Paris weather, the homeless, birthday & lovers

Weather and the homeless
Today is the 14th of dec. 2007. Paris experiences one of its coldest days. In the afternoon, I looked at the t displayed on a building and saw it was only 3 (Ok, people from Hamilton NY will probably laugh saying that 3 degrees Celsius is cold). Tomorrow morning, they expect -3 ! Though nothing compared to what we could have in New York or NJ or Massachusetts (or Canada), Paris does not really see itself as a cold weather city which means that heating system is not as effective as one might find in North America. My first apartment, for instance, did not have any heaters (I had to buy portable ones. The law has since changed though, specifying that heaters are to be present in rented apartments). But even heating professionals would look at you as if you had just spoken to them in Chinese if you talk about central heating. Snow is even rarer. My first year in Paris, everyone was up in arms with traffic jams and accidents on autoroutes around Paris because of an inch of snow! Never mind the kind of snow we get in upstate NY.
During this cold time, metro stations might be left open (they usually close just after midnight) to be used as shelters for homeless people. The number of homeless people in Paris has increase exponentially since I arrived here 9 years ago. Many new ones I notice in my neighbourhood (they still look very well kept and have few possessions, whereas the longtime homeless people may look unkempt and carry many things from boxes to supermarket caddy). This is a rather shocking situation in a society that is very social(ist, with socialized medical system) and concerned with human issues. Though housing problem has been discussed often on tv, little news concerns the homeless (unless the weather gets very cold like these days). In a true French tendency to render unpleasant things less unpleasant, these homeless people are called SDF or sans domicile fixe or, literally, without fixed address as if they change address everyday! Actually, more accurately they should be called simply sans domicile or without home!

Birthday and lovers
Tomorrow is my birthday. As the (self-made) tradition calls every year, I celebrate it by making love. Last year, I had to wait till the day after my birthday for the love making with my married lover. This year I start early, so, thank you to Michel and to Mario who have made my day and my evening. Both had to come from outside Paris to help me celebrate the day that most gay men beyond a certain age would rather forget! Malik came just before midnight to lessen the pain of the symbolic passage of the age on the midnight hour. These men helped me forget aging, aging and aging. Memorable past birthdays include Marc, my lover who with his youth managed to make me feel younger (assimilation) or, sigh, older (contrast). Marc is gone from my neighbourhood (and from my life) now. But I still remember his likes and dislikes that are not always conventional (like finding a secluded park on a cold night when my apartment is all nice, warm and cosy, to make love in). But hey, to each his own and if that makes him happy I am not averse to a spot of love among trees (nature lover that I am) on a beautiful park in a small island where Paris first came into being, stranded by the river Seine on both sides (hint: Ile de st louis).
With birthdays, one cannot help but count the time until one finally reaches one’s goal of finding Mr. Right instead of Mr Right There. But for now again, Mr. Right There is better than no one right?