Re "still are allowed to smoke their Gauloises and Gitanes on the terrace":
I don't smoke any more but when I did I much preferred smoking indoors. The fresh air ruins the taste. And when the weather turns cold and wet that simply adds to the misery. Re "Many of them these days are smoking those electronic cigarettes and vaping": That's like wearing a nicotine patch. It helps kill the craving but is no substitute for real tobacco. The mystique of blowing smoke is a big part of the subtle pleasure. I suspect there's a link between the energetic iconoclasm of the fifties, sixties and seventies when like-minded people gathered together in smoke-filled clubs, cafes, and bars versus the apathy of today when the rebels have to stay solitary and at home if they want to smoke. ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote: Another "sign" along the Rue de l'Esperance, found stenciled today on the wall of a building: https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/q71/s720x720/1380087_690185317672271_839918340_n.jpg https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/q71/s720x720/1380087_690185317672271_839918340_n.jpg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "TurquoiseB" wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > > > > Sitting in cafes in Paris was cool when everyone was allowed to > > smoke Gauloises and Gitanes and talk about Existentialism. > > Now the health fascists have banned the practice the > > conformists have won the day. > > LIES! The health fascists have NOT banned talk about > Existentialism! > > Those given to such things still are allowed to do so, and > can even smoke their Gauloises and Gitanes on the > terrace while doing it. > > But to be honest, many of them these days are smoking > those electronic cigarettes and "vaping" these days. It's > all the rage. > > > ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb@ wrote: > > > > That's what it says on the steet sign across the road from where I'm > > sitting. The Street Of Hope. Cool. And the password for the free Wifi > > at this cafe is 'cafe'. That's cool, too. And they have Westmalle > > Tripel. That's just WAY cool. What can I say? I am easily amused > > by little things. > > > > But still, doesn't sitting down in a new cafe to write in and > > discovering that you're literally sitting on the Street Of Hope sound > > like a *sign*? Maybe what I should write about, in this new writing > > cafe, is HOPE. > > > > OK, here goes. > > > > Hope. I still have it, in spades. > > > > Despite what has been said about me on this forum and others in the > > past, I am *not* at heart a cynic. I know few people *more* hopeful > > than I am. And I see ample reason in the world I see around me to > > *be* hopeful. > > > > It's really not such a bad place. > > > > Get over it, if you believe it is. > > > > This world is full of great beauty and great art and great love. And > > these things are there even in the darkest corners of supposed > > hopelessness. And what you focus on, you become. > > > > When I find someone who's invented a new artform, as has Elena Divina > > with her Cyr wheel in the videos I posted earlier, I focus on that, > > and I feel more hopeful. A world that can produce that is FAR from > > hopeless. > > > > It's like the ending to Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose Of Cairo." > > Cecilia (Mia Farrow) has had a bad day. She's on the street, homeless > > after telling her abusive husband to fuck off, and finding out that > > the other man she'd fallen in love with is fictional. She has nowhere > > to stay, and nowhere to go, and has very little money in her pockets. > > But she finds herself standing in front of a movie theater, and spends > > one of her last coins to go in and watch the movie. > > > > And up on the screen is Fred Astaire. And suddenly there is hope. > > Because no world that has Fred Astaire in it could possibly be > > hopeless. > > >
