Lavengro in Spain

Paris day two

Friday 11 September

The Ibis does a good breakfast buffet, so we stocked up on the ham and cheese section in the hope of making do with a light lunch despite a hard day’s sightseeing. Then we set off for Paris.

After our adventures yesterday I wondered why I had not heard any signal that the train doors were about to close. As I sat on the RER I listened carefully and did hear what I might describe as a moderate humming noise before the doors closed. I suppose that it depends on what you expect but it is a far cry from the strident beep-beep-beeping of a Catalan train and is practically inaudible on a crowded rush-hour platform. Still we had arrived with our luggage – though if we had been travelling to the airport it might have been a different matter.

Inside the Rodin Museum	The Kiss

Our first destination in Paris was the Rodin Museum, a charming château with many works displayed in the garden. It was a fine day and as we walked around we heard not only a lot of Spanish but also quite a lot of Catalan being spoken. The eleventh of September is the national day of Catalonia and we were not the only people who had gone to Paris for the weekend.

The Burghers of Calais	The Gate of Hell

The museum itself was most interesting. The Burghers of Calais, are there with the Gate of Hell, the Thinker and the Kiss, which is displayed inside because it is of marble and would suffer in the rain. There are also statue portraits of real people, some of whom were only identified after Rodin’s death.

Not a man to meet on a dark night	The Thinker

After the Rodin museum we walked a considerable distance to the church of St Sulpice – yes, the one that features in The Da Vinci Code, though it seemed to be short on blind, albino, monk-assassins when we were there. It is neoclassical in design and they wanted to get their money’s worth in eclecticism: the main façade has all three main Greek column designs placed one above the other. Unfortunately, for us at least, the façade is being restored so we couldn’t see the real thing.

The façade	Looking up

On leaving the church we went to Les Deux Magots for refreshments. This is the place where Hemingway acquired his taste for Margaux. The magots are two Chinese figures that sit on the walls inside the restaurant. Cheap it certainly is not, but it is no worse than places on the Rambla in Barcelona and it is a very pleasant place to sit and watch the Boulevard Saint Germain.

 

Les deux magots

The afternoon was spent in the Musée du Moyen Âge, also known as the Cluny Museum and home to a splendid collection of medieval objects, from warfare to cooking and personal grooming. The building itself is an interesting example of Gothic architecture. The museum also houses the wonderful medieval tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn and exhibits dating from Roman times, and some statues showing that Louis XVIII was not the only King of France who lost his head in the Revolution. The bottom-right picture below shows a banner hanging on the wall. The lettering in the middle is, ahem, all Greek to me but I am sure that the Latin top and bottom says ‘golden mediocrity’. Can it be so? Can some Latin scholar help?

Cluny Museum	The chapel roof
Beheaded kings	Golden mediocrity?

And so back once again to our hotel in Versailles, where we met some other British people. The reason why we were in Versailles was that Jane was there for an Open University graduation ceremony. She was not graduating herself but was running the stall for the Students’ Association. Other OUSA bigwigs arrived on the Friday and we spent the evening with them. The general decision was to eat in the bar of the hotel. The waiter, our friend from the evening before, told us quite honestly that the bar food was from the freezer and reheated in a microwave, and that as he only had two microwaves he couldn’t serve six meals at the same time. We agreed and, well, I suppose that it saved going out, but a reheated hachette parmentière (shepherd’s pie) was not quite what I might have had in Le Limousin just round the corner.

To be continued …

Paris day one

Thursday 10 September

All went well with the easyJet flight from Barcelona to Charles de Gaulle airport, but that was when the problems began. After walking about a kilometre through the terminal to the RER (local railway) station we went to a machine to buy our tickets to the city centre. Jane put her Visa card in – and it was rejected. A bit odd, we thought so I gave her mine – and that was rejected too! This was worrying as the thought of being in Paris for a weekend with no functioning credit card was not pleasant. I went off to join the very long queue at the ticket office while Jane went to try another machine. After a considerable time she came back signalling victory. At first several machines had failed her but then she noticed something. All the cards that the French people were putting in had chips on them, but Spanish Visa cards don’t. Fortunately, we also have Visa Electron (debit) cards that do have chips. That solved the problem.

We went into town. We were actually staying in a hotel in Versailles so we changed at St Michel station to another line. On the platform we found an Australian couple consulting a map and wondering if the next train was for Versailles. We assured them that it was and waited with them. The train came. As it happened, it stopped leaving us at the middle of the carriage. We went to the door at the end and found ourselves behind several other people including the Australians, who had a lot of luggage. When they were on board, I hoisted my one suitcase (the big size that people use now that airlines charge per piece of baggage) on to the train and was about to get on myself when – BANG – the doors closed in my face. So there we were on the platform with our suitcase on a train heading for Versailles and a couple of horrified Australian faces staring at us through the window.

I found a platform attendant. Fortunately, they are placed about every ten metres along the platform of that busy station at rush hours, and I told him ‘Mon bagage est dans le train.’ Being French, he said ‘Ooh-la-la’ (yes really) and ran to a glass box that was the platform control office. After a few quick phone calls had been made – there was after all a security aspect to an ownerless suitcase being on a train – it was agreed that as we were going to the train’s destination of Versailles the case could stay on board and would be removed by railway staff from whom we would claim it. Breathing a sigh of relief, we boarded the next train fifteen minutes later.

The next stop is Musée d’Orsay. As the train stood in the station we saw a manic Australian face grimacing at us through the window and shouting ‘We’ve got yer case.’ I stood up and went to the door at the end of the carriage. Just as I got there to speak to the Australian – BANG – the doors closed in my face, and as the train started moving I heard him shouting ‘We’ll hand it in’. Jane and I discussed the situation and decided that we would both get out at the next station, she would wait on the platform there in case the Australians decided to bring it on, and I would return to Musée d’Orsay and try to find the case, either with the Australians or, though I was not at all sure that their French was up to explaining what had happened, in the custody of the station authorities.

I got to Musée d’Orsay and found the platform for Versailles. There were no Australians there and I waited for the next Versailles train to arrive and depart. I phoned Jane to say what had happened and found that the mobile phone coverage in the underground bit of the RER is distinctly flaky. Assuming, as they were not on the Versailles platform, that the Australians had left my case with the station office I headed for the exit. This took me to the other side of the platform, where – lo and behold! – I found the Australian couple sitting on my case. What had happened? I asked why they were not standing on the platform for Versailles. They told me that they were in fact only going to Musée d’Orsay, and had asked about Versailles as the destination for the train that they wanted, not as their own destination. They were waiting on the platform where they had got off our train, in case I did exactly what I had done. It turned out that trains to Versailles stop alternately at different sides of the platform. I thanked them profusely (while cursing them inwardly I must admit) because they had acted in good faith and had certainly tried to help. I phoned Jane again, got through on the second attempt, and arranged for us to meet up again on the next train to Versailles.

 

Station	Hôtel de ville

So we arrived in Versailles with our luggage and found the Hôtel Ibis, just five minutes’ walk from the station and opposite the splendid Hôtel de Ville (which is not a place to spend a night). The room was as adequate as one would expect in an Ibis. We unpacked and sorted ourselves out generally, and went down for a drink before dinner. We noticed that the bar service was a little erratic.

We had dinner in the splendid restaurant Le Limousin, which was just round the corner. They specialise in gigot, which is carved in the dining room, and have excellent wine at a reasonable price. We went back to the hotel and decided that we might have a nightcap. I ordered Poire Williams. The waiter (admittedly a trainee) had never heard of it. I showed it to him on the printed menu. ‘Ah, you mean the eau de vie,’ he said. Jane ordered calvados. The waiter returned with my drink and ‘Sorry, we have no calvados.’ Jane ordered a cognac. Five minutes later, back he came with ‘Sorry, we have no cognac.’ We suggested that it was rather unusual (!) for a bar in France to have no cognac. He agreed, ‘C’est incroyable. Mais,’ he added in a fit of honesty that wouldn’t do his traineeship much good if it were known ‘c’est l’Hôtel Ibis’. Jane ordered a Poire Williams, the same as me; when it arrived, I picked mine up to have a sip – and noticed a fly in it. ‘Waiter, waiter, there’s a fly in my eau de vie,’ I said. He looked at it, agreed that indeed there was, and took it away.

He came back with a clean glass and the bottle. As he was about to pour it, he had a thought. ‘I’ll just check the bottle in case they’re inside,’ he said. And sure enough, there were little black flecks floating around in it. This was obviously wrong so he took the bottle away to change it along with my glass. Then he came back to change Jane’s drink, which was clear but had come out of the same fly-ridden bottle. Then he brought two clean glasses and a new bottle. Finally, we got our drinks.

To be continued …

Scissors

Yesterday I wanted to post a letter. The envelope wouldn’t stick properly. I had run out of sellotape so I went out to buy some more. I took the envelope with me to the stationer’s and when I had paid for my sellotape, I unwrapped it, stuck the flap of the envelope down, and asked if I might borrow a pair of scissors from the counter to cut the end off the sellotape. The question was a pure formality, of course.

But that was in Spain. In paranoid security-conscious Britain things are different:

[Islington] council has apologised after a woman was refused the loan of a pair of scissors in a library because she “might stab a member of staff”.

Lorna Watts, 26, a self-employed dressmaker, was turned down at Holborn Library in central London. She said: “It's ridiculous - public libraries are supposed to be supportive of small businesses.” … Ms Watts, from Islington, north London, said: “I asked why I couldn’t borrow a pair of scissors and she said, ‘they are sharp, you might stab me’. “I then asked to borrow a guillotine to cut up my leaflets but she refused again - because she said I could hit her over the head with it!” She added: “It's absurd - there are plenty of heavy books I could have hit her with if I wanted to.”

Political friends

The sight of a British political party abandoning its traditional moderate line and allying itself with an extreme right-wing religiously-minded political group with the aim of causing problems for the EU is disgusting.

Isn’t it?

The law applies to everyone

Baroness's housekeeper arrested

A housekeeper who worked illegally for Attorney General Baroness Scotland has been arrested, police have said.

Tongan Loloahi Tapui, 27, and a man aged 40 thought to be her husband, were arrested by UK Border Agency staff at their home in West London on Wednesday. Police said they were arrested over alleged immigration offences and both bailed until next month. Baroness Scotland's job is under pressure after she was ordered to pay a £5,000 fine by the UK Border Agency.

So, which would rather be? A demonstrably incompetent Labour minister who has kept her job and been fined £5,000 for breaking the law; or a presumably efficient Tongan housekeeper who has lost her job and faces the ruin of her life for breaking the law.

Yes, I would too.

Land of freedom

The Guardian:

The government's controversial regime of using virtual house arrest against terror suspects has suffered a fresh blow with a decision by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, to revoke a second control order rather than disclose the "secret" evidence in the case.

Johnson has written to the lawyers of a former imam to the Iraqi community in Britain …  telling them that he made the decision after considering the impact of a law lords ruling in June that he was obliged to disclose the detail of the allegations against him … There are now 14 remaining control orders in force and the lawyers involved are expected to challenge the home secretary to disclose the "secret" evidence involved in each of them on a case-by-case basis over the next few months.

 

The Spanish Constitution:

Section 17
1. Every person has the right to freedom and security. No one may be deprived of his or her freedom except in accordance with the provisions of this section and in the cases and in the manner provided for by the law.

2. Preventive arrest may last no longer than the time strictly necessary in order to carry out the investigations aimed at establishing the events; in any case the person arrested must be set free or handed over to the judicial authorities within a maximum period of seventy two hours.

3. Every person arrested must be informed immediately, and in a way understandable to him or her, of his or her rights and of the grounds for his or her arrest, and may not be compelled to make a statement. The arrested person shall be guaranteed the assistance of a lawyer during police and judicial proceedings, under the terms to be laid down by the law.

4. An habeas corpus procedure shall be provided for by law in order to ensure the immediate handing over to the judicial authorities of any person illegally arrested. Likewise, the maximum period of provisional imprisonment shall be determined by law.

My emphasis in both cases.

Green Spain

Spain is known as a desert where the rain never falls on the plain and where unemployment is massive.

There is a certain amount of truth in that. The meseta is dry, though the coastal areas are not. Employment is high at present, but in a country that relies so heavily on tourism employment always has a strongly seasonal element. Tourist arrivals have been down 8% this summer and the property bubble has famously burst, leaving the building industry and the property market in chaos.

So what is Spain doing? Apart from planting lots of trees, we find an answer in The Washington Post (free subscription barrier):

… Green jobs have become a mantra for many governments, including that of the United States. But few nations are better positioned -- or motivated -- to fuse [sic] the fight against recession and global warming than Spain. The country is already a leader in renewable fuels through $30 billion in public support and has been cited by the Obama administration as a model for the creation of a green economy. Spain generates about 24.5 percent of its electricity through renewable sources, compared with about 7 percent in the United States.

But with unemployment at 18.5 percent, the government here is preparing to take a dramatic next step. Through a combination of new laws and public and private investment, officials estimate that they can generate a million green jobs over the next decade…

Spain's ambitious effort is being closely watched by the Obama administration and other governments forming their own green-job plans…

Somehow I doubt whether Her Majesty’s Government is among those that think they have anything to learn from Spain.

The 11 megawatt PS10 solar power tower [near Seville] produces electricity from the sun using 624 large movable mirrors called heliostats. (Wikipedia)

Baroness Scotland

Should Baroness Scotland lose her job as the Attorney General after she broke a law that she was instrumental in bringing in? Michael White in the Guardian is clear why she shouldn't:

Scotland is a competent* female, black lawyer. A second chance is called for.

*In view of what has happened, some people might just doubt her competence.

The trees in Spain

Zapatero’s government promised to plant 45 million trees in four years. What has happened? In fact, the average number of trees in Spain is increasing by an average of 284 million a year (sic). With 300,000 hectares of new trees a year, Spain is second only to China and doubles the achievement of the USA.

In 1939 the government planned to plant 6 million hectares in 100 years, reaching a total of 11.3 million hectares. Just seventy years later the total is 18.3 million hectares.

The increase in trees has been caused mainly by people abandoning the countryside to live in cities, and easily far outweighs the area lost to fires.

Source: El País.

Picture of cork oaks: Wikipedia

Uncited reference

France has said it intends to close the camp in Calais known as "the jungle", where migrants gather to try to reach the UK.

If this reference to “the jungle” were to appear on Wikipedia, it would immediately be flagged as ‘citation needed’. But then, this isn’t Wikipedia. It’s just the BBC.