Autumn in Paris.

First week of November... and such vivid sensations...

To begin with, the beautiful colours of Autumn, with its yellows, its reds and oranges in every tree of the many Parks of the City: the Parc Monceau, the Butte de Montmartre or even the Jardin de Luxembourg, with its many ghosts of past artists throughout the centuries. Writers as Gérard de Nerval, poets as Baudelaire, paintors as Modigliani or even Françoise Sagan, who lived in front, spent time at le Jardin. Such a leyend, really.

But around these days you can also see some very premature Christmas decorations and the very first sales at the big department stores such as Galeries Lafayette or Printemps. We are on the 8 of November... Sales already? Even offering 50% off? Some labels try to resist them, but most of them play by the new rules of the market. Everything better than getting stuck with merchandise!

Sales at Printemps!

The recession here has been strong and you can feel it everywhere. For example, restaurants around town have reduced the TVA tax from 16,90% to 5,50% and have even cut off some prices on the menu to get some clients back to dinning out. You can also see the crisis on the many no-funds checks than have been given by so many desperate pleople... Never has there been so many as this year!

But appart from all this, the first weeks of November are famous in France because of the many Literature prizes being given out these days. The most wanted one is the Prix Goncourt, the dream of every writer, which this year was awarded to Marie NDiaye, quite a surprise for women seldom get this prize. In fact, the last one to receive it was Paule Constat in 1998. There's also the Prix Renaudot, which was given to Frédéric Beigbeder, for "Un roman francais", my very favourite one! The Prix Flore, organized by the legendary Café Flore, was awarded to Simon Liberati, while Jean Marie Blas de Robles took home the Prix Medicis. To be announced are the winners of the Prix Fémina and the Prix Interaillé...

... And so, after that, another season would have gone by...

My favourite, Frédéric Beigbeder