Hello funsters!
I hope this missive finds you well and in good spirits (relatively, given that it is 2021).
This week was the week of the rentrée for my class in Paris. La rentrée is one of those French words for which there is no direct translation. It’s like ‘back to school’ but is much more all-encompassing than that. Like so many things, it’s difficult to explain!
So, without further ado, from the train back to Brittany, in this episode I will:
show you what Paris is looking like
tell you about a good person doing good things
give you a glimpse inside a French M&S Food shop
and much more!
So, get your new pencil case open, brandish your favourite colour pencil and stop talking at the back! Eyes on me! OK. Here we go…
Work, work, work…
I started this newsletter after a good dose of encouragement from the legendary content king, @Documentally. I was at work at the time - it was all part of a discussion about content and delivery. The idea was never to be the same as my Twitter feed and not to be about work but, when it’s the rentrée, it’s a bit difficult not to talk about work!
La rentrée is both a day (the day we go back to school, college, uni or whatever really - it can also be coming back to work because France goes on holiday in August) and it is also the period around it. Before I became a course programme director, I am not sure I fully understood the amount of preparation that goes into that first week. It is intense!
I am calling this my first rentrée because it sort of is. It is also my third! The first happened just a few weeks after I took over and so it was a bit of a blur. The second was sitting in a room, all on my own, door locked, with a camera and three screens. And, this year, I feel like I’ve had the luxury of both preparation and students in the room!
It has been a rollercoaster - excitement that it was happening, ecstasy and relief that the students I chose for the course are so nice and hardworking, delight in seeing colleagues for the first time in a while and exhaustion. A whole lot of exhaustion.
So, this newsletter is written on the train home. Tired. Happy. Could fall asleep…
The train home
It was good to see Mark Izatt this week and put the world to rights. It was particularly interesting to discuss the different approaches to Covid in the UK and France. I am pretty sure that my experience of getting on this train is not the same as it would be in the UK. My train is an inter-regional one but it never crosses a national border - it’s just an internal French train. Before boarding, I had to verify my pass sanitaire and was issued with a band to allow me through the barrier.
Our cases and deaths may be low and heading lower but it feels that we are far from ready to let our guards down. Just in case.
Follow This!
I’m thinking of making this a regular feature of this newsletter so I can introduce you to accounts that are interesting and are worth following on Twitter. Let me know!
Depher UK is a community interest company run by a chap called James Anderson. He’s a plumber.
Yes, I’m asking you to follow a plumber. Stay with me!
This is from Depher’s website. Read this and then you’ll get it…
James became a plumber in 1998, and set up ‘Depher’ – which stands for Disability and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Repair – in 2017 after seeing how many vulnerable people were unable to access affordable and vital emergency works. ‘Depher’, which relies significantly on public donations to cover all labour and materials, provides free services during winter months, and discounted during summer, on a range of emergency works including gas leaks, lack of heating and running hot water. Since it was launched, James has supported over 17,000 people, and during the pandemic also branched out into helping distribute personal protective equipment and setting up a foodbank for his community.
James’s @DepherUK has fewer followers than I do on Twitter - and that makes no sense at all. He is a proper hero who ensures that the most vulnerable in his community have heating and hot water. He really deserves to have lots more followers than I do!
And in a time of general crapiness, being reminded how good some people are is a fantastic tonic!
The Arc de Triomphe - Wrapped
Back in 1962, Christo made a photomontage of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped. It was a project he worked on, on and off, for almost sixty years until his death. For 16 days, between Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021, it will be wrapped and open to the public.
I saw it with Mark Izatt the day before it opened. The cranes add a ‘War of the Worlds’ element to what is already quite a surreal sight.
It is well worth a visit - and it’s free!
M&S in Paris
You may have read that Marks and Spencer are closing their shops in Paris which may or may not be to do with Brexit depending on who the spokesperson at the time is speaking with.
So, two things. Firstly, it clearly is to do with Brexit and, secondly, some of the M&S stores (the ones in train stations and airports) are remaining open.
Their problem will be the same as the problem they have today, though. These pictures were taken at M&S in Paris Montparnasse station.
In case you missed it - BREAKING NEWS
In case you are missing Paris
Here are a couple of the photos that I took this week - I’m keeping the rest back for later use! Normality is returning. Soon, you can too… and it can’t come fast enough
No Coffee Photos!
Thanks to everyone who has supported this free newsletter by buying me a coffee on Buy Me A Coffee!
You will note there are no coffee photos in this edition.
I am currently trying (as in failing but trying) not to drink coffee out because I have a massive hole in my tooth… no, seriously. My dentist has drilled out my tooth, including the root filling that has been giving me pain for the past few decades, and left it open for a few weeks so … you don’t want to know! I’ve said too much already!
Suffice it to say, I’m being careful with coffee. I have 11 days left of this stupidity and I am hopeful that the tooth will then be refilled!
All coffees will be consumed at that point and photos will follow!
But a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported me and the newsletter in this way! It is very much appreciated!
Yikes!
And that’s it for another edition! Thanks for being part of it. I feel that I’m getting back in the rhythm now (and, yes, I’m scared that @Documentally will tell me off if I let the rhythm go - and I’m hoping to see him in a few weeks!) so there should be another one coming in October!
October, eh? Maybe I shouldn’t mention that I saw this in the Paris Lego Store…
Merry… erm… Have a great end of the month!
See you in October!
Take care,
James x
Thanks for reading, sharing and supporting this email newsletter. I am aiming to keep them freely available. If you’d like to show your appreciation, I’d appreciate a coffee! You can get me one here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jamesmb If you don’t want to or can’t, that’s fine too! Thank you!
This work (and the photos) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. So you can use it for non-commercial purposes if you attribute me and don’t mess around with it! Thank you!