Hats off to Cultural Diversity - A Guest Post by David Henley

While ma femme was slaving away at work I thought I'd go out for a coffee and working session at our favourite cafe, when low and behold I ran into another festival of some sort. It seemed the perfect antidote for the mood I was in after finishing The Beautiful and the Damned by Fitzgerald. It was some sort of drum-off between various countries, with marching bands, dancing and fancy dress, one guy gave me two hands of bananas for free and after that it was all a blur.









I followed it to its source on Boulevard Richard Lenoir then followed it all the way to Rue Diderot. I think this may have been the Solidays that I'd seen signage for the last few weeks.







Most impressive, while not as rhythmically endowed, was the parade that followed, a line of green garbage trucks and street-sweepers making it all seem like it never happened.

The Refectory

So I have posted previously about a little cafe in the 10e (near Oberkampf, M Richard Lenoir) called Refectoire but was previously too abashed to take out my camera. Here's some shots from our little brunch this morning.



This can be roughly translated as
"Conversation Topics
Do you like the ocean?
Do you like your mother?
Do you love?
Do you like the table?
Do you like the wine?
Do you want to make love in five minutes?"

You can only read this from one seat in the restaurant as it's written on the back of a pillar.

The table setting is very cute. On Sundays you can order a brunch from 20euros which is enough to fill the stomach for a whole day and it is served in little bowls on a tray like in a school canteen, except the quality is great.

And here's David... writing. Note the gigantic light bulb going off just to the right of his head! They allow us to write for hours without complaint. Not to mention the free Wifi access.