Is it a Railway station? Is it a Club house? Is it a an old Factory being renovated? Your guess is as good as mine. It is called “La Recyclerie” !!! Just as you step out of the parisian metro at Porte de Clignantcourt you are welcomed to a frenzied tanned part of France many don’t want to be associated with today. And then you step Back into the Future… The old Gare is in Transition! A non profit association has taken over to repair and recycle the space converting it into a bar, an eaterie, a place to exchange ideas and culture!
Talking to the ‘responsable‘ Stéphane I discover that he has lived in Africa as a child and has an open mind. He comes from a background of ‘organiser 5000 concerts…‘ (he’s probably from Marseille 😉 )His ambition is to make something out of nothing. To bring out the best in what would have been another beautifully romantique crumbling ruin in Paris. But the french have an amazing relationship with their past. The decor has been left practically untouched but held together with the latest sprays to keep the walls from chipping into your ‘verre de vin blanc en vrac’.
Bravo and I will follow your Transition mon ami.
http://www.larecyclerie.com/
• That brings me to the question What is the french notion of Time and Future?
In the occidental world people usually have a very linear approach to Time. A clock is the standard regulator and accepted as a specific measure at work and home. North europeans however see this linearity differently from the latino-catholico-easy going southerners. So there is a divide even on the old continent. Americans see Time as Money and the Future as… More Money! The Arabs, the Asians and the Africans have a non-linear approach. It moves in Cycles of Time. The Futre is uncontrollable. It has to be lived to the fullest just like every moment today. It would probably be the reason why people seem to be less stressed in other non-linear times zones of the world?
• France-Germany in the quarter finals of the World Cup in Brazil. Today Time will stop as the two great european nations hold their breaths, drinking more beer and/or wine, shouting and screaming obscenities at their own countrymen and/or at the opponents but one thing is sure. The experts will be pouring over the records of who won how many matches? When? Where? Why? but as of this moment we cannot foretell the Future 😉 May the Best team win but my heart stilll lives in France…
LOTUS COACH 