So I:
Number 28: grinned like a lunatic at every person I passed in the street. People tend not to smile much in Paris, so I made a concerted effort to go against the grain and switch my regular dour Parisian grimace for a big fat smile. The sight of me prancing down the street, meeting people's eyes with a idiotic smile on my face, freaked some people out a bit I think. I got a fair few double-takes and quizzical looks ('do I know you, crazy woman?'), but a fair few smiled back. Hooray!
Number 29: gave the regular busker at my metro stop a big tip. The poor bugger is there everyday, usually playing the same mournful rendition of 'No Woman No Cry' on his gee-tar. He had paused to scratch his bum and was looking a bit lost in life when I chucked the money in his case. He perked up at the sight of the euros though and sent me on my way with a few peppy chords from "Buffalo Soldier".
Number 30: decided to stop being mean/stingy/charity-fatigued and give everyone asking for money, money. I am shocked every day by the number of people begging in the streets of Paris. It is really sad! Some days it is impossible to walk 10 metres without someone asking for money or food or cigarettes. And it is easy to get sick of it all and just march on by or learn to avoid eye contact and pretend they are not there. So today everyone who asked got money and I put something in every plastic cup I passed.
Number 31: stuck a funny picture inside the toilet door at school - the bathrooms at Parsons are a pretty grim affair: boring beige walls with absolutely nothing on them - no pictures or anything to read to take your mind off how cold the toilet seats are this time of year! C'mon people, it's an art school!
Number 32: put a monster in all my neighbours' mailboxes telling them what a swell neighbour they are!
Number 33: poked notes in the rafters of our apartment for future tenants to find. Truth be told I pinched this idea from previous tenants, who had done the same. Romain spotted both letters which were dated from September 2011 - the first one had tips on where to buy a good dessert in the neighbourhood and the second one was a bundle of metro tickets with a note saying 'enjoy Paris'. How nice is that?? So I have replenished the metro ticket stash and poked a few notes of my own in the nooks and crannies.
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| The metro ticket letter we found from the mysterious M & Y! |
And that's it. 33 fun things done. Finally! So now I can enjoy my birthday in peace without having to worry about having to do anything fun ;-)
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