Paris bulletin 6 2017

I arrive back in Paris in mid-September to find the plane trees are beginning to drop their leaves along the boulevards and the grass in the parks is bare in patches after a long hot summer. My first walk of the autumn takes me off the boulevard de Magenta, along the rue du Faubourg St Martin and onto the rue St Martin. I’m going vaguely in the direction of the Centre Pompidou but without any urgency. L’air doux et les rues vides invitent à la flânerie, which no single word in English can adequately translate. 

I pass the enormous mairie du 10ème, a 19^th century statement in stone, whose construction costs were enormous – far greater than for any other of the town halls in Paris. Let your eye travel over its contours monumentaux and you can why. Not there aren’t some almost as imposing in other arrondissements. Draped across its façade is a banner inviting votes for the budget participatif. 

Voting is on now until 1 October. You can vote for 5 projects in your local area and 5 for the city as a whole. I do so a few days after this Sunday afternoon walk, at one of the mobile voting booths in a square nearby. It’s manned by a young man who is keen to practise his English and tell me all about his recent trip to London and Bristol. I give double stars – whether that’s allowed or not – to better facilities for migrants and refugees. Despite the Mairie’s efforts to make the process more people-friendly the budget participatif doesn’t feel very participatory, or not to this voter. Most of the projects which have got through the selection process seem to be about beautifying the city or making it more eco-friendly. Laudable objectives, although looking around, I can’t help thinking they’re making the icing before they’ve baked the cake. 

Back to my walk and I’m wandering on past le Splendid, the little theatre where Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett first performed and home of la troupe du Splendid in the 1970/80s. A few steps on at 325 rue St Martin there's the elaborate wrought-iron frontage of Jean Paul Gaultier's HQ. 

musée des Arts et Métiers

Next is the musée des Arts et Métiers, which has nothing to do with art as in painting, theatre etc and everything to do with mechanical engineering, inventions and applied science generally. The biggest exhibits are held in what was once l’église de St Martin des Champs (‘des champs’ because at that time the area was beyond the city boundary). Among its thousands of treasures, the museum has the original model of the Statue of Liberty by Auguste Bartholi and various versions of Blaise Pascal’s ‘Pascaline’ – the first mechanical calculator. (Closed on Mondays; entry fee 8 euros).

looking down on the esplanade, le centre Pompidou

On Monday life resumes. The streets fill up with people and vehicles and I get myself round the corner to give a hand with the refugee and migrant breakfasts. Like the men we serve we have no permanent home, nothing even as fixed as an awning overhead. At present we set up three camping tables at the rear of the Esplanade Nathalie Sarraute from where we dispense ready-sugared tea and coffee to between 200 – 300 people. 

petits déjeuners, Esplanade Nathalie Sarraute, 

Anything from 4 to 6 volunteers turn scores of baguettes into chocolate spread and jam sandwiches; there are viennoiseries and les invendus from local shops. We have found storage space in the back quarters of the local youth hostel and local café managers willing to fill our giant thermoses with boiling water. The atmosphere is good, grounded, helpful. We move between English, French, a few words of Arabic, Italian and Farsi. You want active community participation? Look no further.