Crtd 14-11-22 Lastedit 16-01-14

Koco at the Linge
Paris Seine 2

This is my second visit to the Jean Bart, which, please be advised, is NOT a house boat, but a péniche. ^{[goto: first visit]} .

... péniches at Port de la Concorde ... Arc de Triomphe to Louvre ...

... the Seine water level is, as you can gather from the window view upper right, is at about that lovely glass of Pouilly-Fuissé...

... breakfast crèpe prepared by Jessica and Nathan, no big deal when you have 4 gas burners, 3 heating plates 2 big ovens and a grill/microwave ...

The luck that brought me here so soon again was that mam and dad would go, unexpectedly, on business trip at the same time and I seem, proudly, to have worked myself reasonably high up on the list of troubleshooting options.

I interrupted my reading of Thucydides at the 13th year of the Peloponnesian war for a four hours drive and parked my car, "De Boot", at one of Lydia's, yes!, private parking places at lower Quay des Tuileries right next to the péniche. This time I took the car, for after dad's return there would be a week or so with no one to take care of Koco, an Alsatian of Kenyan ancestry (who ornated my blogs twice before: 1, 2) and he would join me home at my river site for a while.

... Koco when a puppy four years ago, Alsatians only have beards when puppies ...

... De Boot (with kitchen, table, heating, 220V, internet) now my Quay des Tuileries smoking salon, Koco mesmerized and hard to pull out after finishing the cigar ...

Koco seemed to decide De Boot actually was now the best place to be in Paris, joining me there whenever I went, jumping in even when I just went to take something, then hard to get out. A good promise for our trip back to my Linge river.

... at my river, Koco keeps preferring De Boot to the platform ...

That trip went smooth indeed. I just let him out for a 5 minute run every hour. Actually he is right! I like it myself too. At my river, Koco first kept preferring the car to my platform but in the middle of the night scratched the door to continue his sleep next to me.

... in my platform cabin ... what I am doing? I'll explain ...

What I have to explain is the new coffee trend in Paris. At first, seeing no more coffee on sale, I thought they all stopped drinking it. But they turned out to have a new packing fashion.

... preparing coffee in modern Paris: you buy a huge box containing 50% air and a few plastic cups, themselves again 60% air, then ...
1. open the cover with your Swiss army knife
2. tear it off,
3. under that cover there is another transparent one
4. cut it open
5. tear the transparent off
6. pour the coffee out ...

Parisians surely enjoy this new craftsmanship in coffee making for they are happy to pay three times the price for their coffee.

... Koco's meeting with hunter Piet, entertaining for both ...

I asked Piet what to train, but he told me time was too short to do something, to the disappointment of Lydia, by email: "Can't Piet at least teach him to stop eating these little poodles?"

Koco is easy company: all weather outdoor, every now and then scratches my cabin door to be let in for a cuddle, a decent shake-out of his wet fur over my laptop (helps me to ponder the Greek fleets in Thucydides - my book at the moment - that regularly get swept away mid-sea by storms), a dive in his food bowl and a snore or two near my stove. Then it's time again for a door-scratch to be let out, preferably in my company for me to throw that indecently heavy pole he fell in love with:

... Koco is a passionate landscaper  ...

In the past year I have several times considered taking a dog myself but now discover this is just too limiting for who likes to live a nomadic life as a happy single - this is not just about having a towel at hand to dry your laptop! But the company surely is unforgettable.

... decisively weak infanterist: shy to jump from land on my foredeck, deserter too, now carries my phonenr. on that label ...

We make quick progress in understanding each other. He wants to stay outside, for the nature sounds I found out: if I keep my doors open he comes in. We have similarities. We are both happy singles. Then, Koco playing with poles and tyres, pleases his instincts that are designed to deal not with those but with prey. I play with my web site, pleasing my instincts really not made to communicate with a server but with with people. And we both enjoy deceiving nature in our own ways. But we have also discovered we are very different. He, for instance, wants me to decently pull his car tires before our breakfast. But I really can't be his merry-go-round (spinning, with his teeth in the tire, totally off the ground is the jolliest thing he can imagine) before coffee. I do admire his awesome smell, both passive and active, the latter especially when he is wet. What he admires in me I am still trying to find out. My ability to throw that pole over his head will rank top I am afraid. I ♥ Koco.

... back to Paris ...

... back home ...