all that's missing is the cigarette

I made myself put up Spear Hit posters today. Three posters: that was my goal. Then I could reward myself.
Lunch here is big, and dinner is usually late (one of the apartments I looked at served dinner, and the lady told me they usually ate at seven so the kids could get to bed, and said she hoped that wasn’t too late.) You can see where this is going. In Britain sometime when there were more kings and queens and ladies in waiting, some princess just couldn’t go that long without eating, and tea was born. Here it’s a little less of an institution. But generally people will stop and have a bite to eat and something stimulating or relaxing sometime around four. I’ve been trying for weeks to just duck into one of the little coffee/pastry shops to sample something.
Patisserie du Palais is right across from Le Palais de Justice, the big court house. There would have a lovely view of its old façade, complete with gargoyles and the like, if it didn’t happen to be under construction at the moment. I’ve only seen one building actually being built around here, but seems like all the old buildings are constantly under repair. Or there are signs all around them saying not to stand too close because chunks of them keep falling off.
The inside of the patisserie makes up for the disorder outside: track lighting, warm orange walls, a huge case filled with marzipan, chocolates, vienoisseries (pain au chocolat, croissants, brioche, anything really that’s not quite bread and not quite pastry), meringues, macaroons, charlottes, mousses, cakes, tartes, tortes etc etc etc… I manage to pick out a sable aux noisettes, a sort of hazelnut shortbread, I think, to go with my café au lait. Next time I think I’ll splurge on something, as I don’t plan to make a habit out of this.
After scrambling for a few minutes to find a pen so I could write all this down and have something to do with my hands (and not being able to find one,) I decide I should just concentrate on savoring. Maybe Pascal was on the right track…maybe sitting still isn’t so bad after all. My coffee is brought to me in a small cup, half filled, with a little pitcher of frothed milk, a little paper tube of sugar, and a tiny spoon to stir with, on which lies a single glazed almond. Small quantity, sheer quality. As I stir my coffee in the calm of the shop, gazing at the muted traffic outside, I can’t help thinking: This sure beats Starbucks.
Vocabulaire:
Briguer: to solicit (an honor or a post) Il briguera un siege de depute de Gironde en 2007
Enclencher: to engage (like in star trek, I think… it says "tech" in the dictionary…) il est accuse d’avoir enclenché le genocide.
Attiser: to poke (as in a fire) figuratively: to stir up. Il a accuse certains journaux égyptiens d’avoir attisé les tensions.
Étau(x) (masculine): vise (grip) L’étau se resserre autour du president libanais après le rapport Mehlis.
Interpeller: to call out to, to question (someone speaking at a meeting), to take (someone) in for questioning. Il a été interpellé Samedi sur ordre du procureur général. Or Ce roman m’a interpellé: I could really relate to that novel.
Attentat: attack attenter à: to make an attempt. Attenter à ses jours: to attempt suicide
Verrou: bolt. Sous les verrous: behind bars.
Étayer: to shore up (a wall), to support (a theory). Ces elements pourraient étayer un deuxième rapport de l’ONU.
Tendance (when adj.): trendy?
Siglé(e)(s): abbreviated?
Retentissant(e): resounding (success), major (scandal): Il y aura ces retentissantes
Colères d’objets