TGV Zurich-Paris
I boarded the train for Paris. I planned to read 38 pages of Small World on the journey. The rest I wanted to keep for my fortieth birthday.
On page 38, Barbara was more fortunate than I: "She had turned forty this year." I read the sentence a second time, a third time, and a fourth time aloud.
My neighbour looked up. "Who turned forty?"
"Barbara, and I shall soon as well!"
"Lucky you!"
"Why lucky me?"
"Because when you're forty you can look thirty one day and fifty the next."
* * *
At the Gare de Lyon in Paris I went to the Train Bleu restaurant. There, on the menu, I read the introduction by chef André Signoret: "J'aime le voyage. J'aime le dépaysement. J'aime rêver a ces lieux où je ne suis pas encore." I looked up towards the ceiling. In 1900 Monternard had painted a picture of Villefranche: the port, with two ships, and a child and its mother looking out to sea. I dreamed of my port. I gazed out to sea. A ship approached me and entered the port. The next day I took ship and sailed into the wide blue sea.
