Paris Journal 2002

For the past two evenings, as we ventured out when we're done working for the day, we went in search of a keyboard for the old computer Tom has been using.  The "a" key sticks all the time.  We cleaned the keyboard, and managed to dislodge a real pile of dirt, but the "a" is still sticking.  Keyboards don't cost much, we reasoned, so we'll just go out and buy one.  But we know, from past experience, that the French generally don't use the QWERTY keyboard layout that we are accustomed to.  We just hoped, perhaps, that the stores here would carry both types.

We tried Darty first.  This is a store that is kind of like h.h.gregg in the U.S.   There is one not far from us, in a hideous 1960s development called Beaugrenelle, here in the 15th on the banks of the Seine.  No luck.  Sales people don't come over to help.  That's because they have a "post" and one must go up to them and ask for help.  I did that, and the clerk had no trouble understanding our French.   But he just said, "Je n'ai pas AUCUNE idee" [I don't have ANY idea]   when we asked if he knew what store would have QWERTY keyboards since Darty doesn't.  He showed no interest in looking into the problem on our behalf.  I should have said "escuzez moi de vous deranger" [sorry to disturb you] but, being from Ohio, I simply politely said, "merci" and we went on our way.

Then we walked half way across the Seine on the bridge at the end of Rue Linois and had yet another very pleasant stroll through the Ile des Cygnes.  Later, we had a wonderful dinner at Oh! Duo, a family owned restaurant where we are now recognized and greeted warmly.

The next day, I tried Office Depot on the internet.  Office Depot has stores in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and, behold, FRANCE.  But they have constructed impenetrable walls between their web sites & business in the various countries.  There is no way to ship a keyboard purchased on their U.S. site to France, and no way to get a QWERTY keyboard on their French web site. 

That evening, after work, we went for another nice stroll under the Eiffel Tower and over the Pont d'Iena and through the Trocadero.  (If you let your mouse hover over the photos at left, you'll see their captions.)  This was a direct route to an Office Depot store in the 16th arrondisement, on Avenue Raymond Poincare. 

Stores in Paris generally are open (after closing for a long lunch) until 7 or 8 pm.   They must close then because the dinner hour starts at 8 - 9 pm.  Everything is ordered and arranged just so -- there is a time for everything here.  We were right, the Office Depot usually closes at 7:30.  But this is summer, and vacation time is starting to happen.  That means that some stores close altogether for a month or so.  Others, like Office Depot, reduce their hours.  So, they had closed at 6:30, twenty minutes before our arrival. 

So life is becoming less predictable as Parisians begin to go on vacation.   Meanwhile, the rest of the world is pouring into this city.  Our neighborhood gets quieter every day.  But when we go near places like the Eiffel Tower, we hear all kinds of languages being spoken.  Less French, and more of everything else.

We looked through the windows in the tiny boutique of office supplies and decided that there was no way this little place would have a QWERTY keyboard, nor were they likely to order one. 

I sent an e-mail to Office Depot, explaining our predicament, and inviting them to help us solve it.  I gave our phone number.  Nobody has called. 

The need for the keyboard isn't that dramatic, but it is giving us a project, a challenge to try to overcome in this world class city where we thought we could buy just about anything.