Curiously Well-Timed Catastrophe (3/4)

I took the metro to Gare du Nord and then the Transilien out to Enghien-les-Bains, the town next to Montmorency. Marlène picked me up at about 8.

We picked up some baguettes and had breakfast at the house with Jean-Jacques. Warm brioche with thick honey; for one day I got to eat like a prince again, a very welcome change after Thérèse had us eating everything either canned or generic-brand. Jean-Jacques suggested I rest and take a shower before going into Paris to photograph the Bastille Day crowds.

After an exquisite lunch of Basque chicken with peppers, I went back to Gare du Nord, then Châtelet and the Champs-Elysees. I shopped for presents for my family at the Virgin Megastore, and then attempted to use up my last roll of color slide film.

I tried to balance my mini-tripod on two metal crowd barriers to shoot the Arc de Triomphe.

And the camera fell and the lens broke.

I would have flipped out right there if the situation hadn’t had the potential to be many, many times worse. I’ve finished my documentary, so I don’t need my film camera anymore at the moment, and conceivably won’t until I after I graduate. Also, the piece of the lens that broke is one of the plastic rings that joins it to the camera body, while the optics seem fine. It’s a relatively rare and prized model of Nikon 58 mm, so I’ll probably try to get the part replaced instead of buying a new one.

One more objective for the summer. Man, I need to find some way to make money, for the lens repair and the strategy games I want to buy. I’ll look for the usual opportunities to sell photos. My best chance will be to market to the rich landowner idiots we have in Clarke County, but it’s difficult to get them to buy any art that doesn’t feature horses or foxhounds. Oh well, I’ll figure something out.

I returned to Montmorency to inspect the lens further and to rearrange my stuff for the trip. I reduced all of my stuff to my giant suitcase, my large backpack, and my medium backpack.

We had a light but heavenly dinner of tabouli and sausages, and then drove to the airport at 10:15. We said a brief goodbye and then I headed into the airport to find a spot on the floor.