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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 22, 2010 2:55:53 GMT
My gosh she's pretty! The close-up photo after the motorcycle one rather brought tears to my eyes. She's just a young girl with dreams of glamor like every young woman. I love her vamp pose belied by her innocent but somewhat sad face. And that slump-shouldered catwalk model stance in the last one is brilliant.
I don't know how old her baby is, but looking at her still childishly plump hands and the general shape of her body, I'd say she is very young indeed -- still a teenager.
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Post by lola on Feb 22, 2010 15:19:45 GMT
I can understand wanting to show off that cute figure, too. Does she realize she's now an international model?
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Post by rikita on Feb 22, 2010 19:39:48 GMT
nice photos!
if she's from romania as you said there, you could greet her next time with "buna ziua, ce mai faci"... oh but if you rather want something in romany, about the only thing i remember is "t'aves bahtalo" which is like wishing someone good luck...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 19:46:45 GMT
She really wants to get the pictures from me by Wednesday, because she says she has to go back to Romania for urgent family reasons.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 23, 2010 14:57:58 GMT
Going back to Romania with family has got to be better than being on the street in Paris all day, even if the weather were nice.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 2, 2010 14:51:27 GMT
I think she has real Mona Lisa qualities in the photo of her in the beige/biscuit sweater. Even down to the wistful look in her eyes and the mere suggestion of a smile.
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Post by htmb on Aug 1, 2015 15:10:15 GMT
Thanks for finding this thread, Bixa. It's a keen reminder of how many absolute gems there are to be found within the pages of AnyPort. There are so many varied and interesting stories!
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Post by questa on Aug 11, 2015 0:05:12 GMT
She certainly is beautiful in a wistful way, you have good taste in beggars, Kerouac. I wonder if she can sing? Busking is an honourable pastime here and she would make a reasonable income if she could entertain passers by with songs.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2015 10:01:24 GMT
Well, she has been gone for at least two years now. But her mother (grandmother?) and another family member about her age still "work" in my neighbourhood every day, so I assume that she is still in France, probably taking care of a lot more children. I gave the old crone 0.30€ this morning, which was my change after purchasing the weekly movie guide Pariscope. The old crone and I have known each other for ten years, so I presume that she has a real dwelling rather than living in one of those awful shantytowns. Speaking of which, the largest Roma shantytown in the area is supposed to be evacuated and demolished by August 15th, in La Courneuve. That is going to cause a major upheaval because those people have been there a long time since most of them have totally solid shacks now as well as satellite dishes. I photographed it when I was making my report on the T1 tramway line. i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/Tramway%20T1/T1b065.jpg
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 12, 2015 20:41:41 GMT
Have any living arrangements been made for the evacuees?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2015 21:24:10 GMT
Housing proposals are always made whenever a camp is destroyed, and there is transportation for all of the people and (most of) their belongings. The problem is always that the various groups are dispersed and generally sent to areas where they don't want to be. Nobody wants to be thrown out of their home, even when it is just an illegal shack.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 21, 2023 1:09:45 GMT
When I sit on a park bench, it is not to seek conversation. However, this is not the case for some other people. So I was sitting in the shade, letting my sweat dry a bit. The next bench was occupied by an old man, doing what most old men do -- nothing. He made his move after about 15 minutes when I was looking around and he came into my line of sight.
"Where you from?" "Pháp."
He went through the brief verifications, do you live here, how long are you staying, where is your wife, and then he got started.
"You have a very young president, Macron. But the first lady is so old, ha ha ha."
Okay, that's out of the way. Then he went on to retirement age since he clearly keeps up with the news. "Change from 62 to 64. Here it is 60 but changing to 62. Stupid because nobody has a job. I did not dispute him as I watched all of the park workers around us raking, trimming, planting, picking up trash. I said that it used to be 60 in Pháp but went up to 62 just before I retired. "So I had to work 60 years and 8 months during the transition."
Time for a new subject, here it comes. "The French in 1945, they tried to come back. That's why we're communists, because Ho Chi Minh got support from China. And then the Americans, so stupid. Nixon and Kissinger so stupid! They got money from China too."
Each element that popped up in his mind brought up others, back to Joseph Kennedy. "He lost a son so he made his second son president. He had a beautiful mistress, you know? And that wife, all she wanted was money, so she went with the Greek man. But there was the stupid son, so stupid, with his secretary on the bridge, you know? And now the grandson wants to be president!"
So many stupid presidents! Humphrey lost to Nixon because of the Chinese. And then that stupid man, not even elected because of Agnew (I was impressed that he came out with this name). And that stupid man, the one in Georgia who had to pay millions because of the embassy in Iran. So stupid!"
I pointed out that sometimes it is not a matter of being stupid but being unlucky.
"And then China made that black man president, the Muslim, so stupid." "But there was an election." "Kissinger did it with the Chinese."
His personal vision of American politics -- and his knowledge of events -- were amazing if somewhat skewed. "I used to live in America. Have you been there?" he wanted to know. "Yes, I went once."
Did he know any smart people?
"The richest man in the world, he's from South Africa, you know?" "Yes, Elon Musk." "De Klerk, you know De Klerk? He was smart to leave his place to Nelson Mandela." "I don't think he had a choice." "And that bishop Tutu and Winnie Mandela, you know what they did?"
China was a constant theme, along with stupidity. "They want everything. Now they say Everest is theirs. They will take Nepal, they will take Bhutan, just like Tibet. They broke up NATO because of Ukraine, all of the nuclear weapons are there. Vietnam was supported by Taiwan, but they took the seat from Taiwan on the Security Council because of Kissinger."
"And you know Sarkozy, such a stupid man! He is in prison now because he is Hungarian."
India was not forgotten, or the British Empire in Asia. China put paid to that. But the old man clearly liked Queen Elizabeth, who married for love. No news about the new king.
I'm sure most of you have had park conversations, too.
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