froid

thursday, late afternoon.

it's 3 degrees outside. i went for a walk, since i hadn't left the house. i probably shouldn't have. i got lost (as per usual) but this time i was a bit cold, and it was raining, and my hands were freezing. i was getting more and more angry as i kept not finding my way home. i would have put my hands in my pockets were i not carrying an umbrella and some bread i bought in my travels. i wanted to hit people and cars with my umbrella. today was not a good day to weave through pedestrians and cars and puddles.

anyway, my hands are nearly defrosted now, and i'm eating a croissant aux amande to improve my mood. and having a cup of peppermint tea. and thinking that i'm glad i didn't come in the middle of winter, when it's like this all the time. tomorrow will only reach 5 degrees, but by next week it's supposed to get back to 15.

i need to get an umbrella, as mine is wrecked. today i borrowed alice's, which is orange and has 'ikea family' written on it. i don't know whether that's as daggy as i imagine here. i would have assumed so, but in thinking about what stéfan said about starbucks, i'm not so sure. apparently starbucks are quite exotic here. they're everywhere and very well patronised. this surprised me, particularly given that it's american, and that it challenges a french café tradition. but according to stéfan they're exotic because you can try things you wouldn't get anywhere else.

so yeah, i do question the commonly held belief that french people have refined and exquisite taste. and there's plenty of dodgy food, art, fashion, and politics around her to attest to that. which is actually quite comforting.

last night i watched kim ki-duk's 'the isle' at the cinema around the corner. i'm getting more and more impressed with his films. it was so beautifully composed, erotic, yet violent and uncomfortable (symbolising love, i guess). you don't get a lot of information from his films, but they make sense through symbolism, repetition, choregraphy. the cinema is having a retrospective of south korean films, so tonight i'll return for 'the coast guard, another kim ki-duk film.

there are 4 cinemas in my block. 3 of them are on the same street. all 4 seem to specialise in retrospectives (festivals) and classic films. which is rather special indeed. old films in old cinemas. tuesday i got to see 'the bicycle thief' on the big screen.

from the bicycle thief: