Sassiland

. . . And Two Kitchen Shelves

In the continuing thing of "little things mean a lot" (in re acquisition of telephone), I now celebrate Exhibit B:  Two Kitchen Shelves. 

Our kitchen (like all of our 22m²/400ft² flat) is small.  Although I suppose it actually does have more cabinets than one would expect in that small a space.  We have three bottom cabinets on the floor, and a bottom cabinet hung up high (i.e. it has the depth of a bottom cabinet, which is good), and then a kind of open space under the sink.  To that we have added a cart from Marco's old apartment, which as you can see, holds pots and pans, olive oils, cooking wines (good wines would NEVER be placed standing up in a Sassi household! nor should they in yours) and liquors.  But we still have two cartons of kitchen stuff, which are stacked up as a sort of additional work space (i.e. drying space) next to the sink.

So one of our project plans has been to add shelves in the kitchen  - and after looking at the possibilities and thinking about scale, etc, finally yesterday Marco installed them. I can't tell you how happy I am to have these two shelves!! I know that is a little silly, but I consider these our tea/coffee/breakfast shelves - so I was able to put up our Mariages Frères teas, our tea strainers, sugars, Marco's Italian coffee pots, etc. etc. all above our Nespresso machine.  It also means I can enjoy two tins I sent myself (again in the vein of things I sent myself so I'd feel a little at home): two French tins, one of which is for café -- and is actually antique -- and one of which is sucre, and is just a new reproduction.  I want to get clear glass jars to put the sugars and cocoa in, to enjoy the beauty of those life essentials every day.  But for now the boxes will do.

We still have lots to do . . . and these WHITE WALLS are killing me . . . WHITE WHITE WHITE, so stark.  YUCK!! Marco has promised we can paint at least some, but we have more pressing priorities. 

So anyway, just more happiness because of two little shelves.  And thankful that Marco is handy (and meticulous!).

Happy Wednesday.

France Escapes "Recession" . . .Just

Well the figures came out yesterday, and France defied expectations.  Squeaking by with GDP growth of 0.1 percent in the 3rd quarter, it avoided added a second consecutive quarter of GDP contraction (in the 2d quarter, it had contracted by 0.3 percent).

Instead, the Eurozone economy officially went into recession, with the economy shrinking by 0.2 percent, as it had in the 2nd quarter.  Of the Eurozone countries, Italy, Germany, and Ireland are in recession.

And of course these figures end in August . . .so worse is still to come.  For France, the Financial Times wrote,

Economists warned that the third quarter growth figures were only a temporary respite before a plunge into recession, the inevitability of which was underlined by other figures released on Friday.

Apparently consumer spending in France in the 3rd quarter 'lifted' the economy. 

The Small Things in Life . . . The Telephone

This morning I am so happy -- because we have a functioning land line!

This means I can pick up the phone and call my parents or my brother and sister-in-law or whomEVER I would like WHENever I would like (well, I suppose I'll take into consideration the time difference and whether they would be awake, which is why I'm blogging instead of calling now!)!

We've been in our new apartment now for six weeks, so it shouldn't seem that long.  And for a little bit of that time, France Telecom had installed our landline so I had a little more than a glorious week of being able to call (although we had to pay, it's only about 13 cents a minute, which was definitely worth it to me . . . I had felt so disconnected from my family during the move and everything.  And besides, it's Marco's paycheck that pays the phone bill, so . . .).

But in order to get our internet hooked up, we wanted to use the system we'd used before, called Free.  It's 29.99 a month and you get internet, television, and telephone service -- including free landline calls to all of Western Europe and the U.S.  And of course, for Free to do their thing, they disconnected the France Telecom line.  So after having had the ability to call, it was stripped from me while Free went about their business.

We received our Freebox on Tuesday, Nov. 4th, and I went to Marco's work to pick up the box after I finished at the bookstore that evening and brought it home and set up the internet so I could read all the election stuff.  But the phone wouldn't work! We've been trying everything, calls to their customer service have gone unanswered, etc. 

Finally yesterday I sent an email help request and we did a reboot this morning and it works!

I know I haven't been displaying a great deal of patience with the phone installation, and I shouldn't complain.  It's just that I'm really close to my family and I miss them a great deal, and I'm kind of out of sorts when I can't talk to them.  Also, when we had the phone those few days, I had a conversation with one of my best friends that was also just a tonic for the soul.  So I'm looking forward to more of those, and also being able to deal with some calls to the US to deal with other stuff --  unsurprisingly, while trying to log on to my insurance site, for example, on the internet station's computers, which have the European keyboard, I totally messed up my password so many times that they blocked me from re-entering the site, so I need to call them and straighten that out.  And I've got a frequent flyer return ticket to the States for 11/22 that I'm not using, so I need to call United . . .

So anyway, really banal, but I'm happy today that when I feel like it this evening, I can pick up the phone and call anyone I want to.  Hooray!

Lavinia Finally Breaks into the Black

An interesting article in Challenges, a business/economics weekly here in France.  The journalist, Hélène Piot, writes about the wine store Lavinia, which is one of mine and Marco's favorites (I even had a membership card when I lived here before, and he still does.  It's where he bought the dessert wine for our wedding, and I've taken many a visiting friend there  - it's convenient, at the Madeleine).

Anyway, two French guys opened the first French Lavinia in 2002 (they had already opened in Spain).  Their goal: to offer, in one spot, the most important wines and spirits available.  The store was spread over two floors of 1,500 m² and had wines from all over the world, spirits, a restaurant, library offerings, tasting classes, etc.  In 2007, they relinquished 250 m² that were costing them too much and not drawing traffic . . .the extra space was down a little hallway, and, as the store's manager says in the article, "This hall was a dead arm that our clients would not cross.  We tried everything to make it attractive" but finally cut their losses -- and the space.

In place, they moved champagne from its space in the center front hallway downstairs, and made this prime real estate the home of tasting machines where, for a few euros (or more, depending on the wine!), you can taste several different wines by the glass.  The library area is a bit smaller now, but the restaurant is bigger.

Finally, this year, the store stopped losing money.  It's continued to grow every year, but it was only this year that it broke even.  Lavinia now has 6,000 wines to choose from, employs 45 people (of which 15 are sommeliers) and is about 1,200m² (around 13,000ft²).  If you're in Paris, try to go!

That Wasn't as Bad as I had Feared

Well, we survived. First things first, the panel won't meet to decide their ruling on the case until December 15th.  As I understand, they then mail us their decision, so we won't know until a few days after that at the earliest.  And then of course there are always APPEALS, so it may not be over then anyway.  But all that is to say that we don't know yet how they will rule on our case.

The session was scheduled to start at 1 p.m.  We were scheduled as the 10th of 12 cases (poo; of course one doesn't want to go that late in the session when everyone's tired).  Finally at about 1:25, the President of the panel came out and told us that one of the four members could not come this afternoon -- which would have cancelled all the afternoon's hearings -- but that they had found a substitute.  So we would have to wait, but at least they would hear the cases.  In the meantime they called roll and took down everyone's information to confirm who was there and who wanted a delay (the president heartily scolded some lawyers present who asked for a delay  - and they won't get their day in court now until JUNE 2009!).  Then the president, the greffier (seemed like a registrar or clerk) and the other panel member left the hearing chamber again.

So - they finally started hearing cases at 2:25 pm, almost an hour and a half late.  The funny thing is that out of the 12 cases on the docket, there only ended up being five heard (and ours being the last). 

Here was the set-up: A small hearing room with four rows of benches on each side of a center aisle; an elevated table at the front at which sat the greffier (a chunky woman in a pale blue or blue-green long-sleeved t-shirt) and the four panel members -- all white males, seemingly in their 50s and 60s (maybe one in his 40s).  All wore the symbols of their office - a medallion hanging from a red and blue ribbon hanging around their necks.  The fellow on the left, clad in some type of tweed jacket, was quite jolly and animated and had glasses and a mustache.  Next to him was the President, who reminded me of my college roommate's father for some reason (maybe just because he was a lawyer?!), who led the hearings, asked the most questions, probed the most, etc.  Next to him, a quiet man in his 40s, and on the far-right, a white-haired gentleman with dark black, highly arched eyebrows.

As each case was called up, the lawyers for the two sides, and, if he was present, the employee who was suing his former employer, came and stood immediately before the panel to present their arguments.  The employee's side presented first.  The table had been designed with a kind of half-circle enlargement at the front to allow the lawyers to place their papers.

Each lawyer donned his or her black robe, thus appearing equal before the court.  A bust of Marianne, the representation of the French Republic, looked on from a niche to the right, behind the panel.   Most times the employees' lawyer got about 20-30 minutes to state their case, and then the company's lawyer a bit less time.  However, by the time they got to our case -- the last of the day, remember -- our lawyer got only 15 minutes, with the lawyer for the CIWBWWRN (Certain Italian Wine Bar Which Will Remain Nameless) getting the same.  And where in all the other instances, at the end of each pleading, the president of the panel asked the employee if he had anything he wanted to add, he did NOT make the same offer to Marco - they wanted to get out of there! This didn't seem fair to me!

We'll hope that's because the panel found our case against the CIWBWWRN so convincing that they needn't tarry with personal statements.  But who knows.

As I said, the panel apparently meets on December 15th, at which time they will deliberate and render their judgment.  Of course, in order to arrive at a judgment, at least three members of the panel have to vote in accord (if it's tied, it's a hung jury).  I don't know how often that is.  The panels themselves are made up of two employees' representatives and two employers' representatives.  In fact, the elections for the Prud'hommes councils are in early December, and the panel's president explained the absence of the council member by saying, well you know, it is the last year of the mandate . . .implying that this council member just was tired of serving, and who could really expect anything else. Well, I thought, maybe the people who had voted that person into office four or five years ago!

So anyway maybe by Christmas time we'll know what the panel's decision is.  Of course, if we believe the judgment isn't fair, we can appeal, but so can the CIWBWWRN.

But at least today is over, and we've done what we can do.  Poor Marco just left for work this evening; at least I get to relax here at home. 

So that's the story of the day! Thanks for all the positive thoughts, prayers, and karma sent our way.