Sapin Noel

These are our additions to the flat so far - a sapin Noel (tree) and a telly. Richard dried the oranges in the oven and I drew the crocodile angel on top. The painting next to it is by the friend of our landlady's whose squat we went to visit. The telly is not quite up and running yet - and the discovery that our digibox does not transmit the BBC has somewhat cooled our ardour for the project.

Last weekend we had visitors from home for the first time. On Friday, Richard's parents Jane and John came, and in the evening we went out for supper. We went to Le Coup Chou, which felt like an old country restaurant, low ceilinged with lots of smallish rooms each with fireplaces, beams and candle lighting. On Saturday we went to see a exhibition called "Picasso and the Masters" which is on at the Grand Palais. The idea was to give the Grand Palais the same sort of feel that Picasso would have experienced when he was exhibited there age 19 (dash these prodigies) during the World Fair, and came into contact with artists who would influence his work throughout his life. There was a large selection of his paintings hung next to those by artists so you could trace the influences. One I liked was by Picasso of a family who looked like the Addams Family, controlled by a sinister toddler in the middle.

On Sunday Kirsten came for the day and to stay the night. On Monday we went to the hammam at the nearby Paris Mosque. It's very pretty inside, lots of mosaics and stained glass windows. There are about four rooms, getting progressively hotter until the final scorcher, where you must crouch to avoid the burning heat. We alternated between them, and Kir bought us un gant (glove) made of very coarse something or other and we scrubbed away. There were lots of women there; five days are women-only and men just get two. It felt very animal-like, in the sense that it was quite quiet of conversation, lots of women sitting round and scrubbing themselves and each other, then hosing down and sort of picking over each other. We came out looking peeled and feeling good.

**Economy Corner**
Walking back this afternoon from our charming, free-to-join, very local library I had some thoughts about things I've thrown money away on a bit since moving here.
1. Membership of the American Library
Faithful readers will recall I waxed lyrical about this place when we first arrived, seeing it as an island of Anglo-comfort in a scary new world, and somewhere I could work. It takes about 50 minutes to get there from here - it's like living in Kingston and joining Shoreditch Library. I now resist going there like mad.
2. Lots of different types of sketchbook
Certain that I was going to be confining the buildings of Paris to posterity every day, but feeling I hadn't quite found the right paper, four carnets later I am happy-ish. However, this is something I would have done in London, so I'm not blaming the move.
3. Membership of the Zoo
Could be early to tell with this one. True, we do get invites to lectures in French about the latest scientific studies; true, we got two double sided posters of gourds from the definitive source book, "1001 Gourd Studies" (no joke) and, yes, we can pop to see the cochon d'indes anytime we like, but it's possible we won't make the four visits each that would make this decision economical.
4. Telly
As related above, absence of BBC makes me look with disfavour on our new grey living room decoration.