Children's Entertainer

Drawing outside seemed to be the thing to do today - everyone was at it this afternoon. And if you sit near Notre Dame on the bridge which joins the Ile de la Cite with the Ile Saint-Louis, in between an accordian player and a mime artist, you come in for a bit of a attention too. I met a friendly man who lived in the building I was drawing, he was elderly and said something I couldn't catch about his family, but I think he was saying they'd lived there since the early 1900s. It's a very amazing location to live in.

I got given some gum by a menacing looking teen. I got my photograph taken by a tourist. I had a competition in French with a woman I'm sure was English over who was more sorry about her tripping over my outstretched foot. I had a large group of children round me, saying nice things in a level of French I could handle, although it made me very nervous for some reason. I wanted to show them the crocodiles I'd been drawing, but took a while to get up the nerve, so then I suddenly said loudly at none of them in particular "VOUS AIMEZ LES CROCODILES?" and flashed some crocodiles at them. Perhaps with practice I could work up some Rolf Harris-type spontaneous drawing act, but I doubt it.

The other thing I seem to have got is a slight sunburn down one side of my face, so I'm going to buy a jolly hat from one of the tourist shops tomorrow.

**Heloise and Abelard Corner**
A few doors down from the building I was drawing is a plaque which says that Heloise and Abelard lived at that number. Heloise, born in 1101, was a ward of her uncle Fulbert and was known for her braininess and insight. Peter Abelard was a French philosopher and logician, hired to tutor her. He seduced her and they had an affair and a child, which Fulbert discovered. They married to appease him but kept it a secret in order to protect Abelard's career. This enraged Fulbert, and Abelard put Heloise into a convent, perhaps to protect her from Fulbert's rage. Fulbert, believing that Abelard wished to be rid of her, castrated him.