Book club

Friday, October 8, 2010 Day 100


One hundred days of France! It is hard to believe that our time here is one quarter gone.

At noon I was in the kitchen fixing my lunch when I heard a cat cry. I looked out the window, which overlooks a small courtyard, and in the window of the apartment below ours sat a cat. I called out to her, but she does not speak English. A moment later our neighbor, Mara McGregor, peered out and I called “Bonjour” and she replied. She remarked that it is a beautiful day, and I agreed. Then she asked if we would be going to the beach today. I said –no- I would be attending a book club meeting at 2:00. She expressed interest, and asked if she could come. I said sure, although I wasn’t sure how much she would get out of it, not having read the book. We agreed that I would knock on her door on my way to the book club (just a hop and a skip from our building). So at about 1:45 I knocked on her door and she welcomed me in briefly and I met her cat, Celeste, and noted her apartment, which is twice as big as ours. On the way out the door, I took note as well of a sickly-looking ficus benjamina plant. It looked as if it needed water. It sits in a foyer which has a western-facing window, so light shouldn’t be a problem.

I knew everyone at the book club meeting except for one lady, a British woman named Rosie. I introduced Mara around. There was a lively discussion of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The question arose at one point as to whether we would recommend it to a man. I volunteered that Roger read it, really enjoyed it and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. Perhaps it is more of a woman’s book, but that shouldn’t keep a man from enjoying it unless he is doubtful about his own masculinity. Mara said she enjoyed the book club meeting very much, even though she had not read the book. I loaned her mine to read over the coming weeks.

While I was at the book club, Roger went to visit the local infantry museum. It is billed as the museum which explains the history and development of the French infantry from 1480 to the present, including a major collection of uniforms and arms. As he neared the museum, he asked one of the security guards there where the entrance to the museum was located. The man told him that the museum was closed. When he asked when it would reopen, the security guard, who had been joined by another security guard, looked at a third guy who was there, and he said “jamais,” or “never.

Finding his afternoon plans thwarted, he went to see about chess games in the Place Charles de Gaulle. There are four tables there devoted to chess, and we occasionally see guys there playing. Roger played two five-minute games, and got beat both times. He said that he feels he is rusty, and that he should be able to win some in the future if he will get back into the game. He talked with a guy there named Troy from Seattle, who told him that there are usually chess games going on in the park every day starting about 2:00, weather permitting, of course.

On the way back from chess, Roger crossed the Comedie again and observed some of the activities there. He saw several school-aged kids trying to ride hand-powered bicycles. I think they took a lot more effort than the kids expected. In another area, there were kids who were blindfolded and given a cane. They were in the crowd trying to make their way around sightless. They were assisted by a gentleman who himself carried a cane. Roger was pretty sure he was blind.

Roger surprised me today by insisting on doing the dishes twice – booting me out of the kitchen and taking over. Note to all you guys out there – one of the greatest aphrodisiacs for a woman is a guy who goes above and beyond what his wife asks him to do in the way of housework and does some of those chores that are “hers” or that are not specifically assigned but that she always picks up anyway.