This weekend (a four-day weekend!) has been wonderful. I went to Paris for the weekend to see my family for a bit, including my 92-year old grandmother, my goddaughter (yes, I'm a godfather), and my cousins. Paris was lovely, and as usual it was sunnier and warmer than London ;-) One thing I still don't understand about Paris is the fact that you're not allowed to walk on the grass in parks. What is the grass for then?
Lots of shopping and drinking afterwards, we get back in London in time to head off to the park to enjoy the Queen's Jubilee party. We got there around 1pm, had lunch at Pizza on the Park, hung around the many stages in Hyde Park, stopped for a smoothie and then grabbed some beer and camped out in front of a huge screen by Marble Arch to see the concert, which was great. New groups to please the young crowd, old songs to please the rest. The Queen did look a bit bored, but the fireworks later on were amazing. Easily the best I've seen. Big! Colourful! Heart-shaped fireworks! Two circles at right angles to each other! Champagne! Way wonderful. Queenie sure throws a good party.
I've just gone to see Bombay Dreams, the new Lloyd Webber's musical - a love story set in the Indian movie industry. Excellent indeed. Back to work tomorrow, a three day week. If only I had the time to do all the Perl things on my todo list...
Now if only I could understand why Dan doesn't like set I1, P1[I0]...
What? You were in Paris this week-end and did not contact the Paris Perl Mongueurs?
We would have loved to see you again, and would certainly have setup a meeting just for you, at our usual place. (even though our last tries with people from abroad failed horribly...)
Re:In Paris, and you did not meet the mongueurs
acme on 2002-06-05T11:47:56
To be honest, I didn't have any free time at all in Paris. I would have loved to. Oh, and you Parisian obfuscators scare me!;-)
One thing I still don't understand about Paris is the fact that you're not allowed to walk on the grass in parks. What is the grass for then?
One thing to know is that there are gardens in which you can walk and lie on the grass. Well, you're breaking the rules but no one will care. Two of them (the only two I go to) are the Parc de Belleville and the Buttes Chaumont. I quite like those parks, if you ever visit them drop me an email and I'll bring the wine.
I think the main reason why it's forbidden in most places is because the French know nothing about grass. In other words, if it's green and on the ground, that's enough. Walking on the grass would (and in fact does) kill it. Why French gardeners don't go learn about real grass abroad is beyond me, but it's certainly something we could consider requesting from Delanoë
Re:Parisian gardens
acme on 2002-06-05T13:48:22
I moved from Paris to London when I was 3 years old and apparently I ran around Hyde Park asking my mother if I was really allowed to walk on the grass;-) Re:Parisian gardens
jmm on 2002-06-05T14:13:15
Back in the 1950's, the director of the Toronto Parks authority put up signs in all of the public parks saying: "Please walk on the grass". I never knew before who might be needing explicit signs for that.Re:Parisian gardens
jhi on 2002-06-05T19:23:28
Parks in Helsinki have small signs saying something to the effect "All sorts of enjoying yourself (while not disturbing others) ABSOLUTELY ALLOWED."
