Bittersweet moment on a Paris street.

He : "Excuse Madame"

She: "I am sorry I don't speak French"

He: "My English is very bad"

She "My French too"

He: "Have you got a cigarette"?

She: " I am sorry,I don't smoke"

He: "No problem,au revoir Madame"

And the young man walked away.leaving the the older woman with an acute sense of loss.

May 2004 ,Paris, Helen Collins

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Kindness of strangers- 2nd two weeks

Image
  I travel on the shuttle bus almost every day to get to the train station in Zongsye. I have been surprised at how many people have talked to me in english. One woman told me her daughter worked in America and while visiting  her and she had picked up a little English . When she finished speaking to me I said my name is Helen , she responded with I am 82 :) Another woman got on the bus and sat by me her husband sat behind her.  She had just come back to Taiwan after 45 years in Chicago . She told me she was 87 but her husband was old at 93.   She was here to sell her apartment in Fontainebleau Apartments now that she was sure they would not come back to live.She told be it was going to be her sons 60th birthday this year and I told her I was her for my son's 50th birthday. Almost everything I told both of these woman they told the driver; who nodded and smiled at me. I met a school boy on the bus who asked me in perfect english where I was from; he was interest...
Read more

Epilogue ; Liverpool ; some last pictures randomly placed.

Image
 On our last night Philip and Trs gave me lovely gifts from Tainan and Kaoushiung and I gave them some gifts too. I felt quite weepy most of my penultimate day; I spent most of the day packing and recovering from a 3.00 AM late night with lots of wine. On my last day we went for a lovely walk in the campus and had a coffee in my favourite little cafe. It was quite emotional being back at The Mountain House.  I finished my packing had a shower and got dressed in my travel clothes. We watched Philip's 50th birthday video of the pictures from the boat celebration and the Lightmans video. It was gorgeous to see it all again but of course tugged at my heartstrings. Philip showed how many things there are to watch on youtube; I had no idea. We watched videos of the places we had been on out travels. It was so good to see them all again. Bin collections in Taiwan on youtube. https://www.google.com/search?q=music+of+taiwan+big+lorries&oq=music+of+taiwan+big+lorries&gs_lcrp=EgZ...
Read more

My final Blog from Taiwan

Image
 After posting my penultimate blog I felt a wee bit sad. It is complicated for me because my two sons live in different parts of the world. When I am with one I miss the other; I realise many folk would say I am lucky to spend so much time with my grown up sons and I am .I am truly grateful for them and for my three step children their partners and my eight grandchildren I have much to be grateful for .I know I am blessed  I am looking forward so much to seeing Andrew and Lucy soon , then, J&E P&S and the six grandchildren in UK,  AND, I am going to miss seeing so much of Philip and Teresa. I always adapt quickly after the final goodbyes; often is is the build up to it that throws me in to sadness a sense of loss. It is a mini grief. Andrew and Lucy have organised a long weekend in Scotland for us soon after I get home and I will see many of my family there including my new grand niece. I have booked to go to Castalla in late September till mid October and that is...
Read more