Paris Journal 2007

Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook.                      ←Previous    Next→                 Paris Journal 2007 Home

 

Stuffed badger with blonde hairpiece in antique store
window on the avenue de la Bourdonnais.

 

Stuffed Siamese calves heads, in the same shop window.

 

And yes, stuffed fox and her babies in the same window.

 

Damaged redbud from the planter that the car landed on
the other day in the rue du Commerce.

 

Damaged planter fence, from the same spot.

 

Stanchion that had been upended was simply put back in
place.

 

 

Saturday, August 18

Sometimes I think the bureaucrats here in France actually read my journal.  The big headline on yesterday’s edition of Le Journal de Paris, the central section of Le Parisien, was “Sécurité:  1500 nouvelles caméras dans le métro.”  Today, RATP claims, only 10 to 15% of the métro stations do not have security cameras.  Naturally, they will not specify which ones.  The article claims that in the Bir Hakeim station, there are many thefts and verbal aggressions.  If that is the case, and it certainly is the case that this is the nearest or one of the nearest stations to the Eiffel Tower, why the heck it this station one of the last to get security cameras?  RATP can make me crazy sometimes.

The article also included a box that says there is a rise in thefts with violence in the public transportation system, even though there is an overall decline in simple snatchings of bags or pickpocketing.

On to other things I don’t understand. 

On Tuesday, there was a very small electrical fire in the basement of one of the wings of the Georges Pompidou Hospital – probably THE flagship hospital in the public hospital system in Paris.  It is modern, it is high-tech, relatively.  That is to say that much of the hospital is run by computer.  We often pass by this hospital when we go to walk in the absolutely lovely Parc André Citroën.

You’d think that in a well designed, modern hospital like this a minor problem would not cause much disorder, because there are bypass systems and backup systems.

The first clue that this hospital may not be so well designed was several years ago when I believe I recall that they had a bit of a problem with Legionnaire’s Disease due to the inadequate ventilation system.

Then the hospital had its problems during the deadly heat wave of 2003.

Now this minor little electrical fire that didn’t even produce much smoke brought the hospital to its knees.  All of the operating rooms had to be shut down.  The hospital had to stop receiving emergency patients. 50-some cardiology patients in that wing had to be transferred to other parts of the hospital.  Fortunately, because of the vacation season with no heat wave, there were plenty of beds available. 

The fire damaged a low-voltage electrical panel.  That’s all it took to cause this major disruption.  I have not yet read in the newspaper that things are back to normal there.

And on that subject of health care, a man named Paul Dutton has written a reasonable commentary for the Boston Globe, reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, that is something I can completely agree with in regard to the French system vs. the U.S. system.  Click here to read it.  He does not address the problems with France’s 2-tier system and the quality of care problems here.  But everything he says about the superior French system for access to health care is right on, in my opinion.

I note that he is an academic and a scholar; not a journalist or a documentary filmmaker.   In my book, that gives him more credibility on this complicated subject.

I just made a terrific big lunch of seasoned, breaded and fried pork chops, sautéed vegetables, and puréed potatoes.  Our plan is that after we’re finished working, we’ll take our very long walk and then just nibble on a few light things for supper.

Yesterday, we cut the work day very short to go over and fix the phone problem at the apartment in the 6th.  (It simply was off the hook!)  So then we took time to orient Wendy and June to the neighborhood a bit more thoroughly, and we had a nice lunch at the Nicolas café in the Marché St. Germain.  They seem to be having fun.

 

←Previous    Next→

 

Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook.