London: Anyone for Venison?
[français en bas]
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…
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…
Paris: Wear to be seen
With 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.
The Marais is changing fast. Want to know more? My latest article is the cover on the December issue of Paris Notes.
Chunnel Update
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?Paris: Parisienne Femme Capitale
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.
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.
Fearless and Fretful in London and Paris
© Richard Sweet
There are lies, damned lies, and statistical surveys from world organisations you’ve never heard of.
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.)
Paris: Hot Air
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.
