THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

I want to walk along the river banks remembering snatches of Baudelaire, listen to Piaf in a seedy Montmartre bar, see the city from certain angles through Degas’ eyes. And I have: Baudelaire, as well as Apollinaire and Prévert, lend themselves admirably to being quoted by the Seine, and once I espied through a dusty window in a courtyard on rue du Temple a room full of exquisite adolescent ballerinas at practice that looked like a Degas pastel set suddenly into motion.

Peppiatt/Englishman