As promised in a previous blog entry, here’s another in my new series of “favorite things,” the small stuff in Paris that I love, and that means so much more to me than its literal role or purpose.
Getting ready to write up today’s “favorite things” entry, I remembered a literary reference I'd almost forgotten about that indirectly captures a bit of what these things mean for me. It was a scene from Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past,” in which he first as a child discovers the taste of tea-soaked Madeleine cookies, then, decades later, rediscovers the taste plus the flood of memories that come back to him based on the earlier sensory experience (anyone who has seen the Disney movie "Ratatouille" will recognize this same kind of situation from the final scene with the restaurant critic).
“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.” (see the full text at http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/proust.html)
None of my “favorite things are quite that visceral, but whenever I see one, I do flash back to the first time I saw it, and how and why it resonated with me that first time.
So, to transition, sometimes a boot scraper is not just a boot scraper.
FAVORITE THING #2: BOOT SCRAPERS
Sometimes outside of churches, residential, or commercial buildings, just above ground level, you will see a flat, u-shaped piece of metal, edge up, with both ends attached to the wall or in a small recess. It took me a while to notice these in the first place, and even longer to figure out why they’re there. Now that I’ve gotten to the bottom of the mystery, I love to spring it on visitors.
Basically, for much of Paris’ existence, its roads literally ran with mud, filth, and human/animal waste. You can imagine what happened when peoples’ shoes, encrusted with this junk, crossed your portal into your home, business, or church. Not pretty. But by installing this one piece of cheap and easy metal, you at least give people a chance to lessen the impact the state of their footwear will end up having wherever they tread.
I don’t think much of anyone continues to use the boot scrapers (with the possible exception of those with the misfortune of stepping in dog poop), but I think it’s great fun to see them still in place, a tiny but resonant reminder of how life was lived in Paris centuries earlier.
Getting ready to write up today’s “favorite things” entry, I remembered a literary reference I'd almost forgotten about that indirectly captures a bit of what these things mean for me. It was a scene from Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past,” in which he first as a child discovers the taste of tea-soaked Madeleine cookies, then, decades later, rediscovers the taste plus the flood of memories that come back to him based on the earlier sensory experience (anyone who has seen the Disney movie "Ratatouille" will recognize this same kind of situation from the final scene with the restaurant critic).
“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.” (see the full text at http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/proust.html)
None of my “favorite things are quite that visceral, but whenever I see one, I do flash back to the first time I saw it, and how and why it resonated with me that first time.
So, to transition, sometimes a boot scraper is not just a boot scraper.
FAVORITE THING #2: BOOT SCRAPERS
Sometimes outside of churches, residential, or commercial buildings, just above ground level, you will see a flat, u-shaped piece of metal, edge up, with both ends attached to the wall or in a small recess. It took me a while to notice these in the first place, and even longer to figure out why they’re there. Now that I’ve gotten to the bottom of the mystery, I love to spring it on visitors.
Basically, for much of Paris’ existence, its roads literally ran with mud, filth, and human/animal waste. You can imagine what happened when peoples’ shoes, encrusted with this junk, crossed your portal into your home, business, or church. Not pretty. But by installing this one piece of cheap and easy metal, you at least give people a chance to lessen the impact the state of their footwear will end up having wherever they tread.
I don’t think much of anyone continues to use the boot scrapers (with the possible exception of those with the misfortune of stepping in dog poop), but I think it’s great fun to see them still in place, a tiny but resonant reminder of how life was lived in Paris centuries earlier.
In the coming weeks, stay tuned for more "favorite things" blogs, a rant about Jim Morrison, a photo essay on my commute to work, and a theory of Sara's and mine regarding how the Devil helps make Paris so great...
A bientot,
Josh
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