The pastoral eternity of this view was made poignant, all the same, by a modern frisson

Where so many people are poor and without private transport, the RER is the only way to come and go – and it has acquired a lugubrious grip over all existence

Inside, the nature of local preoccupations is writ large upon the walls

they wanted to destroy reality and themselves – and to rediscover, in the process, some sense of chivalry and nobility – and therefore they embraced the trenchant power of radical Islam.

What had formerly been a sedative, a tranquilizing soporific, had morphed into a facilitator of reflection

a shearing away from our shared reality and a turn towards an interim state that might lead to a florid psychosis

I try and put on a real ensemble performance, all phatic fakery and apologetic grimaces to anyone who endeavours to catch my attention along the way.

We sat and smoked and Ziad held forth excitedly on the subject of politics and possibilities and stubborn, inchoate dreams

I evidently project a certain tabula rasa quality

there was some element of copper in the roofs that had given them a sheen of verdigris over time, as if they were slowly reintegrating with the organic environment