bits and pieces

Here's the main difference between France and the U.S.: After 9/11, Americans were urged to defy the terrorists by going shopping. In Paris, the French are being urged to celebrate their freedom from fear by going to cafes and bars and eating and drinking and making merry. And of course, they're going.

Oh to be in Paris now that November is here. If I could, I'd go right now and sit in a cafe all day and night. However. I have work to do, miles to go before I sleep, and anyway, I'm off to Vancouver and Hawaii next weekend. Poor me.

Good news today - I went to see my osteoporosis doctor who says I am now at low risk for fractures, to stop taking the medication and not to come back. What a relief! Now I can fling my body about with abandon. Not.

More good news: it was amazingly mild still, but cold is coming. Still, in the lovely sunshine, the roofers finally came. The first guy I called had told me the repair would cost only $500; he asked for $235 for materials and vanished off the face of the earth. A second guy came and estimated $8000; he was nice and highly recommended by a friend but, as my handyman John pointed out, he came, he saw a woman alone in a big house, he estimated high. The third roofer, Marcel, charged one third of what the previous guy estimated and did a fantastic job. Highly recommended: Marcel Prevost and his team, who are his two brothers and a son-in-law. Please look him up if you need a really good reliable honest roofer. Marcel Prevost Roofing.

And more: after wrestling with Rogers twice and getting nowhere, I insisted on talking to someone more senior, who gave me HBO free for six months. Now there just has to be something good to watch - so far, no luck. Where is Jon Stewart? Come back, Jon, we need you more than those cows do!

My ten seconds of fame: a woman came up to me at the Y. "Were you at the McCartney concert?" she asked. I was, I said. "I knew I recognized you from the giant screens. I saw you several times, dancing away."
"Was that not the best concert ever?" I said.
"It was," she said. A new BFF.

I may take the money I save on my expensive osteoporosis medicine and buy some noise-cancelling headphones to wear around the city. Doubletake and other stores are already playing Silver Bells and the @#$# Little Drummer Boy. I think it's worth investing in sanity, don't you?