Knight by Day.

There's only one. ..........And most nights it sits silent; people walking past as if it isnt there. Its not steam driven, someone would have to conatantly stoke the fire if this was the case and the music would be a proper steam driven sound. But for what it is, it's a splash of colour in the freeze. Children excitedly try their hands at taming the horses but there's only one carousel here now. In the whole of Aix this is the only merry go round or carousel that exists annually. A shame, as I have a fascination for steam and the old entertainments. What a pity these things are dying out. But for now if you ever go to Aix in the southern part of France you'll find this little gem spinning to the squeals of children eve now.

DUSK. The Magic Hour.
The most fantastic time here is Dusk. Get out early enough and you can catch that magical mix of daylight and nightlight battling one another.

The cafes here are open all night and into the following morning to about 6 am in some places. It got cold as the days went on. -15, but tonight its about -10 degrees and people sit outside underneath the gas burners. They're like midnight sunshine.

When you've had a tough day behind the camera and your legs are almost dead these places welcome you in like a magnet. It's a shame that in England you can't find these outside Marquees. People over here flock into them like theyre going out of fashion.

I love it. You can waltz by and see whats on offer without walking through them. It gives a good sense of adventure sitting out amongst the stars and watching the cold snows whistle past but feel the glowing heat of these umbrella gas heaters.

I'll miss all this when I have to return to Britain.

When it's a Canvas.
More Mustard Yellow.
Here we see another example of large loud Artwork selling food again. It's not common, but because of its visual volume it becomes a predominant memory. Some of the examples to come are not as loud or large as this but just as remarkable.


Even more mustard...It could have been real, but they chose paint!
Here's another little gem I found on the way home yesterday.



I've noticed a lot of people spent time and money on art and graphics and this rouigh kind of painting on walls and canvases slung outside their establishments.



Even the most humble cafe here and there has a wonderful array of paintwork about its front door.

Here I was struck by a dark dingy otherwise uninspiring alleyway and suddenly...... this. And just a point to note...


did you notice the perspective of the shelves themselves as if you were standing in front of them???


I went in here and the service was superb. A nice atmosphere. It's very refreshing.

Cat on the Roof!
Peculiar to see such an odd view transformed by nightlights.

Something like 3am and the whole place is eerily silent. 6 floors below me are the hushed voices of three restaurants all opposite each other with, deep in their recessed little buildings, musicians from three countries playing away.

People sit outside and talk in softened tones while they eat and drink until the sun comes up.

This is Christmas 2006. The temperature here can drop frighteningly below zero very quickly as soon as Old Man Sunshine drops below the mountains.

Instead the almost polite quiet patter of rain reflecting light from the huge heavy rootiles makes a shiny colourful view from up here just at the Rotonde fontaine end of the Cours Mirabeau.

I'm always amazed that, with the poor condition of these buildings some of these tiles don't continually keep smashing people on the streets some 6 floors below.

Maybe that's why the roof gradients are so shallow. Who knows. All I know is that they're huge and from up here it's lke another endless scape of roofs and chimneys; the lid of this strange society quietly sleeping inside them.

I often wonder what the place looked like when it was first built. The pride the builders and architects must have had in the final creation. But Caesar built this back in 6ad if I remember correctly.

I'll see if I can dig into s little more of its history tommorow. The only thing that really niggles me is that no one knows anything about my lost fountain.

Artfall.

One of the odd things about taking Night Photography out here is the way the stone reflects the light. It's polished over the years but its not so worn that it looks like glass as many photographs betray here.

The sad thing about being here is that the Girl I'm staying with is in the middle of a dispute with Psion here in Aix. Having taken her on and deciding that he couldnt get her into bed the manager has now fabricated reasons to dismiss her and is trying to pay her off escessive monies so she doesnt take him and the company to court.
This battle having gone on now for some ten months, she is about to give in, as all women do it seems here, to the threrats and blackmail of this manager. So the stresses of the day are welcomingly washed out by the tranquility of the night.

I offered British legal assistance but her paranoias are such that she's now almost hysterical and is totally in a breakdown. So I keep myself to myself here at the moment. This wierd "Pay off" thing is rife here in France. Women still get little respect from Men and are in that old 1950's England out here it would seem. I have never in my life seeen a company try to pay off an employee nine months money and then claim they are doing nothing wrong and bite her for telling me, a journalist, about it. He threatened her with nothing if she continued to speak to me.

Personally I think Psion have a lot of cleaning up to do. Or maybe this is the way they handle their business because the people down here in the south are too hard done by otherwise to make a difference themselves.

We did go legal here in France but..... its a long story, and you would NOT believe it, really you would not. Suffice it to say it wasn't an option.