who ran into the building to bang on every door to get people to leave the building. The fire was apparently after 11pm and quite a few people had already gone to bed. It is thanks to these young guys that there were no casualties and not even any injuries. The city and the HLM authorities will be housing the residents temporarily. Probably about 15 of the apartments can be rehabilitated before the end of the month, which leaves about 6 others as a longer term problem. Things could be a lot worse.
Naturally I always wonder to what extent the insurers will be bastards for the rest of the stuff. "Oh, you don't have receipts for all of your possessions? Sorry!"
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Post by lagatta on Apr 15, 2019 16:19:37 GMT
One would hope pictures of the fire and the fire damage will be enough!
Hands up for the youf!
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 29, 2020 16:23:31 GMT
I was amazed once again (although I shouldn't be) at the huge crowds of parents and children in Monoprix today buying school supplies at the last minute. The lists of school supplies are distributed the moment that school lets out for summer in July and all of the stores immediately set up their back-to-school section. I guess that maybe 90% of parents do the necessary shopping during the summer, but there is still that 10% who wait until the very last day. And I know that on Tuesday evening after the first day of school, there will be just as many families doing frantic shopping who will claim that they never received the list or lost it and the kid was given a new list at school. Families cannot claim that they can't afford school supplies, because they are given a school stipend of about 500 euros for each child from age 6 to age 18 during the summer.
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