Strange Sight #1:
Walking by Parc des Princes the other day I saw dozens of riot police in their vans hanging out waiting for the football match that was on to finish. Now that’s not unusual at all, it’s standard procedure for all football matches. What I did find odd was that all the police were sitting at tables (inside the vans) eating a cooked dinner which was washed downed with a couple of bottles of wine. I know the Frenchies love their food and the wine that goes with it but to be dressed in full riot gear yet be able to sit down to a 3 course meal with wine is quite extraordinary. Yes, I know it was a 3 course meal because when I passed by later they were having dessert and cheese (and the wine bottles were empty).

I guess being a little tipsy isn’t a problem when keeping the peace in Paris.

Strange Sight #2:
Thankfully I wasn’t witness to this. I sent poor F out to buy une tradition earlier today and as he walked down our street he came across a lady in her 60s squatting down between 2 parked cars. Her skirt was hitched up and her underwear down around her ankles. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a grown woman was taking a number 1 out in the open in the middle of the day in the middle of bourgeois Paris. Well hey, I supposed if men can get away with that why can’t women?

Strange Sight #3:
Down in the basement of my local Monop is a photo machine thing where you can print out your digital photos. Lucky me happened to walk by as guy was checking his latest pics which seemed to include nothing but full frontal naked shots of random men. I was tempted to say something to the guy as I looked over his shoulder, looking at what I clearly shouldn’t have been looking at, but really, what does one say in such a situation?

I am so addicted to espacemax.com.

A couple of months ago I was walking down Avenue Raymond Poincare (near Trocadero) when I stumbled upon a shop which had security guards at the entrance, preventing certain people (ie. me) from entering. They said it was ‘members only’. Oh really?

As soon as I got home I checked out their site and discovered l’espace Catherine Max. It’s an organisation promoting les ventes privees (private stock). You can get all the big name designer brands as well as many lesser known brands at a massive discount, often 70 or 80% off the regular price. Each week, new sales are promoted starting on the Wednesday. If you are a member (12 euros annually) you can go on the Wednesday and be the first to get access to what’s on offer, then on the Thursday it opens to the general public.

So I went back to see what it was all about and found racks and racks of designer clothes and frantic women trying on whatever they could get their hands on. There are no changing rooms so everyone was getting naked out in the open which was a little embarrassing for poor F who went with me, lol. Generally I hate shopping and hate crowds so this kind of place isn’t for me, although I did pick up a 300 euro trench coat for 80 euros

Thankfully, you can buy online with new sales coming online every day. It’s so addictive and the prices are ridiculously cheap. I’ve been buying all kinds of things, t-shirts, tuniques, sunglasses, bags. Admittedly, I’ve been going a bit crazy. The packages are just starting to arrive. Hopefully everything is going to fit!

I didn’t know what ventes privees were before but am so glad I finally found out. Since discovering Espace Max I also found Showroom Prive. It’s the same kind of thing but with cheaper brands and an annoying to navigate website. They do have the occasional bargain so check them out if you like to buy online.

PS If you order from espacemax.com today you can get 30% off with the code MAI3 (for purchases over 120E), 20% off with code MAI2 (over 70E of purchases), or 10% with code MAI1 (over 50E).

PPS If you want to sign up let me know and I can send you a referral code/email

Tickets for this year’s Roland Garros have been on sale for a while and while all of the centre court tickets sold out quickly, it’s still possible to get tickets for the outside courts. I just ordered tickets for the first Monday (25th May) when 22 men’s and 22 women’s first round matches are being played. The earlier days are usually the best as after that you get stuck with boring doubles matches.

You can order online here.

There is also an official ticket exchange where you can buy tickets which other people are no longer able to use. There are none available at the moment but it should be possible to buy tickets for the centre courts when the tournament starts. Got to be quick though! You can buy online from the ticket exchange.