Today in Saint-Remy….… ADHD a la Provencale.
The subject comes to to the slightly dizzying sound of cicadas basted in a warm, spice-honeyed sun. His nostrils welcomes the warm aromas of lavender, thyme and rosemary rather amicably before having to respond to the call of the strong coffee nearby and that of the buttery croissant crackling on the table. It’s just another day starting in Saint-Remy, a few steps away from the Provencal fortification.
For all its shaded, southern laziness, the place certainly has a lot to keep one busy, and it does take a little more than usual for our subject to chase the fumes of his vaguely holocaust-related nightmare and to take the sunlight in. After all, there has to be some unpleasantness in life and if one doesn’t get it in wakefulness, it will sure come and bite you in your nightly sleeping ass. And look at that, I’ll be damned if he hasn’t inherited a young, dark-haired and ill-tempered Saint-Remoise from last night’s village ball. Oh well, one more musky aroma to take in.
On he goes, re-singled, breakfasted and bathed (olive and Argan oil, lavender and laurel come to taunt you even in the presumably safe harbor of the terra-cotta-tiled shower) to follow the medieval rivulet down the middle of the street to get a copy of of his IHT before settling down with it with another cafe. Today, he opts for the garden-side of the Hotel Les Ateliers de l’Image, the modern, visually-oriented affair that opened a few years back, it tries a little hard to be californian, for which someone ought to be shot, but it does has excellent coffee-cup candy, free wi-fi and there’s always some off-beat photo exhibit going on… These days it’s Outsider Ap’Art 2010 showing Jessica Lange’s B&W photographic work. (Jessica Lange, huh?)