I Spy.

For a moment yesterday Toulouse, my local “nearest city” moved from the local news to the front pages of the British papers.

So I’d better write about what is going on before you all find out and accuse me of being behind with my bitsnbobs ear to the ground.

Electricity.

There you go.

Eh?

Get a section of pavement, have people walk all over it – it’s what they do anyway – get the pavement to bounce up and down as they go along, link up some generators, produce some electricity and run the street lamps!

Cool, green!

Ok, we could just turn out all the lights and be done with it but hey – let’s maintain the life style we have and find a new way to do it.

So Toulouse is home to a two-week experiment to produce pavement electricity.

The last time I looked CLOSELY at the pavements in Toulouse was in 1997, or there about. I was strolling around with Loui, aged 6, waiting for an aeroplane to bring his mum back and we started to play I-spy.

“I spy with my liccle eye somfink beginnnnning with C”.
“Is this in French or English this time?”

When Loui was 4 I could play this game and win. I could even play and gallantly loose, but now I struggled to make any impact into his thinking; once we had played in the car for several hours as we drove to Germany to find his mum - and the letter was S.

I eventually said – ok, inside or outside – and after steering wheel, side mirror (which he may have considered inside) and seat I was pretty much stumped. But I’m an Aquarian – NO WAY was I going to give in.

Over the next hour I tried sandwich (eaten 10 minutes prior), socks, shirt, silk underwear (dream on), speedometer, sixty, sixty-one, seventy, seat belt, seat back, seat bottom, seat side, seat underneath bit, seventy-one, seventy-two, sore eyes and spectacles.

Loui is an Aquarian too.

I gave in.

It was spot.

“French, no English.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Shops.”
“That’s an S”
“Just checking. Chair, cat, customer, carrot, car, coat, child, annoying child, very annoying child. Cynic.”

Oh I tried EVERYTHING. “Chin, cheek, crack, crimson spot, curtain, cutlery, curb, column, carpet, car.”
“You said that”
“Just checking. Cough, cut of hair, cost of coffee listed on menu, coffee!”
“No”.
“City, city street, city spot?”
“No, no, no”
“Caroline, Clara, Claudine, CHRIS!!”
Give in?”

“No!, I’m an Aquarian goddam!”
………….
“Ok, I give in.”

Maybe I was being naïve, I don’t know – today it seems so obvious, it’s a well-known fact - but for me it truly was a revelation.

Have you worked it out?

Adults and children don’t have the same perspectives.

“You give in?”
“YES.”
“Chewing gum.”

‘Where?” I was annoyed beyond annoyed and glared at all the passerbys. “No-one is chewing gum.”

“There.” He pointed at the pavement that we were walking on.

If you have never looked closely at the pavement of your city – and clearly until that moment I hadn’t – go have a look.

Right now I’m off to Toulouse to look at the pavements again, but this time for people creating electricity and not a mess.

I’ll let you know.