The Bulles Come Down

All the tennis courts are covered with big (building size) bubbles from October 15 to April 15th, allowing everyone to play tennis all year.

We didn't have much rain until, you guessed it, April 15.  So, the uncovering of the courts progressed slowly this year.

In the foreground are courts 4, 5 and 6.  They are covered by one big bulle (balloon).  That came down first.  Then a single court, court 3 was opened to the sky.

In the background, behind all the players are courts 7 and 8, the last to come down.  On a very, very windy day last week, here is how it went.  The bulle deflated, it inflated, it moved, as if organically.  Man vs. nature vs a very big piece of plastic.  The men finally won, but I'm sure it wasn't a fun day for them.

Spring Cleaning

Every ten years, all buildings in Paris have to be cleaned on the outside.   That's why, even if the buildings aren't perfectly clean, they're much cleaner than buildings in Italy that are often almost black on the surface.  You see all kinds of cleaning, but most often the scaffolding goes up, the shutters come down and in a few months the building looks great again.

Until recently, I'd never seen statues being cleaned, but there's a rash of them right now.  Often they are done in place.  One is being done under a cover, I think they have been sandblasting it on the inside of this tent.  Someone that's involved with these projects puts a sign out explaining what's going on. 

Some statues really need to be cleaned.  This one is so mossy it almost blends in to the scenery.

 All in all, the statues are well-maintained, and grace the gardens of Paris with beautiful artwork and reminders of famous people and mythological creatures.  The Statue of Liberty is gone.  Don't know if it will be returned. 

When I Was Young

We were in the middle of the "Cold War".  We had drills in school in case the Russians pressed the "red button" and sent a nuclear bomb into our playground. In the drill, there was a loud, whining siren which was our cue to get under our desks and put our hands behind our necks to protect our heads.  I closed my eyes, just to be sure.  I was scared of the threat, even though I didn't really understand it.

As kids, we were told that the Communists were going to get us, nuke us, take over the world one country at a time.  I believed it. 

When I was a little bit older and looking at various universities, my parents were firmly against my sister and I going to UCLA because Angela Davis was a professor there and she was a "Communist".  By this time, I knew what a Communist was.  I wasn't really sure why that was so bad, but I didn't go to UCLA. 

The Berlin wall has been torn down, but we have new threats to our safety and security.  They now fly airplanes into tall buildings.   They don't need a "red button".

Even though the threat has changed, somehow the idea of a Socialist as the President of France still doesn't make me feel good.  At all.

He's only a Socialist, not a Communist!

The French see it differently.  They are used to the government playing a big, helpful role in their lives.  Even with a more conservative government for the last 20 years, French people have had a generous set of benefits including health care, 35 hour work week with 5+ weeks of paid vacation, a monthly allowance for each child, free education through university, it goes on and on.  I'm at the stage in my life where I could use a little bit of help from the government, from time to time, but of course we aren't qualified to get it in France and it doesn't exist in the US.

So, we'll wait and see how it goes.  Often the situation is dictated by reality.  Can the French pay for the benefits without increasing taxes?   Can they balance their budget without austerity measures.  Do we all need to get under our desks and put our hands behind our necks?  That is, after we send our money to Switzerland for safekeeping.