Chunnel Vision

One Irreverent Writer Tracks Two Superlative Cities at High Speed

London: Anyone for Venison?

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[français en bas]

deer-picGunshots in the night.

No, it’s not drive-by thuggery or a stand-off between rival gangs. (Not in this well-heeled west London suburb, anyway). It’s just part of the seasonal rhythm at Richmond Park, the largest of London’s sprawling royal parks.

In Charles I’s old deer park the cull is on. Having no predators, the animals will graze, fence and rut their way to a herd of around 900 in a good year, far more than even the 1,000 hectare park can sustain. Twice a year, nocturnal shoots bring the numbers down to a manageable 350 fallow deer, 300 red deer. The operation is performed by wildlife officers (not, according to popular myth, by City suits who’ve paid for a spot of bally-hoo.) In other words, it’s all very humane and selective - though perhaps not as interesting as introducing wolves.

Even allowing for stringy old bucks, a cull of 250 adds up to an awful lot of wild venison, a meat I happen to like a lot. Technically, I suppose, it’s the Queen’s wild venison – but surely, having half of Scotland as her larder, she can’t get through it all. (Who’s to say she even likes the stuff?)

So what happens to it all? Googling “Richmond Park venison”, I only manage to turn up references to “savvy locals”, which doesn’t help a bit, seeing as I ought to be one of them. I cultivate likely-looking local butchers, but they only compound the mystery. Can it be really true that all the venison eaten in Surrey comes from Hampshire, Kent, the north of Scotland?
One of Richmond's newer natives

One of Richmond's newer natives

It seems not. A spokesperson at the Royal Parks reveals that Richmond’s venison really does find its way to market - though she’s unable to confirm where I can lay my hands on some of it. To complicate matters, the meat is not branded as “Richmond Park Venison”, which means it’s just possible that someone, somewhere is tucking into ex-Crown property and juniper berries without even knowing it.

As for the matter of it heading straight for the Queen’s table, apparently that tradition was discontinued some years ago. Meanwhile, the proceeds from the sale of park venison go back into maintaining the herds with nightly food supplements during the winter months. The sight of great herds of deer gathering to feed is one well worth lingering for. When all the shooting’s over, of course.

À la recherche de Bambi?

Coups de feu la nuit. Un hold-up? L’émeute éclate dans la banlieue? Ben non: pas dans ma banlieue verdoyante de l’ouest londonien. Ce n’est que le rythme des saisons à Richmond Park, le plus vaste de tous les parcs royaux.

Il s’agit, en effet, du prélèvement des cerfs. Ces animaux captifs mais sauvages n’ont plus de prédateurs, de sorte qu’il peut y en avoir plus de 900. Même pour un parc de presque 1000 hectares, c’est un nombre insoutenable, ce qui oblige les gardiens environnementaux d’intervenir deux fois par an pour réduire les hardes. Quand l’opération actuelle sera achevée il en restera à peu près 750 animaux, dont 350 daims et 300 cerfs.

Pour faire un autre calcul, ça fait beaucoup de venaison sauvage, une viande que j’apprécie pas mal. En principe, ça appartient à Sa Majesté, mais qu’est-ce qu’elle peut bien faire de tout ça quand elle possède déjà la moitié de l’Écosse? Est-ce qu’on peut l’acheter, cette viande? Alors, où? Une recherche exhaustive sur Google ne produit des références que pour les « locaux malins » (ce qui ne m’aide pas en quoi que ce soit même si je suis censée en faire partie.) Chez les bouchers, c’est toujours la même réponse: “Pas ici, Madame - mais nous avons de la très bonne viande d’Hampshire, du Kent, d’Écosse…” Mystère, mystère…

un pic vert - "mon" pic vert!

Green 'pecker posing

 

Enfin, la porte-parole de Richmond Park m’a confirmé que c’était bien possible d’acheter la venaison royale dans le quartier du parc. Hélas, elle n’a pas trop précisé où (sinon je vous l’aurais dit, bien sûr). Pour compliquer l’affaire, sa provenance royale n’est pas affichée sur l’emballage. En principe, sans même le savoir, on pourrait dîner des biens de la couronne…

Written by Amanda

November 20, 2008 at 9:20 pm

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Paris: Wear to be seen

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coat2With my prize collection of flashing Eiffel Towers and Nymphéas tote bags, I truly thought I’d exhausted all variations on the Paris souvenir. But no: witness this well-cut, head-turner of a coat, emblazoned with details from the archive of Paris architecture. It’s part of the winter collection from Marais prêt-à-porter designer, Anne Elisabeth, whose third boutique has just opened on place Nathalie Lemel (3e), tucked away behind Place de la Rèpublique. Purists will be relieved to know the “Grand Palais” coat includes gobbets of Gustave, too.

The Temple area has long been one of my favourite quartiers, and it’s fast becoming a magnet for enticing retailers and designers-on-the-rise. In the first camp is Goumanyat (rue Charles-François Dupuis), a mandatory stop for foodies. In the second camp there’s Margo Milin, designer of sublimely understated separates and dresses, and her next-door-neighbour, Maria Vryzakis, whose boutique, Monterey offers luxury vintage clothing alongside her own collection. Originally from Australia, Maria tells me her original Paris stay took an unexpected turn when she met her husband-to-be at the annual Firefighters’ Ball. (Where better to be struck by coup de foudre?) On the interiors front, there’s generous inspiration from Kakeboton, showcasing four designers who work in graphics, zinc, leather and glass.

I love this area for its layers of history, too. Nominally part of the “Haut Marais”, it doesn’t have the chi-chi feel of Tourist Beat Marais - which is appropriate when you consider that nearby rue de la Corderie was the cradle of the International Workers’ Association. But is it really the Marais? Well, arguably, yes, since it was was part of the marshy mire drained by the mediaeval Knights Templar. The painted blue semi-circles outside the 3rd arrondissement Mairie mark the spot where the Templars’ keep stood, and where Marie-Antoinette and family were later incarcerated. (It might have been standing even now if Napoleon hadn’t had it razed to discourage royalist fervour.) Nearby, the Carreau du Temple market (pictured below) was the site of the first Foire de Paris in 1904. Today, half a dozen stallholders or s stamp their feet to keep warm; they’re all that’s left of the teeming leather and garment market that used to be held here. Next year, they’ll pack up for good, as work begins on transforming the structure into a glassy, multi-purpose events venue.

templeThe Marais is changing fast. Want to know more? My latest article is the cover on the December issue of Paris Notes.

Written by Amanda

November 19, 2008 at 9:39 pm

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Chunnel Update

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It took September’s Tunnel fire to remind Chunnelers how very dependent we’ve become on the high-speed train link between Paris Gare du Nord and London St Pancras. What ever did we do before?
I’m not using the Royal We, either. London qualifies as France’s 6th city, home to upwards of 200,000 Frenchies – though a few of them may be inclined to pack their bags in view of current woes.
Eurostar’s service is now 93% back to normal, though speed restrictions in the tunnel (the section where I doze off) mean that trains are still taking an average of 20 minutes longer. Still, even a journey time of 2 hour 45 minutes city-to-city is preferable to long airport treks and interminable terminal waits. Let the plane take the strain? No, thanks.
Unsurprisingly, Air France-KLM has been haemorrhaging custom to Eurostar on its Paris-London route for some time. People were quick to recognise that rail travel is not only pleasanter and quicker door-to-door, but that it often works out cheaper, too – even with carbon offsetting factored into the fare. (Hm-mm…pauses to bask in collective eco-glow).
So it’s great that the airline plans to offer its own competing rail service when the Eurostar’s monopoly expires in 2010. Since the Chunnel is not used to capacity, that will almost certainly result in more trains and cheaper fares. And, if Air France-KLM’s claims are true, an even zippier service.

Written by Amanda

November 3, 2008 at 8:45 am

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Paris: Parisienne Femme Capitale

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JE JOUE OUI

JE JOUE OUI

She’s back, the queen of aerosol can and the spiky epigram.

Urban artist Miss-Tic’s latest show opens this week at Galery W in Montmartre, and she’ll be gracing the space on the 16th November, from 3.30pm, to sign her new book.

Published by Éditions Grasset, it’s called “Je prête à rire mais je donne à penser”: “Made you laugh but got you thinking”, in my easy-oazy translation - but there’s a little play on words that I can’t render into English. Suggestions?

Mlle. Tic does rather a lot of that sort of thing. She considers herself more writer than artist, styling herself a femme de l’être, I mean, femme de lettres, that is to say, both….   Well, anyway, you get the idea. 

Check out Miss-Tic’s oeuvre here.

Written by Amanda

October 28, 2008 at 10:03 am

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Fearless and Fretful in London and Paris

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© Richard Sweet

© Richard Sweet

There are lies, damned lies, and statistical surveys from world organisations you’ve never heard of.

But I’m rather taken with this one, from the World Social Summit on combating global anguish. According to its research conducted in ten metropolitan cities, Londoners could be some of the least uptight city dwellers on the planet - though you’d hardly guess it during rush hour at Waterloo.  
Of those Londoners who owned up to being afraid of anything (only 74% to Paris’ 90%), the biggest fear was losing a loved one. Unfazed by terrorist bombs, by reports of crime and violence, they emerge as conspicuously positive. Over 60% of Londoners said they felt confident, even enthusiastic about city life, a response only beaten in Beijing and Mumbai (where the future still looks as bright as a Bollywood wedding.) Or, at least, they did when questioned in July - before Cool Britannia ran aground. All that cheerful pragmatism could come in pretty handy in a recession.
preaching to the converted?

Preaching to the converted?

Losing a loved one tops the list of Parisian fears, too. In fact, 23% of city-dwellers said they worried about it, to London’s 11.8%. (No real surprise, there. Parisians remain a tight-knit lot, closely bound by family ties and childhood friendships that last a lifetime.)

After their nearest and dearest, they fret about losing their intellectual faculties. (A bit different from Londoners, then: isn’t that what Fridays are for ? ) Apparently, Parisians, philosophers to a man, still care more about being able to give good verbal than they do about getting poorer.
 I’ll drink to that.

Written by Amanda

October 26, 2008 at 5:32 pm

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Paris: Hot Air

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It was to have been another feather in Paris’ green cap. Instead, the ups and downs of the Air de Paris hot air balloon have spelled red faces all round.

The pride of the Parc André-Citroën (15e), the balloon was billed as a world first when it was unveiled in spring this year. Not only could you go up and down in it (much as you could for the last eight years). But you’d also be able to tell at a glance - and from a radius of 12 miles - whether the air was good to breathe or not. Green for good. Yellow for iffy. Red - hypothetically speaking, of course - for truly, grimly, dreadful. Paris’ air is indeed fuggy polluted stuff, but not radically more than many other European cities. And anyway, you only get red balloons in Paris in the movies.

Alas, the fanfares have had to wait. Beset with problems from the outset, the ingenious air quality monitoring systems turned out to be too ingenious by half. The balloon’s colour wasn’t visible by day, and the laser signal malfunctioned, leaving Aerophile, the technical wizards behind the scheme, to go back to the drawing board for a less high-tech solution. This month, the balloon is due to go back to service again, its problems possibly behind it. High time, too. Whether you decide to hold your breath or fill your lungs, the 360 degree views over the Seine and the city are breath-taking stuff.

Written by Amanda

October 17, 2008 at 12:52 pm