Managed to find one clean t-shirt,socks & pants at the bottom of my bag so the laundry is now waiting until tomorrow.Luckily it’s a cool overcast day too! Also getting low on deodorant so shopping is also on the menu.They have a market day opposite where I am and passed a few stalls that have big bottles of designer cologne for €5.Might give that a miss.Like I said definitely Hackney like…there’s also plenty of police sirens doing the rounds to reinforce the Hackney vibes…
Jumped on the metro without much of an idea where to go and ended up getting off at Les Halles and that’s one muthaflipping huge metro station…somehow found my way to Westfield shopping centre but didn’t want to buy any Lego and thankfully there isn’t a West Ham ground attached to this one…had a walk outside and I’m close to the Pompidou Centre with all the art and stuff.Grabbed a chicken curry baguette which frankly looked a lot better than it tasted,although it was as messy as you can imagine.The beard took some hammer…currently in a fancy(ish) restaurant round the back of Hotel de Ville having an expensive lager & an even more expensive cheesecake.Which was magnificent…
Toiletries bought.You know the hoary old cliche about the French being a bit smelly well the cheapest roll on deodorant was €5 and frankly I’d happily smell like Worzel Gummidge after a strenuous roll in the hay with Aunt Sally at those prices…
Sometimes when you’re feeling smug it quickly comes back to bite you on your arse.Was having a bit of a smug moment earlier when bragging about the beer being €3-50.Just sat down in an unremarkable place called Le Bastille,ordered a Kronenburg and it’s €11-50! ( that is not a typo by the way) This is pre Olympics price too.Thank god this place isn’t my local!
Suddenly gone humid,big grey clouds above.I think I know what’s coming…right on cue.Luckily I’m under cover having a cheap drink…
Yesterday got my reservation ticket to Strasbourg for Saturday.Now it’s on a slow train and was dirt cheap so of course I was in but didn’t really check it properly till later and it turns out the train isn’t on my Interrail app.Went back to Gare L’est today and the lady assured me it would be fine but seemed befuddled as to what was going on…not what to do yet.Might just change my train altogether or just risk it…at this rate I’ll be getting flashbacks like a Vietnam Vet…
Now Wednesday morning and finally made it to the laundrette.It’s called The Speed Queen which I think was The Who’s follow up to Quadraphenia…anyway it’s much needed.A fella in here helped me out but in truth I would have worked it all out if I were here on my own.Strangely I still feel intimidated if other people are here and it’s obvious I don’t have a Scooby what I’m doing…at least having a cafe next door means I can have a coffee while the deed is done.Four of us in here all having a good old Smokey cough!
Later on I’m going to Pere Lachaise,the large cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried,amongst others of course,it’s only one stop up from here too.I am reliably informed by my mate Phil,who knows of these things,that it’s the anniversary of Morrison’s death and that there’s normally a gathering of some sort there so we will see…
In a while crocodile…
No comments:
Post a Comment