Today the weather was amazingly fine. Really baking hot and with a perfectly blue sky. It was also a public holiday so there was no school.
I pottered down to the Institut Franco-Japonnais to see what the library was like. I half expected it to be closed. The building was unlocked but there was no one at reception so I just wandered in. I strolled all around, took the French proficiency test on the computers in the lobby and found a small theatre upstairs. Even the library was unlocked with its thousands of books and DVDs. I spent a good while browsing and then pushed off without being challenged by anyone.
In England, to find such an institution unlocked and unmanned would be inconceivable; but I do not think it was an accident here. This is a country where you leave your umbrella in a rack outside the supermarket, come back 3 rainy hours later and find it still there. I know because I tried (using the hotel's umbrella). The other day, in the very heart of the city (their Oxford Street), a man cycled up and went into the bank. He was gone for some time but he just left his bike outside, propped up and unlocked. It remained. What a pleasure to see, especially for someone who's lived in Oxford.
I then found a good spot to bask in the sun by some water. I read my book on kanji. It was rubbish. Now abandoned. It was very pleasant looking around, though. Dad would have liked the fish.
I came back early to catch the opening of reservations for the Christmas season at the Paris Opera. Everything there sells out very quickly and I have it in mind to pay a visit when I come home. The demand for tickets is so high there is an online queuing system even to make it onto the website. So I duly queued for 45 minutes but when my allocated turn to browse came up, the website was playing silly buggers.
I spent an hour and a half going around in tiny circles trying to select seats before the system kicked me off and tried to make me queue again. Another 45 minutes later, I found all the good seats had gone. So I ordered the cheap ones and only once I had paid did the system decide to offer me something within decent distance of the stage. Very, very frustrating. The whole episode took 4 bloody hours. At one point during the going round in circles part I punched my desk several times very hard. At least, since I ended up with the cheapest ticket at €16, it won't matter so much if I fail to make it...
Took up all my swimming time. Pf.
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