Wednesday 26 September 2012

Thought Picnic: A Brunch of Long Memories


The seat of the mind
My life is full of memories of people, of places and of events. I find myself sitting just beside Georges Pompidou Centre at Café Beaubourg like I have many times before done when in Paris.
Strangely, for the many times I have come to this café for brunch, I have never visited or entered the famous centre, rather, I have just sat at the window on the first floor and watched life and lives in motion below and ahead of me.
I have once had sat for a caricature portrait of myself in front of the centre accentuating my oval-shaped head pointed at the top in its balding glory and my glasses all atop a finger-thick neck and even skinnier body. In my many moves, I think I might have lost it.
Sadly, Café Beaubourg in all its trendy setting has failed to keep up with the times with the absence of wireless internet connectivity that is standard fare for literally any café worth its salt.
Dick
This is also quite poignant because I am reminded of when just over 10 years ago we were here to celebrate Dick’s 50th birthday, my treat to him was a sumptuous brunch at the café.
I met Dick in Paris over 14 years ago, we were tourists in Paris, he from Amsterdam and I from London and we maintained a friendship after that meeting that he lodged me for the first month of my move to Amsterdam just over 12 years ago.
Now, I hold in my heart, the loss of many so caring and dear for we lost Dick in February 2010 but I know that the dead are never dead if they are fondly remembered by those they touched.
More profoundly, the biggest lesson of all is to live life well, touching people and affecting them in every good way for you will be assured a more enduring epitaph before a stone told in memories, dreams, stories and smiles that follow a thought of that thing you did that made others laugh.
To Dick.

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