Only in Paris

7 January 2010- I cleaned up on the sock aisles yesterday. I did break a rule and went to the Gap. Cute wool socks for 40% off. Also scored a huge soft black muffler/scarf for 5 euro. I saved Chad 392 euros, didn't see the point in the beautiful Mandarina Duck purse. Gorgeous but I preferred to book 3 nights stay in Montreux, Switzerland for me and Chad for less than the purse price. It was funny, the small store on our street doesn't mark the price as a solde price, sacrifice. Ha ha, sacrifice for 400 euros. Not in my terms.
I did see some great examples of things only in Paris. On the bus yesterday, we were stopped by the Starbucks for a wheelchair rider. A guy in Starbucks got up from his laptop and got in line for a drink. LEFT his laptop. Isn't there a commercial about the guy getting duped by a pretty girl and swipe his laptop is gone by her cahort?
Saw a woman with two Santa sized bags of clothes and a receipt about 2 ft long. She cleaned up at the Monoprix soldes.
While the woman with the huge stacks of purchases was wrapping up, the line grew behind me. One of the cashiers closed up her register. In Paris, the customer is not king. No such thing after the Revolution.
My neighbor is going to be a traditional Frenchie. I read last year that traditional ways of disposing of a Christmas tree is to wait until late at night and throw it off the balcony. That way the garbage men will be able to pick it up, no problem. My neighbor has her tree wrapped and poised for take off right down into the garbage container portion of the courtyard.
Have a lovely day, planning vacations and working out.