Paris - random observations

- The very first thing I noticed when I set foot in Paris was this drinks machine:

It's the first time I've seen a machine where the drinks are held upside down. Also, the high price (2.5 EUR) was a sign of things to come.

- The general level of civility in Paris seemed a bit higher than in the UK:

• Beggars on the metro walked through the carriage, placing cards next to each person carrying an explanation of their situation and asking for a little money. When they got to the end of the carriage, they turned around and headed back down to collect the cards and any donations.
• Paris is positively brimming with bookshops, all of which seemed to be run by independent operators. It's a stark contrast to the Books etc, Waterstone's duopoly in England and it certainly lends the city a scholarly, learned air. We even noticed that in the Latin Quarter the fashion amongst teenagers was to have slightly long, fashionable scruffy hair that can best be described as scholarly in appearance.
  
• Advertisements hang loose in the metro trains. I reckon these wouldn't last more than a few days on the London Tube before being pulled down by some yahoo.

• In Montemarte, an artist propositioned me for a portrait commission. I kindly declined and she happily responded with 'Maybe next time' - I thought I was supposed to say that.
  
• Egalite! Beyond the homeless people you expect to find in any city, I found the French to be much more uniform and equal in appearance. Perhaps this is suggestive of a greater level of equality than is found in London. I wonder if this commonality may be part of a greater sense of union and feeling of belonging together as a people. This is certainly less the case as you move away from the center of Paris, but it contrasts with the main streets of London (e.g Oxford Street) where the people appear much more diverse with respect to their social background, style of dress, etc. I enjoy the independence and diversity that London has to offer and believe it is a better celebration of the self, but the price we pay for the wide-ranging diversity is a higher number of people who feel excluded and form their own rebellious tribes (e.g. chavs).
  
• The chairs in the public parks were of excellent quality and they they were not monitored by security guards or CCTV, nor did users have to pay for the privilege for a good sit-down. Contrast this to the UK, where public deckchairs cost a pound or two for a few hours of use, and where public furniture not being steadfastly fixed to the ground leads to its quick disappearance.
• At the end of the working day in London, bins often have free newspapers scatted about them in such a way that suggests some people aren't even aiming for the bins. In the Paris metro, I noticed the a bin was stuffed with free papers that had been carefully rolled up and slotted in, with not a single paper on on the floor. One would need to control for the number of bins to make a fair assessment as Paris seems to have a much higher number of bins per head, but I'm sure the point would still hold. I took this picture when I got back to London:

• Even the graffiti was a notch above, although this was in the artists district of Montmartre:

- While the public chairs are free to use, the cafe's charge a small fortune if you want to sit down and watch the world go by. It's an effective form of price discrimination as locals often drink their coffee and eat their pastry quickly at the bar before heading on to work, whereas tourists want to linger about for much longer. That said, it still feels weird coming from London, where you pay a only a fraction more for the privilege for eating in versus eating out. Also, there is no price difference based on where you sitting if you do decide to eat in. As for the average quality of the coffee, Paris wins hands down.

- Crepes and snacks in the tourist areas don't seem much more expensive than in the side streets. It's almost as if the food and drink vendors have colluded to offer their produce within a fixed, high price range. In London, there is a much higher diversity of price, even around the key tourist spots such as Leicester Square. I wonder if the lack of price diversity is matched by a lack of price flexibility? Despite the disappointing expense of eating and drinking out, the supermarkets really do save the day, and if the weather is nice it's a pleasure to eat a picnic type meal al fresco. I have written a bit more on Parisian price observations over at Daily Speculations.

- C&A is a clothing store from my childhood years. When it disappeared from the UK high street about a decade ago I just assumed the company had gone bankrupt. Not the case: