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Notes from Nevers

by geezer in Paris Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 04:57:54 AM EST

I thought I would be happy to grow old(er) and die in Paris, but I was wrong.


Today, it's easy for me to see Paris as a vast theme park, packed with attractions for the rubes, with junk and  doodads for sale at every turn. But it's of course something much more than that. Paris is a storehouse of art, music, culture, - in short, all the things that emerged from a chain of rapacious monarchies epitomized by Louis the Fourteenth and his merciless fostering of art, technology and architecture- not for the advancement of "civilization", but for his personal amusement, and as a testament showing his superiority over the other predators of the aristocracies of his day. Nonetheless, his real love of fine things and art seems to have fostered something great- a national predilection for the beautiful. But his predation eventually resulted in the death of his hapless descendant, Louis the Sixteenth, when the chickens finally came home to roost--more like the vultures, I guess.

The architectural triumphs, the art, the music, even the techniques of mirror-making that allowed the "Sun King"  to exist, solidified, coalesced into the tourist's Paris, the culture vulture's Paris. For example, Americans, who come from a place where only the barest dribble of pocket change is invested in culture . Hell, we can't even fix the roads.
 But there is another Paris: a place deeper than monument-world, where people live and love, where lives are spent and people have children to raise and educate, mortgages to pay, dreams to nurture and wounds to heal. The two overlap. They naturally blend with the many other cities that inhabit the same space, and produce a complex amalgam that was the Paris I fell in love with twenty-five years ago.. But change comes, with the toxic homogenization of "globalization", and change comes to me too. As I age, my perspective shifts. The world has changed around the Paris I loved, and it seems to me that Paris has changed till it is no longer as good a place for children as it once was. And, for now, I need a different perspective.

All great cities have their own character, their own history, and as a result their own independent persona. They "live". I still love Paris, as does Ivonne, and we may go back when the girls are more resistant to the toxic side- the self-involved Parisian girl, overdressed, perched on spikes and with her phone glued to her ear, who tramples you as you try to evade her charge for the department store door. Or the stapled, tattooed, death-clone, the black clad Goth. My girls need to know that there's a larger world. I need to remind myself of that, too.

Nevers is a sweet town in many ways. It has some of the chief liability of small environments- the authoritarian nature of a town with a relatively rigid definition of "us" and "them", but there's enough ideological wiggle-room, and it's physically big enough as well, so a fair bit of tolerance seems to be alive and well here. People smile, they say hello, they actually see you when they look at you- a person instead of just another obstacle. It has enough history to be culturally rich, but has escaped the obsession with the past that is common in towns ruled by an oligarchy in their seventies, who dream past glories and hate change.

It occurs to me that the absence of extreme role playing like Goth or Puncture-People might be an indication that the desired shock value is missing, since it's abundantly clear that disapprobation or prohibition just amplifies the rebellion these things seem to represent. Not so much to prove here.

Who rules here? I don't yet know, but we will find out.
Nevers has lost a lot of population in the last decade, and is therefore over-endowed with some infrastructure. A huge medical complex languishes just outside town to the West. Bored people and almost empty halls, with the bureaucratic nonsense that idleness tends to bring.
But Nevers seems to be a well-managed town, orderly without being oppressively  authoritarian. Still very early- I may change my mind here, when I know more. But the schools have small classes by the standards of the times, and still do art and music, field trips and dramatic productions, and the Mairie provides subsidized camping and many other programs for kids during the school year as well as in the summers. There is a focus on the 12 to 16 age group, which Paris largely lacked.
Enough for now. I'm back to building model airplanes, and I have a sailplane in the works, and Giselle is building one too. More fun there. Still hope to fly something a bit larger again- perhaps an ultralight.

Jim Miller

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Great to hear from you. And glad you are positive about the move from Paris.

See if you can resurrect that bar idea of yours. I can help with the beer :-))

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 06:40:58 AM EST
yeah, nice summary of good reasons to provide better role models for the kidz.

so it's geezer in nevers now...

keep observing your new space and sharing, it's great to hear from you.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 08:04:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Are you berthed in the big port just south of the river by Chemin de Halage ?

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 08:13:39 AM EST
OMG, Nevers still has a trainshed roundhouse in use

Can't be too many of them left

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 08:24:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Good to have your news. It's not so bad that Nevers is losing population, it may make it a bit sleepy, but there are advantages to that.

Concentrate on that model plane. I bet Giselle is building hers properly.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 10:47:02 AM EST
Yes. The decline has been a blessing in some ways, but central government funds for education and other things are based in part on population, so it's cost the city a lot of dough.
Still, it's about the perfect size in some ways.


Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 11:14:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
how do you get boats past the bridge with the weir? can't see a lock or anything on the satellite pics

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 10:53:32 AM EST
there is a long dead-end side canal from the canal lateral de la Loir, which heads North to the city of Nevers  itself. There used to be a lock at the river proper- the North end of the side  canal- but the river is no longer navigable at that spot, so the lock is no longer visible- it is now a swimming complex (itself abandoned). We are in the area at the North end. It's called "Quai de la Jonction".

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 11:20:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Look a little way right from the bridge with the weir.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 11:35:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
What do the girls think of the move from Paris to Nevers?

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 02:09:43 PM EST
They both like being here, and their respective schools very much. They miss their friends- and even their enemies, in  Marcelles' case, but one must remember that Paris is all Marcelle has ever known. A good reason for a wider view. As well,
I'm also very curious as to the sources of opinion here- the world view of smaller cities/larger towns. Are they a political counterweight to Paris? Are they ideologically independent of the Paris media noise machine? To what degree are opinions here influenced by the authoritarian needs that come with being human? (More to some than to others)
What do working people read here?
The dockmaster is a fascinating guy.
More by e-mail if you are interested.  

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 01:00:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I had no real memory of any big city when, at age 4, my family moved to Whizbang, Oklahoma, on the prairie. In late '46 or early '47, though I had been born and lived the first three years of my life in Houston, Texas, where my mother had moved during WW II to be with family and to work. My parents were both from Dewey County, Oklahoma and my father found work with Phillips Petroleum after the war.

I believe that it was an advantage for me to have lived my childhood in a rural/small town environment. It allowed me routine contact with nature, soiled as it was in the oil patch. We took vacations to Houston and Brownsville, Texas in the early '50s to visit my mother's family and in both cases my cousins lived within walking distance of the countryside, the piney woods in the case of Houston.

One of those trips I spent time with my Aunt Goldie who had an apartment near downtown Houston. I recall walking through downtown Houston and seeing tall buildings for the first time. My aunt said: "Don't look up, they will think you are from the country." I responded: "But I am from the country, Aunt Goldie." I was 8 and took the train back to Oklahoma alone while my mother stayed in Houston to help care for her mother, who had suffered severe burns a couple of years earlier and who had just been flown down to spend time with another of her daughters.

Later I recall asking my father why he had moved us to the country. He responded: "You will appreciate it when you are older." Was he ever right.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 11:47:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks, Geez. Interesting. I also had a rural background in some ways- my father taught history at a high school in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio but we lived on ten acres outside Worthington, Ohio, which we leased out and farmed ourselves. But the decline in Ohio farming was striking at the time. Friends who successfully farmed 350 family acres one year were reduced to farming their own land as tenant farmers to the new agribusiness owners, a few years later- with a reduction of income of about half. Serfdom. Angry serfdom. So we left, moved into town for good.
But I remember with affection my friends on the surrounding farms before the hard times came, and they changed.

I've always thought of myself as a city boy, and with pride. Then I sailed away, and my perspective began to change. It seemed that people all over the world with a connection of some sort to the land maintained a healthier outlook, were more open, easier to coexist with. I'm still a city kid- I don't see myself involved in a back-to-the-land scenario, though I can see it's merits. But the girls did not prosper in Paris. Still thinking on that fact.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Mon Oct 3rd, 2011 at 12:07:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Post some photos of the city if you can, please.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...Albert Einstein
by vbo on Thu Sep 29th, 2011 at 08:28:43 PM EST
I plan to do a diary with many photos, but have not had the time to do it yet.


Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 01:02:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Geezer inspired me to do a little tour via google street view. Not bad at all for town of about 40,000.
A bit of a change from Paris' 2 mil plus.
by Andhakari on Sat Oct 1st, 2011 at 01:16:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
on the move, the family priorities, it feels right to me.

You are blessed with great flexibility with the boat. I wonder how things will evolve as the girls progress through school? My instinct tells me that Nevers is a good size for collège, but perhaps a bit small for lycée? My girls went to collège in a very small town  (5000 inhabitants), and lycée in Saint Etienne (much bigger than Nevers, much smaller than Paris!)

The possibilities are numerous : Avignon is nice (my elder girl just started university there), Nantes is a big step up (I wonder how the mooring is there? Tidal...)

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 05:24:08 AM EST
"Feels" is a good word. These things are very much  "seat-of-the-pants" affairs.

Visited Nantes with an eye toward that possibility, and was put off a bit by the tourist culture around the port--after all those years in tourist traps I tend to recoil. We also look for moorings with good cat country.
Avignon is also on our list of nice places.

Trying to strike a balance between the girls' need and our needs. We had a family agreement that we would go back to a more active life when the girls had had about three years to acclimate. We never did, and it was in the end bad for both us and the girls.
And Nevers has a nice airport with glider club and an active ultralight group, and I'm not quite ready to drift off into a genteel decline with my toys.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 08:09:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
is of course another great possibility. The Canal du Midi is high on my list of places to live, if I ever make the jump to a canal boat. Bordeaux is apparently much nicer than it used to be, too.

Also, there's nothing terribly wrong with Lyon. Though it's a jump up in size, it certainly isn't Paris.

You lucky people. So many great choices.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Sun Oct 2nd, 2011 at 05:38:00 AM EST
We checked out Touloouse also, in detail, with several car trips there. A beautiful city, sweet feel in many ways, but the Canal du Midi is a vast ocean of tourist boats, with an hour or two wait at locks sometime, and very incompetent company. As well, there is only the single canal to play on. We prefer to run with the commercial guys- we're big enough to keep up, and they know what they are about, generally. little or no commercial traffic there- it's all a theme park for rentals. Here, there are three canals to choose from and five directions to go, and real traffic not far away.

 

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Sun Oct 2nd, 2011 at 11:49:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A friend of mine is a boater and he spent a few seasons on the Canal du Midi and is full of stories about the dangerous incompetence of the hire boaters. The 9 lock rise from Beziers is notorious, it can take two days to get through.

It is very crowded in high season but if you cruise west of Toulouse you can escape them as they don't seem to get up that far.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Oct 3rd, 2011 at 01:00:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Another thing about the Canal du Midi is that the plane trees that are so typical and give welcome shade in the Toulous-Sète portion are going to have to gradually chopped down because a fungal rot makes them dangerous. So it will take years for new trees to grow to give shade.

Not so in the portion from Toulouse to the Atlantic. The reason is said to be that the spores are transported by the boats, and there are so many more of them in the Mediterranean section...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Oct 3rd, 2011 at 02:30:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sad. They are often lovely. The danger of falling limbs?

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Oct 7th, 2011 at 01:08:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
extreme role playing

Something I've given a lot of thought to, and you've condensed so well into three words.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Oct 3rd, 2011 at 03:15:05 PM EST
If you're not valued for your person, be reacted to from your persona.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Tue Oct 4th, 2011 at 11:35:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Millers were kind enough to invite me to pass the first two days with them on their trip to Nevers. I did Paris-Melun and Melun-Nemours, where my wife met me.

Here's a photo "saying goodbye to Paris."

From Misc-Do not delete-3b


Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
by LEP on Tue Oct 4th, 2011 at 05:49:05 PM EST
Here's one of the 'big boys' wanting to share a lock with us on the Seine. Closest thing to a monster I've ever seen.

From 2011 NikonCqnon Aug Sept

From Misc-Do not delete-3b


Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
by LEP on Tue Oct 4th, 2011 at 06:05:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Into the country on the second day on the river and canal Loing.

From 2011 NikonCqnon Aug Sept

Sorry if I hijacked this diary but I've never posted these photos before and this seemed like a good opportunity. LEP

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!

by LEP on Tue Oct 4th, 2011 at 06:14:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Glad to see your images. Nice. I still don't have much time or inclination to assemble a photo story--post away.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Fri Oct 7th, 2011 at 12:54:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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