Darling, I think that your unshakeable belief in the goodness of humankind is what keeps you safe and happy. It is my melancholic distrust in Humanity that sometimes makes me so unhappy. Today I walked 10 kilometers going to the bank, going to the INAPAM office to get my Older Persons discount card issued so I could claim some small benefits and discounts, and finally I went to the Social Security Hospital to inquire about getting a duplicate of my all important Social Security card, which I lost three days ago. I found getting a duplicate such a hassle that I gave up and walked home deciding that I would try again when I was less tired. On the way back I again looked down at the streets and walkways, retracing my route in the hope that I might find my SS card on the pavement somewhere. But, nothing doing! I would see a paper or piece of white cardboard and I would rush to pick it up only to find that it was just trash. People looked at me as if I was demented. But, as ...

1. The ride into town Everything you have heard about Parisian waiters is no longer true. The days of the rude, snobbish Parisian waiter are over. They now realize there is a lot of money to be made from the tourist if you treat them well. But, everything you have ever heard about Parisian taxicab drivers IS true: they are reckless, belligerent, aggressive, and rude. They have not changed a bit since the day I first saw Paris. As soon as I got off the plane, I called a friend--a girl I had met in New York--and told her I was in town. She gave me her address on the Rue d'Argout on the Second Arrondissement. But in those days, I could neither pronounce the name of the street nor had I any idea that Paris was divided into twenty districts called "Arrondissements." I rushed out of Charles De Gaulle Airport only half understanding where I was going. And, still groggy from the liters of alcohol I had drank on the flight and in Amsterdam, I got into the first cab I saw. ...