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Newsletter No.3
Friday, 4th March, 2005 Dear "Paris Set Me Free" Visitor,
Welcome to the latest issue of the brand new and unique FREE Creative Paris Newsletter: "Kiss That Frog".
Contents
1) Introduction - Welcome to the City of Light & Love!
2) SPONSOR'S SPACE ! - The Great People Who Keep Us Going !
3) Parisian Picks - photos
4) Paris Daze - personal notes
5) Pause Poétique - contributions welcome
6) History Corner - this is.. Paris
7) Weird & Wonderful - strange & obscure facts & findings
8) Hint of the Week - not a lot of people know this, but...
9) Readers' Letters - have your say
10) This Week - a snapshot of the latest news
11) Quote of the Week - Paris inspired...
12) This Week's Special Offer!
13) Contacting Us, Related Links and Subscription Info
14) Copyright notice
1) Introduction
Welcome, Paris-Lover and Friend!
Although this picture below was taken on the first of November 2004, it is now four months later and I'm only now managing to get another Kiss That Frog up on the site - sorry!
This shot is of one of my absolute favourite places in the whole of Paris - a little garden on the very tip of Ile de la Cité called Square de Vert-Galant. Vert-Galant, meaning 'hearty gallant' was Henri the Fourth's nickname, as he was quite a one for the ladies... scandalous!
The ONLY place to take photos of this is from the marvelous Pont des Arts, the 'artist's bridge, a pedestrian-only passage over the Seine, extremely romantic and lively, where I met my girlfriend last summer, by the way. A couple of poems that meeting inspired can be read on my personal artistic site, Mystic Rhythms, here: Bridge Girl / She Shines.
So it is with very positive and indeed romantic thoughts that I send you this latest edition of Kiss That Frog, my very personal view of this amazing city I live in - the city of Paris...
I'm currently working hard to get my sites updated and up-to-date as quickly as possible, so please bear with me as I add new content on a rather sporadic basis. I'm going to concentrate firstly on getting a sizable amount of interesting Paris photos up so that there is at least something great to look at, which people generally like. Once that's sorted out I'll be getting more words up, linked to pictures, in the form of my diary, Pardonnez-Moi, and my Walk This Way section where I scour, scrawl and snap literally every street in the capital. It's a monstrous job but love will pull me through...
I'd love to hear from you, so please do let me know what you think of the site by getting in touch with your comments - thanks a lot!
***2) SPONSOR'S SPACE
This week's sponsor is FUSAC, a great free publication with ads for the English-speaking community in Paris. Although it is uniquely an ads mag, there is an amazing number of interesting things in there of use to expats and visitors alike - you can find a copy in many of the restaurants, pubs and bookshops with an English language connection. And placing ads in FUSAC does work.
If you are interested in publicising your Paris-related site, event or product here, do let us know and you'll become an official Kiss That Frog sponsor (and help us to survive at the same time)! We ask a small amount of money or even better a reciprocal arrangement for promoting the site through your publication or business - please get in touch!
 3a) Parisian Picks (part 1)
This amazing shot comes from one of my new sections - Street Crawlers, which is part of my reorganisation of the Paris Set Me Free site. The idea is that pics which don't fit into my Walk This Way section, or my diary section, will find a natural home here. These will be spontaneous shots taken on the fly, without a particular theme in mind. I don't envisage writing much text to go with them - just some great images to make you think and dream and wonder, as they do me.
I love this shot, with the jiggly, evocative images of four chicks sassily strutting in front of me, on a girls' night out. It was taken on the Nuit Blanche, which means 'white night', which in turn means a night when you don't go to bed! I lie a little about the girls' night out - one of them is my girlfriend, but I love the image and what it conjures up nevertheless.
 3b) Parisian Picks (part 2)
Last time I showed you the passing of autumn leaves on the lovely apartment across the way from me. That apartment is now covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin, and may well never look the same again. I don't know what they're doing to it, but I'm sure that the beautiful ivy which turns pure red in autumn will have been torn down in order to replace the facade, so my across-the-way pics may well be unique and historic in a couple of months... Now look at what Paris looks like today! The pics are heavily compressed unfortunately, but they give you an idea of the view from the window of the British Council teachers' room window on a very chilly February afternoon!
 Looking straight ahead, you can see that tower thing people talk about, behind a row of typical, and no doubt extremely expensive Parisian apartments and the pleasant Esplanade des Invalides where people eat their sandwiches and play football and throw frisbees on milder days. Apparently there is a spy's safe house in one of these apartments, but who knows - there are lots of secrets in Paris, which you'll discover as you read these notes over the months and years...
Looking to the left we notice the impressive Hôtel des Invalides, which isn't a hotel at all, of course, but a war museum and the final resting place of Napoleon.
 To the right is the supposedly most magnificent bridge in Paris, the Pont Alexandre III, although personally I find it a bit too grand. There's no denying that it's impressive thought, with its enormous gold statues and all.
And that's my personal little tribute to a snowy Paris - not a common site these days, as the city is so warm that snow rarely settles any more, not like ten years ago, when we had white winters almost every year. I'm already excited about the Paris shots I'll be showing you next time, so come back soon, ok?!
4) Paris Daze Another very chilly day in Paris, and I'm sitting here wondering when the beautiful days are going to come again. I've totally had enough of teaching English and I'm desperate to get out. Kids? You can keep 'em! I teach kids every day, and I've had ENOUGH! Next year... no more kids! I'm promising myself that. I just have to find a way of making enough money to stay in Paris and pay for the apartment and the internet and web sites and painting materials and so on. If I can do that then I'll be happy. I say a site today by a guy who has done exactly the same as what I'm doing here - creating a personal site about Paris, even down to providing personal walking tours around the city. I wonder if he makes enough money to survive. I'd quite like to do that I think.My girlfriend is totally pissed off with her job too. She wants to be a designer and stylist, but she is working in a stupid boutique with managers who treat her like shit. Life can be tough sometimes. But we'll get there.
This nutty shot with me next to a surreal floating teacup and saucer was taken on the same evening as the girls above, the Nuit Blanche which I talked about earlier. If you're interested in other self-portraits I've messed around with, check out my personal site, Mystic Rhythms, for more weirdness.
So, apart from this winter of discontent, I'm actually very happy. I'm currently working on a top-secret DVD project, so I can't tell you much or I'd have to kill you, but it's very exciting and could open the door to other avenues and most importantly away-from-teaching! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE teaching. This Friday one of my classes of nine and ten year-olds gave a wonderful performance of Winnie The Witch for their parents, with songs, costumes, action, and it was marvelous. But I've done it for ten years now, and I'm really ready to move on. Wish me luck.
Saw Mist last weekend, so great to be able to slip over to Old Blighty on the Eurostar in two and a half hours and a bit. Makes her seem much closer than another country would suggest. Good to see my parents too. You don't realise that people get older, but I saw an older woman in my mother this time. I'm so glad that we kiss hello and goodbye these days. Something I learnt from Greece, so for that I can be thankful for the Hellenic Experience at least.
But as I said, feeling positive, spring is coming, and this year, the year of my fortieth birthday, will be an epoch-changing one - I'm sure of it! I won't be in the same place this time next year. And looking back on these words will bring a smile to my face.
5) Pause Poétique
Here's another weird and wonderful creation which I really hoped would scan, and it does if you read it like what I do, but I'm afraid not if you read it like everyone else. Shame. A poet's lot. But you may manage to get something out of this ode to possibly the most famous landmark in the world - Our Lady Eiffel. A passion-work.
| Me An' Eiffel |
 I'm calling you from Paris
All the world looks up to me
We've come this far
Me an' Eiffel
Can we get much higher
Make it over the bar
With little fuss
Disgracing
I'm crying out from Paris
In this capital of lust
I feel you push
Me an' I fall
Through the safety wire
To crash on crazy paving
Sidewalk weeps
Embracing
We're signalling from Paris
As the world around us turns
Your pearly gaze gives
Me an eyeful
Starry daze we laze
Meanderful
Past towering ambitions
And sky-churning
Lesser thoughts
Enlacing
I'm pushing out from Paris
Don't know what's got into me
But the capital gains most
Me an' I fool
Just about everyone
With phallic fancy
Gallic gall aghast
My big gun thrust
Displacing
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© Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free 2005
 6) History Corner - Part III
In the last edition of Kiss That Frog we learned all about the arrival of Homo Erectus, his physical characteristics, and his problems with the extremely dodgy climate and minimalist fashion-wear. Homo Erectus was also very careful, apparently, going by the picture here, to only ever let his image be rapidly sketched by a passing cave-painter when his leg was subtly covering his life-giving tackle - a shame for the ladies, but evidence that the vestiges of good taste were well in place, even at this early stage... But I digress. So, without further ado, this week it's all about fire and food - let's go! The Conquest of Fire
We've got a first! Good old Europe discovered fire first! Even if London and Paris are at it tooth and nail to bag the Olympic flame for 2012, they can both be proud to belong to the first firey continent on earth. It happened about 400 000 years ago. And what a blessing it was! With fire, man could at last warm up his chilly stone-age extremities, harden the points of his spears, and smoke meat in order to conserve it. Archaeologists reckon that our ancestors used two methods to produce the holy heat.
First they used the technique of hitting flint against a lump of iron pyrites, whatever that may be. The result was... wait for it... exciting, isn't it... SPARKS!
The second method was using the friction of a rapidly rotated stick against another bit of wood to start a fire. Ingenious, to say the least. I wonder how many careless cavies burnt down the cave after a bit of rather-too-enthusiastic rubbing or whacking!
 More Varied Grub
At this time the diet of our predecessors became decidedly more interesting. As well as wild fruits and shellfish from the coast, they started to rival the hyenas and birds of prey in their appetite for dead animals. Until, one beautiful day, armed with stones and spears, they became real big grown up hunters, ready to maim and kill in their very own right. They hunted in groups, going for deer, reindeer, rhinoceroses, sheep-like things, mammoths and cave bears. Sounds wild!
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Whacky Historical Notes: Dangerous Tools & Unlucky Beasts
 The first tools came from easily chipped or flaked stones such as quartz and especially flint. The sharpened side was used to cut or scrape bits of flesh of raw animal hides - yummy!
Homo erectus doesn't seem to have had problems adapting his veggie and fruit adapted digestive apparatus to bits of rotting flesh as the meat-age kicked in. Indeed, probably the chilly climate stopped dead animals from going off too quickly, thereby keeping food poisoning at bay. Scientists have also shown that even after the meat started to putrefy, the skin it was encased by probably stopped it from getting too disease-ridden from insects and so on, at least for a while.
Coming up next time: Neandertal Man, the very first Homo sapien (wise man? - what happened...) makes his appearance and continues... killing wild animals. We haven't progressed much really, have we? |
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7) Weird & Wonderful Paris is a living, breathing thing, no better symbolised by the vast underground network of passages of various type for various purposes. At the same time, artists and jokers often like to stamp their own mark on the hard city streets. Paris has much graffiti to enjoy and appreciate, and if you keep your eyes open you will find that anything from scribbled notes to massive painted ends-of-buildings are everywhere. There seem to be no limits to people's imaginations. One of my favourite examples of this is the skeleton shown here, with a drainage grill for his ribs. Thanks to the circumstances in which I took this shot, it has been turned into a strange cosmos, someone telling me that it looked like the edge of a spacecraft somewhere off the constellation of Sigma. They may well be right. I'll be bringing you lots more amazing street art as and when I stumble across it. If you are the artist in question then of course get in touch for a credit. In the meantime check out my growing collection of weird and wonderful photos of Paris in the Street Crawlers and Walk This Way and Metropolis sections of this site.8) Hint of the Week
If you want to get hold of train tickets to go anywhere in France and abroad, including the Eurostar service to London and Brussels, you should go to one of the many SNCF 'boutiques' which have sprung up all over Paris, as well as in many of the big main stations. I have found that the one at the Invalides station is almost always deserted and the service is very fast and efficient. Also, a friend tells me that you can sign up to a special service on the SNCF (the French rail network) site to receive last minute offers, often very good ones, for cheap trips around France and elsewhere. The address is: http://www.sncf.com and the site is available in Dutch, Italian, German, Spanish, English and of course French versions.
9) Featured Readers' LettersJohannah - Paris, by way of Minneapolis, USA, said:
Hello Sab,
Love the site! Enjoyed your first newsletter a few months ago and have been
checking regularly for a new entry. I was happy to find one this time. I
especially like your idea to walk all the streets of Paris and loved reading
your first entry. One can sense that you take the time to see and feel all
around you and, at the same time, can quickly move from one thing to another
as if there is so much to take in that you are pulled to change direction at
times. The combined sense of relaxation (the word "flaner" comes to mind)
and immediacy reminds me of how I first felt in Paris. I'll be checking
back soon, looking forward to more pictures...
P.S. The Pont des Arts is where I sat contemplating my four life-changing
months in Paris not long before having to leave. At that point I didn't
know that I'd be back one day and it was one of the places I wanted to be
sure to commit to memory.
Johannah - thank you for your lovely letter, and I'm touched that the Pont des Arts means a lot to you. It truly is a magical place, what with the stunning view over Pont Neuf and Ile de la Cité one way, and amazing sunsets behind the Eiffel Tower in the other. Not to mention the Louvre and the Institut de France facing each other at either ends of the bridge, as if you weren't already impressed enough. Yes, Paris can change lives, that's for sure.
If you would like to send in a comment or suggestion, please do. Some or all of your contribution may be published in a future issue of Kiss That Frog!
10) This Week That Is Was Will Be
Recent news includes a wonderfully embarrassing affair where the minister for the economy, who apparently espoused frugality and eschewed ministerial comforts was found to have taken up residence in a 600 metre-squared apartment for him and his family, which was considered by many to be rather excessive, especially seeing as the taxpayers were footing the bill.
It was the French satirical paper, Le Canard Enchainé, which exposed the scandal, and although he tried to hold on to his position he was eventually forced to resign after many calls to 'do the right thing' from many sides.
It would be funny if it wasn't just one example of the massive corruption and 'convenient privileges' which politicians can benefit from.
11) Quote of the Week
"I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood.... I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am French only by this great city: the glory of France, and one of the noblest ornaments of the world."
- Michel de Montaigne
12) Special OfferTell a few people about the Paris Set Me Free site, and I'll send you three high-quality versions of some of the best photos from the site to print out and enjoy, absolutely free! Also visit the PSMF Boutique (coming soon) for other great Paris-related items and other special offers, including personal signed copies of my Complete First Collection of Paris- and Life-Inspired Poetry (32 poems from a genuine Modern Poet living the Parisian Dream) as read at Shakespeare & Co. (legendary Parisian bookshop and poetry-reading venue), no less!!!Anyone who would like to sponsor Kiss That Frog in return for some publicity in this great newsletter, please get in touch!
13) Contacting Us, Related Links & Subscriptions
You can contact us directly at info@parissetmefree.com .
You can visit the web site at http://www.parissetmefree.com where you can read previous newsletters and loads of other great Paris-related material which is being constantly added to, in particular the rich photo and writing sections.
Our sister sites include the Language Fun Farm, an innovative resource for teachers and lovers of English, and my own personal site, Mystic Rhythms, which is home to my paintings, poems and a large collection of creative self-portraits. All my photos and words directly relating to Paris can be found on the Paris Set Me Free site, of course.
We have various other projects in progress, which you are welcome to visit but which are as yet simply shells as we work on the ideas. These include an entrepreneurs' an creative person's club - Lazy Pig, and a life-optimisation site - Black Witch. And we also have a great name with no idea what to do with it: Hotch Potch. Any comments or ideas would be very welcome.
To RECEIVE notification of new Kiss That Frog newsletters, with links to all the sections, simply send an empty e-mail here.
Please note that all the original words and pictures contained in this newsletter are copyright by default, even without this notice, but obviously the poems, photographs and articles in particular. NONE may be reproduced without the original artist or author's express permission. You are, however, more than welcome to send on this newsletter in its entirety, or the link thereto, to anyone you like, and indeed we very much hope you will do just that. If you do want to use any of the original photos, poems or articles contained herein then it is normally just a formality to ask the author for permission and then simply include an acknowledgement and a link with the new reproduction. Where I have included images I have found on the web to illustrate articles, I include the credit if possible. Please get in touch for further details here: copyright@parissetmefree.com
Thanks for reading! See you next time.
And tell people about it - please! 
Sab
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