bigbluemeanie
Navigation
About This Site
About | Bluemeanie | Scarlett
A personal weblog with photographs and comments. Quiet ramblings, quite rambling...
- You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life - Albert Camus
Members
Most recent entries
- Artificially green
- Watching the traffic
- London Mayor
- Wet and muddy
- Looking Greenwich up and down
- On my bike
- Making Hay
- The previous cycle route
- Back to Woldingham Viewpoint
- The nasty way to travel
- Heaven and hell
- Berlin cycle lanes
- Kurbelstange (deformiert)
- Ebbsfleet International Railway Platform
- Police incident in Tandridge
Recent entries with comments
- London Mayor - (1)
- Looking Greenwich up and down - (2)
- Police incident in Tandridge - (2)
- British War Criminals - (2)
- Checkpoint Charlie - (3)
- Oxted from the “Woldingham Viewpoint” - (5)
- A figure of defiance - (1)
- What really happened in Croydon? - (3)
- Bike hire in Berlin - (1)
- Brandenberg Gate - (1)
- Three Way Chess - (1)
- Gamelan instruments - (2)
- Oh no! John! - (2)
- “Bells and Smells” Mass - (1)
- Turn cash into less cash - (6)
Feeds
Categories
Monthly Archives
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
Links
- Full linklist
- Bluemeanie.org
- Scarlett's weblog
- GeoURL
- Blogflux
- LS Blogs
- Blogwise
- Wikablog
- Technorati
- Blogarama
- Oxted Frappr
- Bloggernity.com
- The Blog Directory
- The Green Providers Directory
Lately listening to
Site Statistics
- This website has been viewed 365519 times
- Page rendered in 0.8078 seconds
- 49 queries executed
Site Credits
- Powered by: ExpressionEngine
- Based on a design by:
BlogMoxie 
The original content of this blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
France
While in Paris yesterday I spotted this article in Liberation, (French).
For the lazy reader, here’s the Franglish version which has the advantage of reading a bit like a Hello Hello script. Add your own phoney accent.
Tracy Emin’s current exhibition, part of the Folkstone Triennial
is meant to highlight the town’s high incidence of teenage pregnancy. She has cast a series of baby clothes in bronze, and then over-painted them to look like the real thing - a child’s sandle, a jumper, a bonnet. Teenage pregnancy is hardly a Folkestone-specific problem however. Then there is the difficulty of finding the darned exhibits in the first place. If you are lucky, you can spot them about the town, but Emin insisted that they should not be accompanied by anything that would indicate their presence - no title; no caption of any kind - which makes it extremely difficult for anyone seeking out the work
The grumpy quote is by Michael Glover, writing in the New Statesman (link above).
I think it’s a great concept. And I hope that it changes the way that people look at these everyday objects which one tends to find scattered around our towns and cities. The one above I found in the 17éme arrondissement of Paris.
I think these are so cool. I spotted them yesterday afternoon on the Paris metro (at Chatelet). Many of these so-called African prints don’t come from Africa. I remember reading somewhere that the clothes for the recent Number One Ladies Detective Agency film were made from cloth produced in Scotland.
I like the way this “weedy” meadow grass is cultivated on the pavement verge here in the Western suburb of Nanterre Ville, Paris. The opposite verge was freshly mown.
Continuing a recent theme of political stickers and graffiti, I thought I would post two photographs of very different messages which I spotted in Nanterre last week. According to Wikipedia, 25 percent of the population of Nanterre was born outside of Metropolitan France, with 14 percent being non-EU immigrants. The swastika sprayed onto this lamppost is therefore more likely to be directly aimed at these immigrants (rather than at Jewish residents of the suburb for example). Then again are Nazis known for being fussy about who they hate?
The next photograph shows a sticker I found on a lamppost outside the Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Nanterre Prefecture, proclaiming Solidarity between Peoples. It is typical of the kind of political sticker or poster one sees in these parts, redolent of struggle imagery that seems to belong to an earlier era..
I have mentioned before that Nanterre is where the 1968 riots all started, and I wonder if this explains the imagery - is it some kind of nostalgia for the past in the same way as the right-wing graffiti, with the swastika could also be seen to be evoking facist nostalgia?
The next sticker I found fits this theory. To announce a protest against the first anniversary of the inauguration of Sarkozy as president of France it uses the images of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two symbols of the world-wide protests in 1968.
The third man on the podium that day was the Australian Peter Norman, who won the silver medal.
The gold and bronze medalists were Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, respectively. On the medal podium, during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Smith and Carlos famously joined in a black power salute.
What is less known is that Norman, a white Australian, donned a badge on the podium in support of their cause, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). It was also Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos had left his gloves in the Olympic Village. This is the reason for Tommie Smith raising his right fist, while John Carlos raised his left. Asked about his support of Smith and Carlos’ cause by the world’s press, Norman said he opposed his country’s government’s White Australia policy.
Australia’s Olympic authorities reprimanded him and the Australian media ostracized him. Despite qualifying 15 times for the 100m and five times for the 200m during 1971/72 the Australian Olympic track team did not pick Norman for the 1972 Summer Olympics. That year was the first ever where no Australian sprint team went to the Olympics.
He kept running, but contracted gangrene in 1985 after tearing his Achilles Tendon during a training session, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression and heavy drinking followed. Norman died of a heart attack on October 3, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia at the age of 64. US Track and Field Federation proclaimed October 9, 2006, the date of his funeral, as Peter Norman Day. Both Smith and Carlos were pall-bearers at Norman’s funeral.
Bonus link: Protest in Nanterre in November 2007 - two groups of students (and the police) clash over whether the University should be blockaded or not.
Here’s a short video I took on Thursday night alongside the Eurostar tracks in Fresnoy in the North of France.
We left Ebbsfleet at 18h15, expecting to arrive in Paris just over 2 hours later (21h20 local time). On passing through the tunnel we were advised that the train was making a 10 minute stop in Calais as there were problems with the train’s power. We did so, and proceeded on our way, being told that there was a problem with the train’s battery and that we would be getting into Paris 30 minutes late. Those of us who were in carriages which had power (some passengers were plunged into darkness when the sun set, and did not pick up any tannoy announcments) were advised at regular intervals as to the progress (or lack thereof) of the train. The expected time of arrival in Paris slipped each time: 22:40, 23:00, midnight, ... We were also advised that the train had slowed to a speed of 20 km per hour. Every 10 minutes or so a fast train overtook us, buffeting our train from side to side as it whizzed past, and there were frequent stops to allow trains to overtake.
Slowly we edged on to Fresnoy where we were told another train would be waiting to whisk us to Paris. By this time we had heard that there was a celebrity on board, and a strange smell came wafting down the carriages. At Fresnoy we didn’t stop at a station but in the middle of the countryside. It was now midnight (local time) and we all clambered out the train, with our belongings, and waited about 30 minutes as our train reversed back and a TGV (high-speed train) pulled in from the opposite direction. We then scrambled aboard that (more comfortable!) train and made our way to Paris where we arrived at 2:15 on Friday morning.
That was not the end of our woes. The Paris metro had ceased operations so we all had to join a long queue at the taxi rank. It took me about an hour to get to the front of the queue and onto a taxi. I got to my hotel on the Western outskirts of Paris at only 4:00 am. However waiting for the taxis we were treated to the sight of Pete Doherty walking out of the station, strumming his guitar surrounded by a posse of about 15 young women who were all holding up their mobile phones, which were lit-up . It looked like they were paying homage with candles to some minor deity, but of course they were taking photos/videos. It was a sight to behold, but I declined to join the posse and take photos of Pete.
Anyway, the report of the event has some interesting information:
Bah ouau, I just can’t wait to take up my free return compensation journey! There was an article over at the Independent which gave some background to the Doherty gig but it has disappeared from their site. As consolation here’s the Doherty expresses surprise that jail is full of gansters article from a month ago.The head of Eurostar promised swift action Friday after a high-speed cross-Channel train carrying British rocker Pete Doherty limped into Paris almost five hours late.
The controversial Babyshambles artist—among some 500 unlucky passengers on the London to Paris service—was forced to cancel a solo acoustic gig in Paris to the disappointment of some 2,000 fans.
...
After chugging at reduced speed through the French countryside for several hours—half of the train in the dark and with no staff information, a passenger said—the 500 travellers were finally made to switch change trains at Fresnoy in northern France, pulling into Paris at 2:15 am (0015 GMT).
Eurostar said the problem was caused by an electrical failure in one of the train’s batteries.
Furious passengers were offered taxi rides and hotel rooms upon arriving in Paris, and promised a refund and a free return ticket by way of compensation.
Eurostar chairman Guillaume Pepy said he was “extremely unhappy about this new incident,” according to a statement from French state rail operator SNCF.
Pepy said he he had asked Eurostar’s managing director Nicolas Petrovic to “immediately take all practical steps to avoid customers suffering such inconvenience again.”
The sticker on the road sign refers to the (unsuccessful) campaign to stop Nicolas Sarkozy from becoming President of France. The website is now as faded as this sticker: it hasn’t been updated for over a year now.
M Sarkozy is now known as “Mr Bruni”, husband of the model and singer, Carla. I took the photo earlier this week in a Parisian suburb.
Judging by the name of this establishment (that sells food and drink at a railway station in Paris) the UK does not hold a monopoly on cheesy shop names.
At least I’m assuming it’s a pun!
Well it’s been a rough day. I got to my Parisian hotel (and bed) at only 4 am this morning after my escapades of last night. Good night.
And here we are wandering through the night along the tracks.
This is not good. We have stopped in Calais due to power problems with the train, and the conductor is asking passengers to be patient. There’s a little brat screaming in our carriage; I wish the parents would take him for a walk.
No indication of if (or when) the train is going to get going again so it’s hard to be patient.
I took this a few weeks ago during my trip to Paris.
The green cross on this roll-down security gate is not part of the grafitti that has been added to the gate. The green cross indicates a pharmacy. I took the photo in Paris recently.
I’ve not had this before now - the Eurostar train stopping between stations outside a village somewhere in France (not sure exactly where). It’s a bit disturbing in the light of recent events but we only stopped for about 10 minutes and then were on our way again.
Pet Peeve:
Every BBC story on the Eurostar is illustrated by the same photograph of a high-speed train. Surely our national broadcaster can do better. I have moaned about this kind of thing in the past: the BBC uses the same photos of tame boar for every story they ever have about wild boar!
Graffiti with a social or political message, spotted at Stade de France in Paris. Presumably there’s supposed to be an acute accent on the last letter of each verb, making it “exploited and assassinated”. But what does does it refer to, and at whom is it directed?
Filed under: Europe • France • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
I’m back in Paris this week and there’s something going on in rue Bayen (just of Avenue Niel) in the 17éme arrondissement. A few minutes ago the fire brigade were the only emergency services on the scene. However a police car has just pulled in too. There is no smoke or any other sign of fire. Perhaps it’s a training exercise.