People watching in Paris III - France

We arrived in Paris at exactly 25 minutes and 57 seconds past one as the train stopped at Montparnasse when the man opposite us twitched his moustache, and the lady beside us gave a relieved sigh. How exciting! To be in the city of Love! Was everyone here for love? To find love; to celebrate it? Who were all these people? As our cafe chairs face the streets, each passerby is a performer and a spectacle for us to enjoy....

Meet the local St Germaine drunk. He likes ... dipping his bare feet into the River Seine; red wine that burns the back of his throat; watching the falling stars at night. He doesn’t like the way his shoes flap when he walks or the way his nose goes numb with cold in the winter.

Meet the local Montmartre dancer.
She likes ... walking in public without underwear; twirling her batton in a sunshower; lighting matches and flicking them. She doesn’t like it when her hat full of change falls over, or when she steps in dog poo with bare feet.

Meet the old singer near the Louvre.

He likes ... enunciating words from French classics in unusual ways; the mortified look on strangers faces when he bursts into song; falling asleep during the day on the grass . He doesn’t like it when his music sheets get stuck together with chewing gum, or when his belly pops open the top button of his jeans.

And meet the Sedanese vendor at the Tour Eiffel.
He likes ... reading the backs of toilet doors where he hides from the police; swinging his mini Eiffel tower keyrings in circles to make a loud jangling sound; showering in the park fountains at night. He doesn’t like running for false alarms or working for criminals.

But the statues around Paris are uninterested in what the locals like or don’t like. They sit day in day out bored with the lives and dramas that play out underneath them. Uninterested in the social injustices, the illegal immigrants and the budding performers. Uninterested in the city of love....

Amelie was far more curious. In the film, Amelie wonders just how many people in Paris are having an orgasm at any given moment! "15!" she says to the camera, surely a gross underestimation in summer. There were boats going up and down the River Seine every minute with more than 200 people on each one, queues for the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay and the Tour Eiffel that seemed to go on for days, and parks with picnicers covering every inch of grass. 100! I'd say.