“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 13 (of 20) A Strange Enough Ending accompanied by French Onion Soup Funky Cellar, Spitalfields.
Notes From Chapter 13: A Strange Enough Ending
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes on The End of a Friendship
The way it ended with Gertrude Stein was strange enough. We had become very good friends.
And we were getting to be better friends than I could ever wish to be.
Miss Stein and a companion were getting ready to go south in Miss Stein’s car and on this day Miss Stein had asked me to come by in the forenoon to say goodbye.
The maidservant opened the door before I rang and told me to come in and wait.
I heard someone speaking to Miss Stein as I had never heard one person speak to another; never, anywhere, ever.
‘I have to go’, I said and tried not to hear any more as I left but it was still going on and the only way I could not hear it was to be gone.
In the courtyard I said to the maidservant. ‘Please say I came to the courtyard and met you. That I could not wait because a friend is sick. Say bon voyage for me. I will write.’
That was the way it finished for me, stupidly enough.
She quarrelled with nearly all of us that were fond of her.
She got to look like a Roman emperor. But Picasso had painted her, and I could remember her when she looked like a woman from Friuli.
I felt sad reading this chapter, perhaps the sadness Hemingway felt at the end of a good friendship. It seems Miss Stein pushed everyone away because of her quarrelsome nature. As with many characters throughout the book, Hemingway choose to remember the good about them, over the bad.
Words of Wisdom
This chapter is about the nature of life and of some friendships/relationships, perhaps. And sometimes, the best thing to do is to walk away, allowing as much dignity for both parties as possible. And in time, choose to remember the good over the bad. Because we all have good and bad within us. Choosing generosity of spirit is a kind thing to do.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
Today I enjoyed French Onion Soup at Funky Cellar, Spitalfields.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FunFact1 The French onion soup history dates back to the 17th century. Legend has it that the soup was invented by King Louis XV. Late at night, at his hunting lodge, he was very hungry, and he only found onions, butter, and champagne. He cooked the three ingredients and made the first French onion soup. Source World in Paris.
#FunFact2 Funky Cellar is a Delicatessen, Fromagerie, Wine Shop and Bar selling quality vintage goods. A concept store, bathed in 70s décor. All the decorations, furniture and artwork are for sale and have been hand-selected from top-quality vintage and second-hand markets across Europe. SourceFunky Cellar.
#FunFact3 Spitalfields takes its name from the hospital and priory, St. Mary’s Spittel, which was founded in 1197. Lying in the heart of the East End, it is an area known for its spirit and a strong sense of community. It was in a field next to the priory where the now-famous market first started in the thirteenth century. Source Spitalfields.
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School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 12 (of 20) Ezra Pound and His Bel Esprit accompanied by a Croque Madame at Côte, Hay’s Galleria, London Bridge.
Notes From Chapter 12: Ezra Pound and His Bel Esprit
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes on Contrast and Sense of Place
Ezra Pound was always a good friend, and he was always doing things for people. The studio where he lived with his wife Dorothy on the rue Notre-Dames-de-Champs was as poor as Gertrude Stein’s studio was rich.
These opening sentences to the chapter served as a continuation of the masterclass in writing that began for me in the last chapter—a masterclass in how to use contrast to give a sense of place.
Previous chapters have helped me work through feelings, emotions and reactions to everyday happening in my WorkLife. They have also helped connect and reinforce learning that I’m experiencing as I go about my daily WorkLife reading books and stories and listening to podcasts.
Notes on Self-Awareness and Self-Directed Learning
His own writing, when he would hit it right, was so perfect, and he was so sincere in his mistakes and so enamored of his errors.
I love learning about people’s self-awareness and how they self-direct their learning. In this instance how Ezra learnt as much through what didn’t work, or perhaps even more, than through what did work. I, too, embrace the practice of self-awareness and self-directed learning in my WorkLife. I, too, learn as much, or perhaps more, from what doesn’t work.
Notes on Observation and Sense of Character
I watched Lewis carefully without seeming to look at him. I do not think I had ever seen a nastier-looking man. Some people show evil as a great race horse shows breeding. They have the dignity of a hard chancre. Lewis did not show evil; he just looked nasty.
I love learning about people’s power of observation. I believe it’s a critical skill in everyone’s WorkLife, and perhaps more so for artists – Hemingway as a writer, performing artists in developing their craft in stepping into a character, and visual artists in capturing their subject matter – person, place or thing.
These sentences were also a masterclass for me as a writer in how to use observation to give a sense of character.
Notes on Bel Esprit
Words of Wisdom
Either you had Bel Esprit or you did not have it. If you had it you would subscribe to get the Major out of the bank. If you didn’t it was too bad.
Hemingway was talking about Ezra’s generosity and how he loved to help artists that he believed in and how he would help anyone, whether he believed in them or not, if they were in trouble. The Major was T.S. Elliott. The Bel Esprit ‘Mission’ was to get him out of his dead-end job in the bank because he had insufficient time and bad hours to function as a poet. Hemingway was also full of Bel Esprit in making this happen.
I loved learning that both Ezra and Hemingway were full of Bel Esprit because I love people with this attribute, one of whom I believe I am.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
Today I enjoyed a Croque Madame at Côte, Hay’s Galleria, London Bridge.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FunFact1 The French approach to eating well is rooted in the concept of “terroir” – showing respect for the earth and the things it gives us. We only work with farmers and producers who share this mindset, ensuring we can offer you the best-tasting seasonal produce. Source Cote UK.
#FunFact2 Hay’s Galleria was at the centre of the trade and shipping port, most famous for its tea imports, until it was damaged during WW2. To mark its rebirth in 1987, a rivet-covered bronze moving sculpture, with the face of a man and the body of an industrial-age ship, named The Navigators, was installed. Source Hay’s Galleria.
#FunFact3 Operation London Bridge was the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II. The phrase “London Bridge is down” was used to communicate the death of the Queen to the prime minister, and key personnel setting the plan in motion. Source Wikipedia
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 11 (of 20) With Pascin at the Dóme accompanied by coffee and a macaroon at Ladurée, Burlington Arcade, Picadilly.
Notes From Chapter 11: With Pascin at the Dóme
A WorkLife Book Club For One
When I came to writing notes on this chapter as I have with each chapter that has gone before, by way of making sense of the meaning it held for me in the context of my WorkLife, I found this chapter to be different.
Previous chapters have helped me work through feelings, emotions and reactions to everyday happenings in my WorkLife. They have also helped connect and reinforce learning that I’m experiencing as I go about my daily WorkLife reading books and stories and listening to podcasts.
This chapter was different because it was more of a masterclass in writing. Let me explain what I mean through the notes I made.
Notes on Set Up
My last bookWorkLife Book Club takes people on a journey through the streets of Shoreditch, East London as the members share culinary experiences, while discussing WorkLife struggles and successes through the wisdom found in the books they read.
Hemingway is taking people on a journey through the streets of Paris. He talks about restaurants, food and drinks and conversations with fellow artists about struggles and successes in their WorkLives. So, his subject matter is very similar to mine.
When setting up this chapter, his language is spellbinding and draws me into the neighbourhood – the streets, the bakeries, cafés and restaurants with a sense of intrigue. He goes on to describe the interior of the restaurant and the menu, evoking all of my senses. “I read the menu mimeographed in purple ink and saw the plat de jour was cassoulet. It made me hungry to read the name.” Hemingway’s introduction/set-up to this chapter made me hungry to read on and learn more – and also hungry for the food he described! He achieved all of that in one paragraph. It is indeed a masterclass in Set Up, which I know I will return to, time and time again, to help develop my writing style to draw people into my stories.
Notes on WorkLife and Time
This chapter was also a Masterclass on how to weave updates on WorkLife into a story. Learning that Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, now have a baby helped move the story on in the sense of time passing, while he also shared the struggles and successes he experienced on a day-to-day basis, which also kept the story in the moment. In introducing readers to the character, Pascin, he gave an insight into his WorkLife in the present of that moment. At the end of the chapter, the reader learns what happens to Pascin in the future, but in a way that’s connected to the present of the moment in time Hemingway was writing about. The way in which Hemingway brings readers on a journey through time in sharing details about his and Pascin’s WorkLife, is once again a masterclass on WorkLife and time, which I know I will return to, time and time again, to help develop my writing style to keep people engaged in my stories.
Notes on Characters and Dialogue
And finally, this chapter was a Masterclass on how to describe characters in a way that makes them memorable from the outset and then gives further insight into their characteristics through succinct and simple dialogue. Hemingway writes using short sentences with very specific details to achieve this interesting description of the characters, and he keeps the dialogue between the characters short in helping the reader know more about them through their characteristics. I can learn a lot from Hemingway’s style in describing characters and their characteristics and how to write great dialogue. I know I will return time and time again to this Masterclass on Characters and Dialogue.
Words of Wisdom
They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered in better soil and with a higher grade of manure.
These words of wisdom at the end of the chapter demonstrated the beauty in which Hemingway wrote about the people he was remembering from his time in Paris. The beauty came from the poignance in how he shared their story and their truth.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
Today I enjoyed coffee and a macaroon at Ladurée, London Burlington Arcade, Picadilly.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FUNFACT1 The history of Ladurée began in 1862, when Louis-Ernest Ladurée, a miller from southwest France, opened a boulangerie at 16 Rue Royale. It was Louis-Ernest’s wife, Jeanne, who had the idea of combining a Parisian café with a patisserie, giving birth to one of the first tea salons. The salon de thé was an instant hit, especially with women who, up until then, were prohibited from gathering in Paris cafés! Louis-Ernest Ladurée was a prolific writer and author of plays, poetry, and 20,000 letters! (Source Paris Insiders Guide)
#FUNFACT2 The Burlington Arcade is one of Britain’s longest shopping arcades — 196 yards long to be precise. It was built in 1818/19 at the request of Lord George Cavendish, later Earl of Burlington, for his wife so that she could shop safely amongst other genteel ladies and gentlemen away from the busy, dirty, and crime-ridden open streets of London. (Source Londonist).
#FUNFACT3 Macarons were originally called the “Gerbet” or the “Paris macaron.” Pierre Desfontaines of the French pâtisserie Ladurée has sometimes been credited with its creation in the early part of the 20th century, but another baker, Claude Gerbet, also claims to have invented it. (Source The History of Macarons).
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLifehelps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Serieshelpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 10 (of 20) Birth of a New School accompanied by a warm camembert and grape baguette at Paul Bakery-Café, Bankside.
Notes From Chapter 10: Birth of a New School
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes on Luck and Being Lucky
The blue-backed notebooks, the two pencils and the pencil sharpener, and luck were all you needed. For luck you carried a horse chestnut and a rabbit’s foot in your right pocket.
Then you would hear someone say, ‘Hi Hem, what are you trying to do? Write in a café?’
Your luck had run out and you shut your notebook. This was the worst thing that could happen.
I liked learning about Hemingway’s rituals for writing – the basics to get into it each day because that’s what I like about writing – all that’s needed to get into it are the basics.
And I liked learning that he carried something for luck – I’ve never thought to do that. Still, I enjoy learning what other writers do.
Notes on Critics and Criticism
‘Hem, he said and I knew he was a critic now since, in a conversation, they put your name at the beginning of a sentence rather than at the end, I have to tell you I find your work just a little too stark.’
‘Too bad,’ I said.
‘Hem, it’s too stripped, too lean.’
‘Bad luck.’
‘Hem, too stark, too stripped, too sinewy.’
I felt the rabbit’s foot in my pocket guiltily. ‘I’ll try to fatten it up a little.’
‘Mind, I don’t want it obese.’
‘Hal,’ I said, practising speaking like a critic, ‘I’ll avoid that as long as I can.’
‘Glad we see eye to eye.’ He said manfully.
‘You’ll remember about not coming here when I’m working?’
‘Naturally, Hem. Of course. I’ll have my own café now.’
‘You’re very kind.’
‘I try to be, ‘ he said.
It would be interesting and instructive if the young man had turned out to be a famous critic but it did not turn out that way although I had high hopes for a while.
When Hemingway first closed his notebook, he tried, unsuccessfully, to hold his temper with the young man who was intent on striking up a conversation when Hemingway was trying to work.
In the end, he gave up and engaged with him as a critic who was intent on offering up his criticism, whether Hemingway wanted it or not.
Hemingway handled the critic and the criticism with a sense of wit and ridicule, although the young man was oblivious to that.
I cannot abide uninvited critics and unsolicited criticism any more than Hemingway could with the young writer. I’m not as quick thinking with my wit or as brave with my ridicule as Hemingway, but in some deserving cases, maybe I need to be!
And now, thanks to Hemingway’s insight that a critic puts your name at the beginning of a sentence rather than at the end, I can perhaps get a step ahead. From experience, I recognise this to be a very true and wise observation.
Words of Wisdom
I did not think he would come back the next day but I did not want to take chances. So the next morning I woke early and worked on the dining room table. I worked better than I had ever done. In those days you did not really need anything, not even the rabbit’s foot, but it was good to feel it in your pocket.
These words of wisdom and Hemingway’s handling of the critic and his criticism connected to other wise words I heard today:
David Aaker, on Design Matters podcast with Debbie Millman, said, “Three hours of solid work each day before procrastinating works.”
Adam Grant on WorkLife with Adam Grant wound up his podcast interview with Adam McKay,saying, “People often say that comedy is tragedy plus time. But sometimes we don’t have time, and I think part of the power of Adam’s work is he teaches us if we can take the tragedy and tilt it 30 degrees, amplify the absurdity. It becomes funny because it’s so preposterous, and as we laugh, we can start to look at the issue it represents with a more open mind.”
I really love how the learning I’m taking from the chapters of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast connects with my day-to-day learning from other sources simply because I love to learn by connecting different things. In this case, the same approach taken by people in very different eras to get good work done and in using ridicule to deal with the absurd.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feast over a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
Today I enjoyed a warm camembert and grape baguette at Paul Bakery-Café, Bankside.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FUNFACT1 “According to legend, Camembert was first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a dairymaid from Normandy, using a recipe from a priest from the Brie region, who was fleeing the anti-clerical French Revolution.” (SourceGrapes &Grains).
#FUNFACT2 Paul’s story began in 1889 with a small bakery near Lille, France. In the 1970s, they installed a wood-fired oven and bakery that operated in full view of customers. This was innovative at the time to see bread being made in the traditional fashion – kneading, shaping, proving and baking. (Soruce Paul).
#FUNFACT3 Bankside was once a cacophonous pleasure zone with brothels, bear-baiting, gaming dens and four Tudor theatres: The Globe, The Rose, the Swan and the Hope. Shakespeare and Dickens lived here. Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire light up the London sky from here in 1666. (Source Diary of a Londoness).
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLifehelps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 9 (of 20) Ford Madox Ford and the Devil’s Disciple accompanied by a savoury crèpe and coffee, at Crepeaffaire, Camden Passage, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 9: Ford Madox Ford and the Devil’s Disciple
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes on Being Interested and Interesting
The Closerie des Lilas was the nearest good café.
It was one of the best cafés in Paris.
People from the Dôme and the Rotonde never came to the Lilas. There was no one there they knew, and no one would have stared at them if they came. In those days many people went to the cafés at the corner of the Boulevard Montparnasse and the Boulevard Raspail to be seen publicly and in such places anticipated the columnists as the daily substitutes for immortality.
The Closerie des Lilas had once been a café where poets met more or less regularly and the last principal poet had been Paul Fort. But the only poet I ever saw there was Blaise Cendars.
Most of the clients were elderly bearded men in well worn clothes.
We thought of them all hopefully as scientists or savants and they sat almost as long over an apértif as the men in shabbier clothes.
These people made it a comfortable café since they were all interested in each other and in their drinks or coffees, or infusions, and in the papers and periodicals which were fastened to rods, and no one was on exhibition.
These words that Hemingway wrote, reminded me of words written by Ryan Holiday. I follow him on Twitter where he shares Stoic wisdom for everyday life.
What do we want more of in life? That’s the question.
It’s not accomplishments. It’s not popularity. It’s moments when we feel like we are enough. More presence. More clarity. More insight. More truth. More stillness.
The instinct is to look for answers, but the truth is that questions teach us most.
Who do you spend your time with?
Goethe said, “Tell me who you spend time with and I will tell you who you are.”
It’s not just people. What you read, what you watch, what you think about—your life comes to look exactly like your surroundings. Choose wisely.
Wise words. That’s what makes people interested and interesting. Wise words that are true of now and also true of that time in Paris. Indeed wise words true for all times.
Notes on Class
‘Oh here you are,’ he said.
It was Ford Madox Ford.
At that moment a rather gaunt man wearing a cape passed on the sidewalk.
‘Did you see me cut him?’ Ford said.
‘No. Who did you cut?’
‘Beloc,’ Ford said. ‘Did I cut him!’
‘I didn’t see it, ‘ I said. ‘Why did you cut him!’.
‘For every good reason in the world.’ Ford said.
He was thoroughly and completely happy.
‘Tell me why one cuts people,’ I asked.
‘A gentleman,’ Ford explained, ‘will always cut a cad.’
‘Would he cut a bounder?’ I asked.
‘It would be impossible for a gentleman to know a bounder.’
‘Then you can only cut someone you have known on terms of equality?’ I pursued.
‘Naturally.’
‘How would one ever meet a cad?’
‘You might not know it, or the fellow could have become a cad.’
‘Is Ezra a gentleman?’ I asked.
‘Of course not,’ Ford said. ‘He’s an American.’
‘Can’t an American be a Gentleman?’
‘Perhaps John Quinn.’ Ford explained. ‘’Certain of your ambassadors.’
‘Are you a gentleman?’
‘Naturally. I have held his Majesty’s communion.’
‘It’s very complicated.’ I said. ‘Am I a gentleman?’
‘Absolutely not,’ Ford said.
‘Then why are you drinking with me?’
‘I am drinking with you as a promising young writer. As a fellow writer in fact.’
‘Good of you.’ I said.
After Ford left it was dark and I walked over to the kiosque and bought a Paris-Sport Complet.
A great friend of mine who rarely came to the Lilas came over to the table and sat down, and just then as my friend was ordering a drink from Emile the gaunt man in the cape passed us on the sidewalk.
‘That’s Hilaire Beloc,’ I said to my friend. ‘Ford was here this afternoon and cut him dead.’
‘Don’t be a silly ass,’ my friend said. ‘That’s Alestair Crowley, the diabolist. ‘He’s supposed to be the wickedest man in the world.’
Growing up in Ireland, I wasn’t aware of the hierarchal social classes. Everyone I knew was the same. It was only when I moved to the UK that I became aware. And so I read the interaction on the subject with perhaps the same bemusement as Hemingway as he teased out Ford on ‘why one cuts people.’
Once again,these words that Hemingway wrote reminded me of words written by Ryan Holiday.
Words of Wisdom
We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.
Those words are enough to satisfy my bemusement. And to move on. FAST!
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or, as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. Today I enjoyed a Savoury Crèpe (tomato and cheese) and a coffee atCrepeaffaire, Camden Passage, Islington.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FUNFACT1 During the Middle Ages, watered down wine was used instead of milk to prepare the batter. (SourceCrepe Delicious).
#FUNFACT2 Crepeaffaire’s story began in 2004, when the first family-owned Crêpeaffaire opened in London. Ever since then, they’ve been going places and spreading the joy with stores from Brighton to Newcastle, and the Netherlands to Kuwait! (Source Crepeaffaire).
#FUNFACT3 Camden Passage has made regular appearances on ‘Cash in the Attic‘, ‘Bargain Hunt‘ and many other TV programmes both in the UK and abroad. It’s an interesting place to search out an unusual gift, find fine antiques and furniture, 20th Century design, period and costume jewellery, contemporary and vintage clothing and affordable stylish objects for the home. (SourceCamden Passage).
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLifehelps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Serieshelpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 8 (of 20) Hunger Was Good Discipline, accompanied by Crèpe La Classique paired with a glass of Mon Roc Blanc, Colombard, France, at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 8: Hunger Was Good Discipline
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes about Hunger and Money
You got very hungry when you did not eat enough in Paris because all the bakery shops had such good things in the windows and people ate outside at tables on the sidewalk so that you saw and smelled the food. When you had given up journalism and were writing nothing that anyone in America would buy, explaining at home that you were lunching out with someone, the best place to go was the Luxembourg gardens where you saw and smelled nothing to eat all the way from the Place de l’Observatoire to the rue de Vaugirard. There you could always go into the Luxembourg museum and all the paintings were sharper and clearer and more beautiful if you were belly-empty, hollow-hungry. I learned to understand Cèzanne much better and to see truly how he made landscapes when I was hungry. I used to wonder if he were hungry too when he painted; but I thought possibly it was only that he had forgotten to eat. It was one of those unsound but illuminating thoughts you have when you’ve been sleepless or hungry. Later I thought Cèzanne was hungry in a different way.
By the time you reached 12 rue de l’Odèon your hunger was contained but all of your perceptions were heightened again. The photographs looked different and you saw books you had never seen before.
‘It’s dammed funny that Germany is the only place I can sell anything.’
‘You can sell stories to Ford,’ she teased me.
‘Thirty francs a page. Say one story every three months in the Transatlantic. Story five pages long make one hundred and fifty francs a quarter. Six hundred francs a year.’
‘But, Hemingway, don’t worry about what they bring now. The point is that you can write them.’
‘I know. I can write them. But nobody will buy them. There is no money coming in since I quit Journalism.’
‘They will sell. Look you have the money for one right there.’
It is necessary to handle yourself better when you have to cut down on food so you will not get too much hunger-thinking. Hunger is good discipline and you learn from it.
I knew I must write a novel. But it seemed an impossible thing to do when I had been trying with great difficulty to write paragraphs that would be the distillation of what made a novel. It was necessary to write longer stories now as you would train for a race. When I had written a novel before, the one that had been lost in the bag stolen at the Gare de Lyon, I still had the lyric facility of boyhood that was as perishable and deceptive as youth was.
What did I know best that was not written about and lost? What did I know about truly and care for the most?
I sat in a corner with the afternoon light coming in over my shoulder and wrote in the notebook.
In my pocket was the money from Germany so there was no problem. When that was gone some other money would come in.
All I must do now was to stay sound and good in my head until morning when I would start to work again.
I enjoy Hemingway’s ‘Musings’ about his situation. I think perhaps because I dip in and out of a practice I call “Daily Musings’. I dip in and out of writing them down, but I ‘Muse’ all the time in my thinking. And also in my reading, particularly throughout reading this chapter. Because Hemingway’s ‘Musings’ are very much aligned with my own ‘Musings’ at this particular time.
Not on the hunger for food that he wrote about, but more on the hunger for success he wanted and needed in his work. I can certainly relate to that.
I suppose, in a way, I’m at the same place in and with my work as Hemingway was at that time in his life.
He had given up journalism to become a writer of stories and, in time, a novel. He wanted and needed to financially support his living and lifestyle wants and needs from this work.
Because the pandemic brought about an abrupt halt to the coaching and training work I’ve done for many years, I moved towards writing and creating learning resources. I had, in fact, written my first book, Your WorkLife Your Way, just before the pandemic hit, and so, in a sense, the shift had already begun. The pandemic served to escalate it when with no other work, I set about building both a body of work and also to develop my skills in what was a new craft to me.
What would you do if you didn’t have to work for a living?
This is a question that’s often asked to determine a person’s passion or purpose in life.
For me, the answer is Writing. I love it. I can easily write from dawn to dusk, having to remind myself to stop and eat. And it’s true, my perceptions are higher then, and when I stop to eat, they become a little dulled.
So I’ve found the thing I love doing. But I do need to earn a living from it. And I’m not.
I feel I’ve served my apprenticeship to becoming a writer. I took a learning-by-doing approach by writing and sharing 100s of stories on my website and other writing platforms and also publishing 30 books over the course of three years. I’ve had a little success, but nothing close to what I want and need to support my living and lifestyle wants and needs.
While I know, I’m at the beginning of my WorkLife journey as a writer. I feel I’ve done enough to embark on the next chapter. For me, that means to somehow begin to earn that elusive monetary success that I so want and need.
I’m mulling over some ideas of what that could be. My books are already out in the world, and so I will continue to work towards helping people find them amongst the millions of new books that are published each year. But I want and need to do something else alongside this.
Whereas Hemingway began by selling stories first and then his books, I did it the other way around. And now I think I would like to sell stories. I actually can’t think of anything better than having regular paid work writing stories that would financially support me.
That would be a dream come true for me. It would mean I could work and live anywhere in the world. That would be another dream come true for me. A dream I began to strive towards when I wrote my first book, even before the pandemic brought about the change in my WorkLife. It’s a dream that, for me, answers the question:
What will I be doing at the pinnacle of my WorkLife, when I feel challenged, engaged and not wanting anything else?
I feel I’m at the place where Hemingway was at, in that I know I can write stories. But I fear nobody will buy them. There is little money coming in since I quit delivering live learning events. But that said, I haven’t tried to sell stories yet, and people (albeit only a relatively few people) have bought my books.
So I’m really at a place where I need to try to sell stories, and I need to figure out how to do that. Hemingway’s ‘Musings’ have helped me to get to this place through my own ‘Musings’ in reading this chapter and writing my chapter notes.
Yet again, my Worklife Book Club For 1 is helping me self direct my WorkLife learning, which brings me to Hemingway’s question:
What do I know about truly and care for the most?
The hunger I have for success in my work is good discipline, and I am learning from it, which makes that question easy for me to answer.
The stories I’ve always written are based on real WorkLife struggles and successes. In creating these stories, I follow the criteria that they have to be Helpful, Insightful and Inspiring to readers in navigating through their WorkLife ups and downs.
So I know what I want and need to do. I now need to get on with it.
Words of Wisdom
As with Hemingway, I will continue to muse in my notebook. I’ll choose to believe that some other money will come in when what I have now is gone. And all I must do now is to stay sound and good in my head until morning when I will start to work again.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or, as I walk and explore and discover, it may not.
Today I enjoyed Crèpe La Classique paired with a glass of Mon Roc Blanc, Colombard, France at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FUNFACT1 In France, crêpes are traditionally served on the Christian holiday Candlemas (La Chandeleur). On February 2. In 472, Roman Pope Gelasius offered Crispus (Crêpes) to French pilgrims that were visiting Rome for the Chandeleur. They brought the dish back to France, and the day also became known as “Le Jour des Crêpes” (“The Day of the Crêpes”). The day is also celebrated by many as a day marking the transition from winter to spring, with the golden colour and circular shape of crêpes representing the sun and the circle of life.
#FUNFACT2 There are various superstitions surrounding making crêpes for Le Jour des Crêpes. Holding a gold coin or ring in one’s left hand while successfully flipping a crêpe in a pan with one’s right hand is said to bring the person wealth for the upcoming year. (Maybe I should try that at home!).
#FUNFACT3 Eating and sharing crêpes with others on Candlemas is another tradition based on popes giving food to the poor every year on February 2. A French proverb describes the tradition of eating crêpes on Candlemas, “manger des crêpes à la chandeleur apporte un an de bonheur” (eating crêpes on Candlemas brings a year of happiness).
Here’s a pic of my pancake on the griddle, ready to be sprinkled with sugar and a squeeze of lemon.
Pancakes on the griddle
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLifehelps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Serieshelpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 7 (of 20) The End of an Avocation, accompanied by Moules A L’ail with French Fries paired with a carafe of Mon Roc Blanc, Colombard, France at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 7: The End of an Avocation
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes about Avocation
Racing never came between us but for a long time it stayed close to us like a demanding friend. This was a generous way to think of it.
It was not really racing either. It was gambling on horses. But we called it racing.
I was going to races alone more now and I was involved with them and getting too mixed up with them.
I stopped finally because it took too much time, I was getting too involved.
When I stopped working on the races I was glad but it left an emptiness. But then I knew everything good and bad left an emptiness when it stopped. But if it was bad, the emptiness filled up by itself. If it was good you could only fill it by finding something better. I put the racing capital back into the general funds and I felt relaxed and good.
The day I gave up racing I went over to the other side of the river and met my friend Mike.
‘You never went to the track much, Mike,’ I said.
‘No, not for quite a long time.’
‘Why did you lay off it?’
‘I don’t know,’ Mike said. “Yes, sure I do. Anything you have to bet on to get a kick isn’t worth seeing.’
‘What do you see that’s better?’
‘Bicycle racing.’
‘Really?’
‘You don’t have to bet on it. You’ll see.’
… ‘we’ll go the bike races sometime’.
That was a new and fine thing that I knew little about.
It came to be a big part of our lives later.
Mike was right about it there was no need to bet.
As always, when having read the chapter over a glass and a plate, I take a little time to mull it over to consider how it connects to my WorkLife before I write the chapter notes. This mulling can be focused in the present, the past or the future. Really it’s just wherever my thoughts take me in relation to what the chapter means to me and what learning I can take from it.
A Note about my Present Past and Future Story
At the same time, I’m taking Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast on A Moveable Feast, I’m also revisiting stories I’ve shared on my blog over recent years to update them with the continuing story of my WorkLife: The pandemic brought about a change in my work when the in-person individual coaching and group workshops I was due to facilitate came to an abrupt halt. To continue to serve people’s WorkLife learning needs, I began to create resources to help people self direct their learning.
I, in effect, filled the emptiness from my lost work, which kept me connected with people in person, to remote work, which gave me a sense of connection, albeit working solo.
The day I sat down to write notes about this chapter was the day I republished: Why is it Important to Put Your Interests and Hobbies on Your CV?(complete with my continuing story). In the post, I share Mary’s story about wanting to move on from an organisation, industry and sector that no longer inspired her.
A Note about Mary’s Story
Mary, a Chief Financial Officer, is very private and wanted to keep her personal and professional WorkLife separate. Because of this, she hadn’t put her avocations on her CV. Now, Mary is also very unassuming and perhaps didn’t recognise or fully appreciate her amazing achievements outside of work.
This is an excerpt from Mary’s story to demonstrate what I mean:
Among Mary’s passions are a love for English Heritage and a love of animals. She supports charities in both her areas of interest through donations, and she is also a trustee and board member of her chosen charities. She does this in a voluntary capacity.
She had also taken a two-month sabbatical, during which time she lived in a small community in remote Africa and worked alongside the local people offering her financial expertise to support them in developing a sustainable business strategy for the community, which allowed them to be self-sufficient in promoting their social enterprise. At the end of the two months, the community held a carnival in celebration of Mary’s support, and she was crowned queen of their village!
Along with all of this, Mary also has her pilot’s licence, and at weekends you’ll find her navigating the skies of Britain along with her husband, a fellow enthusiast.
In my work, I never give advice. This is because I believe everyone has the inner wisdom to figure things out for themselves, and when they do, it’s always more meaningful.
But that said, people, can sometimes get stuck in their thinking. And so it can help to share my thoughts – not by way of telling them what to do, but by way of giving them a different perspective that possibly could help them to move beyond their ‘stuckness’.
I shared with Mary that I believe it’s important for people to put their interests and hobbies (avocations) on their CVs because they need to share a holistic insight into who they are.
This is a further excerpt from Mary’s story to demonstrate what I mean:
Having an insight into what’s unique and different about a candidate over and above their skills and experience allows an understanding of how they will perform in the role and in being an ambassador for the company. And as importantly, provides an insight into how the company can support the candidate’s learning, development and growth in line with what is important to them, both professionally and personally.
Epilogue to Mary’s Story
Mary’s story does have a happy ending. Putting her interests and hobbies on her CV opened up a greater range of roles for her. She has since secured a role in an organisation, industry and sector that inspires her.
I love that my profession allows me to immerse myself in the world of people’s learning and that I get to participate in their WorkLife journeys. Mary’s is just one story of the 100s of client stories where people’s avocations played an important role in their WorkLife.
For some, their avocation remained a hobby or interest outside of work that gave them a sense of fulfilment. For others their avocation became their vocation when, as with Mary, they lived their WorkLife true to their passions. For all, their avocations helped their WorkLife learning and development.
This chapter was a reminder of the importance of avocations.
Many of the avocations of the people I’ve worked with are good avocations. But as with Hemingway’s story, I’ve also experienced people’s stories of bad avocations, which they have had to stop. This left them with an emptiness they then had to fill.
In my book, WorkLife Book Club, the back story of the character Benny was that he had been under immense pressure to save his company from failing, which would have resulted in significant job losses. In his fight against this happening, he had to give up much of what was good in his life outside of work. This was because what he needed to do required him to work every waking hour, and he had little time for anything else. He was living and sleeping at the office, and in the darkest of hours, when he was alone with an emptiness to fill, he filled it with the only thing he felt could keep him going and get him through the difficulties he was facing. That thing was alcohol.
Within a short space of time, things spiralled out of control. An intervention from his colleagues, family and friends saved his life. His circumstance of recovery filled the emptiness of stopping drinking. Then at a much further point along his road to recovery, Benny felt he could begin to fill that emptiness brought about by stopping drinking with something else.
He chose a book club simply because he loved reading and also because he wanted to enjoy a sociable experience that wasn’t focused around alcohol. The WorkLife Book Club took him and his fellow members on a culinary journey through the streets of Shoreditch, East London, while discussing WorkLife struggles and successes through the wisdom found in the books they read.
Words of Wisdom
Hemingway replaced horse racing (or gambling) with bike racing which became an avocation (without the need to gamble).
Benny replaced drinking with shared learning through reading and culinary experiences.
For both men, these were new and fine things they knew little about that became a big part of their lives later. They became their avocations.
Hemingway learnt that Mike was right about bike racing – that there was no need to bet.
Benny learnt from his new social experience – that there was no need to drink.
Epilogue
Unlike previous times when I wasn’t sure when I’ll read the next chapter ofA Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate. This time I know because I read the next chapter over desert and a glass of wine atLa Petite Auberge
… Let’s see where A Moveable Feast the next chapter story is going to take me …
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. Today I enjoyed Moules A L’ail with French Fries paired with a carafe of Mon Roc Blanc, Colombard, France at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Not only do they taste great, mussels are a crucial part of healthy marine ecosystems. Without mussels, the ocean and her inhabitants wouldn’t fare so well. And that’s because mussels are natural filter feeders.
#FunFact2 Mussels have more iron than fillet steak
It’s quite amazing to think that such a small morsel can have so much iron, but it does.
Mussels are a great source of iron. They are a lean protein and will keep you feeling fuller for longer.
#FunFact3 There are male and female mussels
Have you ever wondered why some mussels are orange and others are white? It all comes down to gender. The orange mussels are female and the creamy white mussels are male. Both have the same rich, sweet flavour you love.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 6 (of 20) The False Spring, accompanied by French Toast ‘Kipferl’ Style – milk bread fried in egg, with homemade apple and seasonal compote, fresh fruit and cinnamon at Kipferl, Camden Passage, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 6: The False Spring
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes about Spring Mornings
When spring came, even the false spring, there was no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.
In the spring mornings I would work early.
So that day after work we would go racing.
Hemingway was talking about making the most of the beautiful spring days and getting up early to work while his wife and the streets below were still asleep. Then when finished writing, he and his wife, Hadley, could choose how to spend the rest of the beautiful spring day. In the chapter he told the story of the day they chose to go racing.
This note serves as a reminder of a simple WorkLife practice that makes time for work and making the most of beautiful days.
Notes about Money
‘Do we have enough money to really bet, Tatie?’ my wife asked.
It was all part of the fight against poverty that you never win except by not spending.
But then we did not think ever of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. It only seemed odd to be rich. We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply.
Recently I had coffee with a friend. I mentioned how, during the pandemic, because my work had stopped overnight, I had taken the financial support the government had made available.
Meaning well, my friend said she realised how privileged she was – she meant because she was financially OK. Or Rich. Whereas because I had needed to take the government financial support, she thought I was less privileged or poor!
What she said bothered me – it bothered me a LOT!
Because I don’t feel less privileged than her or anyone else for that matter.
And I certainly don’t think of myself as poor.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
I feel extremely privileged.
I feel extremely rich.
And that’s because of my work.
As a WorkLife learning practitioner, writer and creator, my work gives me a far greater sense of privilege and richness than money has ever or could ever.
I used to work in Investment Banking. I worked with good people in a good environment, and it afforded me a great lifestyle. I never had to give a second thought to spending money on whatever I wanted to spend it on. I had great experiences because of that.
But, and there is a but, a very BIG BUT.
My work wasn’t fulfilling. It was OK. There wasn’t anything wrong with it per se. It simply had become mundane because I had been doing it for so long.
BUT, more than that. It had never been fulfilling.
Then as soon as I began my transition into the work I’m doing now, I immediately had a sense of fulfilment in my WorkLife, and with it came a sense of richness – not the richness of money, but the richness that came from doing good work.
From the outset in serving the people I worked with, the criteria that guided my work have always been that it has to be Helpful, Insightful and Inspiring. This is what gives me a sense of privilege and richness.
It has, over the course of almost twenty years working in my field, been financially challenging many times. Working freelance and navigating through ups and downs brought about by downturns in the market (financial crashes or the pandemic), resulting in learning budgets being frozen, made getting work hard, which made it financially challenging.
BUT throughout all of this, I’ve always felt extremely privileged and rich.
Because during downturns, when I didn’t have a lot of work, or as in the pandemic when I had no work, I spent my time creating.
Creating learning resources that are accessible to everyone, to help people self direct their WorkLife learning in the areas that are important to them.
This means that people can continue to self direct their learning regardless of company learning budgets being frozen. People who lose their job because of downturns can also continue to self direct their learning, while doing what they need to do to return to work. And so can people who set themselves up in business, who also perhaps have limited learning budgets.
Because my work has taught me that the one thing that can never be taken away from you is your learning.
My work gives me a sense of privilege and richness that money has ever and could ever.
Notes about Experiences
‘Do you remember I bought some wine from Aigle home to the chalet? They sold it to us at the inn. They said it should go with the trout. We bought it wrapped in copies of La Gazette de Lausanne, I think.’
‘The Sion wine was even better. Do you remember how Mrs Gangeswisch cooked the trout au bleu when we got back to the chalet? They were such wonderful trout, Tatie, and we drank the Sion wine and ate out on the porch with the mountainside dropping off below and we could look across the lake and see the Dent du Midi with the snow half down it and the trees at the mouth of the Rhône where it flowed into the lake.’
Creating experiences on that spring day led Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, to reminisce about memorable experiences from times gone by.
Lately, I find myself reminiscing a lot about memorable experiences from times gone by.
I also find myself thinking about the times over the last twenty years when things have been financially hard when I stopped creating experiences. I deprived myself because I felt I couldn’t spend money on creating an experience because I needed it to pay the bills.
In taking Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast on a Moveable Feast, I’m creating memorable experiences. They don’t cost a lot. They don’t have to. I simply enjoy reading a chapter over a plate and a glass. It’s a simple pleasure that gives me immense satisfaction.
I walk wherever I’m going, and along the way, I’m discovering new places to create new experiences over a plate and a glass and a new chapter.
Words of Wisdom
‘Memory is hunger.’ Hadley Richardson.
For me, this line gives a sense of longing for the good experiences of the past to return and a sense of realising the importance of creating new experiences..
Experiences are the thing that bring richness and privilege to our lives. They don’t have to cost a lot of money. I needed to be reminded of that.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or, as I walk and explore and discover, it may not …
…………………………………………………………………………………………………. Today I enjoyed French Toast ‘Kipferl’ Style – milk bread fried in egg, with homemade apple and seasonal compote, fresh fruit and cinnamon at Kipferl, Camden Passage, Islington.
Kipferl is an Austrian restaurant & patisserie in a bright and spacious chalet-like space. Once again, unknowingly, my choice was serendipitous with the chapter, as Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, were reminiscing about their chalet and experiences while in Switzerland.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FunFact1 The usual French name for French Toast is Pain Perdu, ‘lost bread’, reflecting its use of stale or otherwise “lost” bread. (Source Wikipedia)
The first known recorded recipe for French toast comes from Rome around 300 A.D. The Roman author Apicius included it in his cookbook titled “Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome“. For centuries, the French themselves called this dish “Roman Bread”. Today, French toast has spread to much of the world. Because the recipe is seen as a good way to make use of stale bread without wasting it, many countries today refer to this dish as ‘lost bread’. (SourceScience Questions with Surprising Answers)
#FunFact2. Camden Passage, Islington, is hidden down a pedestrian-only cobbled back street. The passage was built, as an alley, along the backs of houses on Upper Street, then Islington High Street, in 1767. Since the 1950’s Camden Passage has ranked alongside Portobello, Kensington Church Street and Spitalfields as one of London’s leading antique locations. In later years the area has diversified with many new shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and market stalls. (Source Camden Passage Islington and Wikipedia).
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Serieshelpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 5 (of 20) People of the Seine, accompanied by Boeuf Bourguignon, paired with Le Bouquet Rouge De Georges Duboeuf at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 5: People of the Seine
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes about Observation
I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think when I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.
I knew several of the men who fished the fruitful parts of the Seine between the Ile St-Louis and the Place de Verte Galente and sometimes, if the day was bright, I would buy a litre of wine and a piece of bread and some sausage and sit in the sun and read one of the books I had bought and watch the fishing.
Travel writers wrote about the men fishing in the Seine as though they were crazy and never caught anything, but it was serious and productive fishing. Most of the fishermen were men who had small pensions, which they did not know then would become worthless with inflation, or keen fishermen who fished on their or half-days days off from work.
It always made me happy that there were men fishing in the city itself, having sound, serious fishing and taking a few fritures home to their families.
Like Hemingway, I walk when I’m trying to think something out.
Yesterday when I sat down to write this chapter, having read it first over a plate and a glass at La Petite Auberge, I re-read it again. But I didn’t know where I was going to go with it.
I’ve written a lot about the power of book wisdom – how we can take the wisdom found in books and apply it to our WorkLife learning needs to navigate through our struggles and successes.
I first wrote a blog which I called WorkLife Book Wisdom, which led me to write a book calledWorkLife Book Club, that in turn led me to write aLearn Through Reading Series of Case Studies – In the book and the series, the stories are presented as case studies for group discussion. The case and the recommended book are the required reading for each book club meeting and help to frame the subsequent discussion.
All of these resources were created in the context of people taking the lessons they need from reading a full book. The difference with Taking Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast on A Moveable Feast. Chapter by Chapter was two-fold.
I wanted to explore if learning can be taken from every individual chapter of a book as opposed to learning being taken from a book as a whole.
I wanted to explore if learning can be taken from A WorkLife Book Club For One. My original blog was based on this, but my book and subsequent learn through reading series focused on a deeper level of learning through book club discussions.
I pondered this on my morning walk, and then when I got home, I read the chapter once again. And suddenly I knew where I wanted to go with it.
That was to connect my belief in the power of observation (as a superpower) to Hemingway’s same belief, as a way to figure things out for ourselves, simply by walking and doing something – thinking and observing our thoughts.
And also by observing others, seeing people doing something that they understand.
That’s how Hemingway differed from the travel writers who wrote disparagingly about the men fishing in the Seine. Unlike Hemingway, they didn’t see or understand the true meaning of the men’s work. The importance of the work and the impact it had on their WorkLives.
I can relate to Hemingway observing the men at work and, from that, understanding the bigger picture of what it truly means. I can relate to it because I always take time to understand the bigger picture of people’s WorkLives. That’s important to me in helping the people I work with to navigate their WorkLife with passion, purpose and pride by living true to their values, beliefs and motivated abilities.
On re-reading the last sentence, I questioned if it’s too cliché. I’m not sure if it is or if it sounds like that to me because it’s something I’ve been saying for a very, very long time. And if that’s the case, then it’s my cliché, and I need to own it. Then I thought a better question is: Is it true? The answer is a resounding YES. I can say that with absolute and total conviction because of the stories I share on my blog and in my books of people’s powerful WorkLife achievements. Those stories are a testament to the truth of that sentence.
I can also relate to Hemingway’s description of the travel writers. Because so often, I hear people criticise and judge other people without taking time to observe and understand their WorkLife fully. That’s a real bug bear of mine – I have a few!
Notes about The Spring
With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only true sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and the branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen.
In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.’
My walking and thinking also helped me write the following notes about spring.
Because I was able to make sense of the chapter on re-reading it and its relevance to my WorkLife.
It just happens to be autumn as I walk and think, then read, write and ponder more deeply about spring seeming so far away.
At the moment, I’m facing challenges in my WorkLife. Things I need to happen are not falling into place because of metaphorical unforeseen heavy rains. I want and need to sell a property to move from London to begin a new WorkLife chapter in a new country. But crashing markets – or metaphorical crashing rains, are preventing that from happening. This is causing me to question if the spring of my new WorkLife chapter will come. It’s frightening because while it hasn’t failed (as such), it’s outside of my control.
Right now, I feel, as Hemingway wrote, that spring will never come and that I’m losing a season out of my life.
I’ve been through times before when I thought spring would never come, and yet it did.
Words of Wisdom
As Hemingway wrote, I need to remember that spring always came in the past, and it will come again in the future, and I just need to hang in there.
And so, on reflection from walking and thinking, reading, writing and pondering, I believe that learning can be taken from every individual chapter of a book. I also believe that learning can be taken from a WorkLife book club for one.
That pleases me a lot because I love learning through reading and thinking and writing in my own space and my own time.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feastover a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or, as with today, it may not.
The Continuing Story …
… I can now share where Chapter 6 (of 20)… The False Spring took me …
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Today’s plat principal, Boeuf Bourguignon, paired with a glass of Le Bouquet Rouge De Georges Duboeuf, was enjoyed at La Petite Auberge, Upper Street, Islington. Upper Street is the central thoroughfare of Islington, home to great restaurants and bars.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FunFact1 Boeuf Bourguignon, a French beef stew braised in red wine, often touted as traditional, in reality, does not appear to be very old, nor did it enjoy a great reputation, and furthermore, it is likely not a regional recipe from Burgundy. The dish became a standard of French cuisine, notably in Parisian bistros, and only became considered as a Burgundian speciality in the twentieth century. Julia Child has described the dish as “certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.” – I concur. (Source Wikipedia).
#FunFact2. Upper Street was one of the settings for local resident Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. The London-based sections of the later books are set in and around Upper Street, the home address of “Fenchurch”. In addition, the character of Hotblack Desiato is named after a local estate agent. (Source Wikipedia).
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School of WorkLifehelps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 4 (of 20) Shakespeare and Companyaccompanied by Escargots À L’alsacienne paired with Le Bouquet Rouge De Georges Duboeuf at La Petite Auberge, Islington.
Notes From Chapter 4: Shakespeare and Company
A WorkLife Book Club For One
Notes about the Long-Lasting Memories of Generosity and Kindness, Happiness and the Simple Things & Times in Life
“In those days there was no money to buy books. I borrowed books from the rental library Shakespeare and Company, which was the library and bookstore of Sylvia Beach at 12 rue de l’Odéon.”
“I was very shy when I first went into the bookshop and I did not have the money on me to join the library. She told me I could pay the deposit any time I had the money and made me out a card and said I could take as many books as I wished.”
“There was no reason for her to trust me. She did not know me and the address I had given her, 74 rue Cardinal Lemoine, could not have been a poorer one. But she was delightful and charming and welcoming and behind her, as high as the wall and stretching out into the back room which gave onto the inner court of the building, were shelves and shelves of the wealth of the library.”
“I told my wife about the wonderful place I had found.”
‘But Tatie, you must go by this afternoon and pay,’ she said.
‘Sure I will,’ I said. ‘We’ll both go. And then we’ll walk down by the river and along the quais.’
‘Let’s walk down the rue de Seine and look in all the galleries and in the windows of the shops.’
‘Sure. We can walk anywhere and we can stop at some new café where we don’t know anyone and nobody knows us and have a drink.’
‘We can have two drinks.’
‘Then we can eat somewhere’.
‘No. Don’t forget we have to pay the library.’
‘Does she have Henry James too?’
‘Sure.’
‘My,’ she said, ‘We’re lucky that you found the place.’
‘We’re always lucky,’ I said and like a fool I did not knock on wood. There was wood everywhere in that apartment to knock on too’.”
I love stories that remind me that the long-lasting memories that live on in our hearts and minds are often the memories of acts of generosity and kindness, happiness and the simple things and times in our lives.
A Moveable Feast was Hemingway’s memoir about his time in Paris. He wrote the book towards the end of his life and it was published posthumously. It has been said that he became increasingly anxious and depressed in his final years. I think of this book as a love letter to a time in his life when he was, perhaps, most happiest. And as he remembered the importance of those simple times and the simple things that contributed to his happiness, he also remembered the people who had shown him generosity and kindness.
This was a short, simple and yet, profound chapter.
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As I sat to write this chapter, I was reminded of serendipitous happenings on the day I discovered La Petite Auberge – the French Restaurant where I read this chapter. I’ve written before about a practice I began some time ago, which I call #carmelinlondon exploring, discovering and capturing the beauty in everyday WorkLife. It’s a simple practice, similar to Hemingway’s daily practice of walking, exploring and discovering new places, people and experiences, which he then captured in words through his writing – I capture my happenings in words and photos, too, sometimes.
Anyway, as well as discovering the restaurant along my walk, I also discovered Charity shops along my route. I popped into the Crisis charity shop and picked up the bookShakespeare & Co.by Stanley Wells for a mere £4. I hadn’t looked ahead in Moveable Feast, so I didn’t know the next chapter I was to read at La Petite Auberge was to be … Shakespeare and Company.
Shakespeare & Co.
Words of Wisdom
That’s the beauty of the life in and of books – they can be bought new or old, lent, borrowed or gifted. And that’s another beautiful part of life that contributes to long-lasting memories. For me, it’s a memory that connects to generosity and kindness – the people who share their books. Happiness, and the simple things and times in life – books have that simple, yet profound power to bind all these together.
Epilogue
Unlike previous times when I wasn’t sure when I’ll read the next chapter ofA Moveable Feast over a glass and a plate. This time I know, because I read the next chapter over my main course and a glass of wine atLa Petite Auberge
… Let’s see where A Moveable Feastthe next chapter story is going to take me …
The Continuing Story …
… I can now share where Chapter 5 (of 20) People of the Seinestory took me …
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Today’s entrée, Escargots À L’alsacienne paired with a glass of Le Bouquet Rouge De Georges Duboeuf, was enjoyed at La Petite Auberge, Upper Street, Islington. Upper Street is the central thoroughfare of Islington, home to great restaurants and bars.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FunFact1. About Snails: Although, throughout history, the snail had little value in the kitchen because it was considered “poverty food”, in recent times it has been classified as a delicacy, thanks to the appreciation given to it by haute cuisine chefs. Although, long before that, Pope Pius V, who was an avid eater of snails, decided that they had to be considered as fish, in order to continue eating them during Lent, exclaiming: Estote pisces in aeternum! (‘you will be fish forever!’). While the origin of people eating snails seems to go back to Greece, today helicicculture (snail farming), occurs mainly in France, Italy and Spain, which are also the countries with the greatest culinary tradition of the snail. (Source Wikipedia).
#FunFact2. About Upper Street. Charles Dickens has been much quoted as describing Upper Street as ‘among the noisiest and most disagreeable thoroughfares in London’. It’s been said that “Charles Dickens applied his unique power of observation to the city in which he spent most of his life. He routinely walked the city streets,10 or 20 miles at a time, and his descriptions of nineteenth century London allow readers to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the old city.” (Source Charles Dickens Page). As a walker of the streets of London (at least 10 miles a day), I smile and wonder if perhaps one day, my observations, musings and writings will allow readers in another century to experience London life of today – much has changed since the days of Dickens and nowadays Upper Street is home to some of the finest eating and drinking establishments in London – I have more to say on that – which I’ll save for another chapter of A WorkLife Book Club For One, over a plate and a glass.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.
