Monsieur Pamplemousse Hits the Headlines by Michael Bond

Author:Michael Bond [Michael Bond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749040512
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2011-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

It was Monsieur Pamplemousse’s favourite time of the day; the few hours in the morning when Montmartre belonged to those who lived there. Not only was the Place du Tertre free of “artists” touting for custom, but it was even possible to see the steps leading up to the Sacré-Coeur from as far away as the Square Willette at the bottom of the hill.

In short, you could walk wherever you wanted to without bumping into hordes of tourists searching for things they would never find.

There had been an improvement since coaches were made to disgorge their passengers in the Boulevard Rochechouart to the south of the hill, but he and Doucette still occasionally talked of moving to somewhere less crowded and more convenient.

Every time an old boulangerie or a fruit and vegetable shop gave up the fight, only to be replaced by a chic boutique or a souvenir shop full of tiny Eiffel Towers and snowstorm models of the Sacré-Coeur, the subject came up again.

If it hadn’t been for the little Montmartrobus that stopped almost outside their apartment block, they might well have done so by now.

It was a switchback of a journey, full of hazards: driving at speed through gaps with barely a centimetre or so to spare on either side; travelling a half kilometre or more to cover what to a crow would have been less than a hundred metres. There was never a dull moment. But it did mean Doucette could do her shopping either in the Rue Lepic at one end of its run, or the Rue Ordener at the other, with the added bonus of a guaranteed seat on the way home.

But having said that, he had to admit he would miss the view across the rooftops of Paris from their balcony. The apartment was only a stone’s throw from the Moulin de la Galette, one-time haunt of Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. Further up the hill, where the Rue Norvin joined the Rue des Saules, the scene in the early morning was much as it had been when Utrillo first painted it.

There was certainly a village atmosphere at the start of the day; locals exchanging greetings as they went about their business, sparrows taking advantage of clean water flowing down the gutters for a quick bathe while they could, restaurants laying out their tables for lunch, and not least, the streets leading down to the Boulevard de Clichy on the south side were briefly devoid of prostitutes and their pimps.

Following his usual route, Monsieur Pamplemousse cut through the Rue d’Orchamp and led the way downhill via the Place Émile-Goudeau, site of the old Bâteau Lavoir where Picasso and others had turned the world of art upside down.

On reaching the Place des Abbesses he bought a copy of Le Parisien, checked the day’s weather: imperturbable, but watch out for storms later; then retraced his steps a short distance before branching off and heading north-westwards towards the Centre de Télévision et Ciné de la Butte.

He wondered what he would find when he got there.

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