Hot Cars and Cold Café

New Metropole Paris 'Scene' Page

Paris:- Monday, 5. October 1998:- Starting with this issue, the 'Events' and 'Coming Events' are moving from this page to their own page, which is called 'Scene,' for want of a better word, and because it is five letters long.

This is an experiment - partly prompted by requests for information from readers. Also, because not all readers see every issue, some long-running Paris events have been featured on this page for consecutive issues - and this may be boring for regular readers - even though I change text occasionally to see if anybody is paying attention.

The new page, 'Metropole Paris - Scene,' will have new items as a lead, followed by ongoing events and events about to close. Further down the page there will be a changing selection of coming events, under headings such as 'Théâtre,' 'Opéra' and 'Dance.' This order of items may be changed later, but this is how it will be arranged.

This is not going to start as a complete or completely thought-out effort. It'll take a couple of issues to get up to speed. Or more than a couple.

Many items in 'Scene' will be second- hand; found in other publications. Up until now I have been getting some information directly from a few primary sources, but this is a bit haphazard - and I want to start a systematic collection of information. For example I will try to get the official program for the Opéra directly from the Opéra.

Other sources will be informal. Good examples of finding 'news' are the posters for events that I see on my underground travels in the métro. There are posters for everything all over, and the trouble with them is they are 'all over.'

Another is this week's '100 Years of Tango: Paris - Buenos Aires' program, which arrived by luck. This is a tiny item in both Friday's 'Libération' and the latest 'Nova' - for a big Paris event in the - growing - tango world.

Each and every single event taking place in Paris is not going to find itself on this 'Scene' page. This would be too much. On the other hand, there are going to be some items on it that the Paris Tourist Office knows nothing about - and they know a lot.

I expect readers will be another source - by asking questions. By having done this already, you get a new page after all. So it's only fair that you help me to fill it up. Who wants Opéra? Who prefers ballet instead?

Next week, I'll talk about 'Café' things again on this page. Right now I'm rollered out and tangoed to death.

Setting up your own country may never have occurred to you if you never happen to live, as I did, near some physical place where there was just the remotest chance of pulling it off. This was the stuff of dreams and worth quite a number of evenings of discussion.

But now that the Internet is here and seems to be everywhere, the idea of 'setting up a country' is taking shape, and some people have moved beyond talking to 'form' virtual countries.

Friday's Libération had a big feature about this. From its five 'countries' I have picked two, after having visited all of them. I didn't stay long enough anywhere to get citizenship or another passport and I didn't get busted for illegal entry, but the République Libre du Frioul and the République de Lomar look like they may be around for a while.

Lomar seems to be headed for French-English bilingualism and it already has snazzy-looking stamps and official-looking citizenship application forms; so be ready to fill out forms - just like in any other, real, country.

Science is a big activity in France as a result of the educational system's mania for it. Science Week is supposed to increase the public's awareness of what science is up to; to explain the relationships between schools, researchers, labs, students, organizations and monsieur and madame on the street