Ladies of Leisure (on a budget)

Monday is Ladies Day.

Over the summer months, this has often involved hours spent at London Fields Lido, or sometimes a shopping expedition - starting at the nicest most expensive shops where we pick out things that we will buy when we are rich - and ending up buying 6 packs of nickers at Primark for £2.20. Anyway these days always involve coffee, and cake or usually humus and pita bread.

This week however we, the ladies, ventured out a little further, to Hampstead Heath.

Trekking through the long grass, over the hills, past the mixed pond and then the men's pond, carrying our picnic goods, we were lightly perspiring and gagging for a swim by the time we finally found the ladies only pond.

What a haven!

It was so idyllic - a mini lake sheltered by willow trees with a secluded grassy slope for sunbathing - much more comfortable than the concrete slab at the Lido. The water was super-fresh and just cold enough to be invigorating, but warm enough to paddle about on the rubber rings. There were certainly all shapes and sizes there, and I overcame my inner prude and coped with the partial nudity. A delicious picnic of strawberries and roquefort and pea+mint dip and a cheeky half-pint on the way home topped off a perfect day.

How will I ever go back to the Lido???

July and the Australian Invasion

July seems to be never ending this year!
But such a great month I'm not complaining.
After the week in Provence Sarah arrived!! All the way from Melbourne to spend the week with me!


We had many romantic dinners together, at Hotel du Nord and Frenchie. It's hard not to make dinners for 2 romantic in Paris.


She was also here for Bastille Day which was a bonus.
We had first class viewing for the fireworks, accompanied by first class champagne courtesy of Siggy.


The fireworks were pretty spectacular..... (this video is not).



Other social outings have included a Rose Bakery picnic in the Parc Buttes Chaumont.


There was lots of amazing food, juggling, inappropriate drunkeness and a watermelon water melon eating dog.



My old friend Gen arrived in Paris Friday night and I have been busily playing tour guide and hostess.


We managed to catch the end of the Tour de France on Sunday when they did 8 laps of the Arc de Triomph, just a stones throw from chez moi. (Gen took this photo, I was way too short, all my photos were of the back of other peoples heads and cameras).


We spent Saturday afternoon around the Marais wandering the streets,


and popping into the little squares and gardens.


Monday we did tea at Mariage Freres, Macarons at Laduree, chocolat chaud at Les Deux Magots and, dinner at Kong, made famous for the view, and for some, mainly Gen, by it's appearance in the penultimate episode of Sex and the City.

Une Semaine in Provence

Making the most of having my parents on the continent and profiting from the wonderful French working laws and all their accumulated paid leave, I took a week off to explore Provence.


We had rooms in this gorgeous 16th century house and garden in a tiny little village called Le Paradou.

It was such a good feeling to get out of the city - now I understand why Paris is void of Parisians in August.

The 25m pool was where I could be found before breakfast, in the afternoons and late at night.

I got along swimmingly with Mlle Plume, the resident cat.
Days were spend driving around and visiting the many hilltop villages,


the Abbey of Senaque, set amidst fields of lavender,

local olive groves and vineyards,

grand old chateaus,

fields and fields of sunflowers,

and more medieval hilltop villages.

In the evenings we sampled the local produce.
I was so lucky to be able to see Provence like that with my parents.
Now before I leave France I just have to focus my energies on finding a viscount or baron who would like to bequeath me his century old Provencal chateau (with all the mod-cons of course).

Grey Noise

A quick recovery was needed after Siggy's departure in order to prepare for the second La Totalite project, Grey Noise.

Maria, Johan and I organised 8 artists from around the world to create a sound piece relating to the theme of the city. The final preparations took place on Saturday, finalising the playlist, producing a information handout and most importantly, constructing the "black box".

After 3hrs, 40 odd meters of garbage bags and a lots of tape, we could proudly stand inside and say the box was built.

By 5pm, after technical glitches and a pit-stop chez McDo, we were ready to go, with pretzels and marshmallows poised.


We were all feeling a little nervous as we waited for the guests to arrive.


Despite their tardiness, we had an excellent turn out (very difficult to capture on film).

The listening went very smoothly and the effect of the black box more intense than I had imagined. It was tight, pitch black and pretty damn hot. One person compared it to being on a crowded metro.
The response to the pieces was excellent -phew, thank you artists.
Tomorrow we debrief then begin work on the next project, potentially in Berlin!

Adieu

Siggy's gone back to Norway for the summer.


Before he left he was busy ticking things off his list of 'things I want to do in Paris before I leave', one of which being a sushi night.


There was a little shin-dig the night before he left in his most-favourite and classiest street beer spot.

Just back from LA, the lovely James was in fine form, and loving Siggy's parting gift of a du-rag.

Siggy's departure has left a hole in the Parisian Saturday night party scene and will cause a decline in the sale of lowest-price beer and hip flasks.

Bicycle Adventures

In Siggy's last few weeks in Paris, being a gentleman of leisure, he has been taking full advantage of the velib bicycles. When given the chance I have tagged along anddiscovered previously unknown pockets of Paris, in particular some of her many and varied parks.


This sunny Saturday we headed West to the Bois de Boulogne. Absent of all the symetry, regulations and perfection of most of Paris' parks, this was the perfect setting for a bicycle adventure.


Despite it being ideal boating weather, Siggy was not confident of his ability to row me in a boat. Nevertheless, we still managed to see an awful lot on bicyle, including horse racing stadiums, boules tournaments, roland garros, remote control speed boats, an albino duck and waterfalls.


I was so so happy that the rain had stopped for my day off.


After an epic day of cycling (some 28km) including a trip south to the 13th arrondissment, Europe's largest China town) for some asian delicacies, we chilled out on the rooftop with soba noodle salad and tsingtao.
(another self-timer shot which is not quite right...)


I am trying to make the most of the rooftop on these long summer nights. It's so wonderfully raw.


I don't think I could ever get tired of this view.

Mumtime V. 2.0

I've recently had the pleasure of the company of my Mother dearest for the second time in 6 months.


Her oldest and bestest friend Louise has also been here. She is lots of fun and loves a beer.


Mum loves Paris almost as much as I do and we are a great team here walking, wining, lunching, dining, shopping, doing galleries, and gardens...


We had an extra special lunch at a private ladies club on the Rue Faubourg St. Honore on Wednesday. I felt like I was in a 19th century novel.

(photos weren't allowed of course so I had to be sneaky...)

Poor Mum got her wallet pick-pocketed on a bus, right after I had been explaining how much nicer the bus was than the metro, and how middle class it was. Luckily Amex came to the rescue within 24hrs so we still managed to have many great meals at Hotel du Nord, La Fidelite, Bistrot Paul Bert and, Tokyo Eat.


I have also been busy working on a little project with Johan and Maria, an exhibition of sound. It's all taking place on the 20th June, so not long now.
The meetings take place at Maria's place usually. She has even more stairs than me!! She has a beautiful place on the 7th floor and she carried her couch up there all by herself - amazing.


Siggy has moved in with me for the last 3 weeks of his time in Paris which is lovely.
It is of course close quarters, my nest being only 12m2.
We are literally face to face.