As They Were by M. F. K. Fisher

Author:M. F. K. Fisher [Fisher, M. F. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307779199
Published: 2011-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

ABOUT LOOKING ALONE AT A PLACE

Arles

In December of 1970, after several fine months in Provence with my sister Norah, I went alone to Arles and Avignon and then Marseille. We had been in all these familiar places lately, and I thought that after she left to catch a slow freighter from Le Havre to San Francisco, it would be an interesting idea to see how well I could return by myself to towns where I had always been with loved and trusted people.

The experience was indeed interesting. I found Arles bound into the first days of what was to be a national disaster of cold and wind, involving much more than the traditional mistral. Avignon was even colder. Marseille, later, was in a state of near-siege, and indeed most of France was half paralyzed, although the outside world stayed almost unaware: Army helicopters rescued stranded motorists and farmers; Red Cross workers fed them in village stations and churches; passenger trains and planes stopped running. I got the last train from Avignon to Marseille, and after some days there I told the concierge at the Good Old Beauvau that I might stay for another week or more, without a penny, until planes and trains ran again, and he laughed for one of the few times in his professional life and said, “Don’t worry.” So I did not.

There was time to think about Arles, among other things, as I looked down on the Old Port heaving heavily under a strong mistral. I decided that it had been a good stern adventure, mostly for reasons I have clipped from my discursive report, the rambling kind written by solitary people. What remained was of others’ vitality rather than my own doggedness. Why write about walking alone along the Rhône in bitter wind when there is still the sound of superb Gypsy music in one’s head?

I think the winter view of this fascinating town in Provence is not a familiar one, even to people who love the place as I do. Myself, I do not want to see it again that way, although I know that it would be easier with a partner.

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