THINGS I BOUGHT (AND DIDN'T BUY) IN PARIS...

I think the way I relate to Paris has changed after so many years of going there. I didn't so much as sniff a macaron. I am just going to come out and say it: I'm not very interested in macarons anymore. There.

But two hours after arriving, which conveniently coincided with lunch time, I sat in a very normal cafe, in a very quiet back street. I ate an excellent lunch of pork loin with beans, drank a glass of wine, then had some fromage blanc with honey. And I observed many other people doing the same, except they all had coffee as well. Eating lunch, taking their time, most of them with work colleagues, no phones, no laptops, just lunch. Savoured. Conversation flowing. And a single waiter who got everything right, who was doing that dance of cutting bread, bringing orders, pouring wine and never missing a beat. And I felt very grateful that there are still cities in the world where ordinary people can do that, and that I could do it too. I had to wipe away a little tear. It always wallops me right in the soul somehow when I see the Parisian daily lunch in full swing. I had one of those moments where I felt really really happy and sad as well - exactly like her (right at the end. I wasn't a huge fan of much of Paris Je T'Aime, but that last segment by Alexander Payne is genius.) I found I didn't want anything much except a coffee sitting at a terrasse in the morning, a good lunch every day, to meet up with friends and to amble around. All accomplished.

 So this time I didn't go crazy at Isabel Marant or Vanessa Bruno or APC - even though it was the second markdown in the sales. What I actually bought was: 1 bougainvillea plant + a bonus free gardenia plant, 3 linen pillowcases from Merci (2 dark grey, one blue/grey) (I will buy the duvet cover when I've remortgaged my flat and sold that superfluous second kidney), 1 notebook, 2 Petit Marsellais liquid soaps, 1 bottle of Crealine H20 cleanser to keep me going. And that's it. Here is the much blathered about (by me) bed linen section at Merci, and my pillows...

I share these last three unremarkable photos taken at Merci for one reason only. How come a different man wearing khaki trousers and a shirt got into each of them? Strange...