Lady E. has yet to tell me whether she might study my etchings on any of the three imminent opportunities put to her, but now I've gone and put the wind up myself. Have I said something really silly?
After two sunny hours spent at the Commissariat de Police again yesterday -- giving more evidence about the Mayday murder under oath -- one well-informed buffoon told me that I've put my own life at risk. N'importe quoi!
Even if it were true (I'm not stupid about such warnings; it's happened before and I don't doubt that it could occur again in what's proving to be an eventful life), I've only contempt for remarks like "You'd have done better to let the fuckers fight it out among themselves".
Being as much of a coward as anybody with an imagination is no reason to live and let die when gang war starts creeping its way up the road into a really decent neighbourhood.
Life's a bitch, sometimes, and love can be a son of a bitch!
I've nicked the detail of a 1915 photo of the statue in the other Piccadilly Circus (not Montparnasse) from the Museum of London because I'd forgotten whether Alfred Gilbert's version of the fellow was blindfolded.
As pictured by Teri Stearns, one of a bunch I sometimes drop visit at GFX artist, Eros is decidedly a trouble-maker.
 What set me off on this tangent was a long talk with an old and tearful friend who was suddenly and irredeemably in love. Her dilemma was all the worse because the boy who had become so "beautiful" in the twinkling of an eye was equally obviously smitten by her.
Fine, you'd think. What more could one ask on a gorgeous Paris afternoon in May (the kind of weather that of course turned horrible again almost the minute I dared to mention it)? But the bloke's already in love with somebody else who loves him back.
Well, I hope I said some reassuring and right things in a situation which always feels like the end of the world, but rarely is.
In my experience, which is probably no different from most people's, you never can choose to fall in love.
It happens whether or not you like it and there's no cure for it. It's not very helpful in my poor friend's circumstances, but the girl might take a look at Murphy'S Love Laws.
In gathering more of the multitudinous Laws of Murphy into one great site than I've ever seen anywhere else, I consider that Raanan Avidor and all his contributors deserve this month's medal for services to humanity for seven years of ceaseless toil.
About as nonsensical as some of the scare stories now doing the rounds of my part of town more than ever is a notion I used to be brainwashed into believing: that it's impossible to be in love with two people at once, like my friend's friend. In a sensible article, Tashneem Chaudhury last month told readers of the Hindustan Times:
"When two people click mentally, coupled with deep physical attraction, an emotional drama is bound to begin. And it does, previous commitment or not. Monogamy is a myth, says relationship expert Peggy Vaughan".
Dr Pepper Schwartz knows this just as well:
"The idea that love has to be confined to only one person is a myth, plain and simple. The truth is, most of us don't want to entertain the possibility that our love can extend to two individuals at the same time, because it's scary to imagine such a confusing state of being. Alas, our hearts have a lot more capacity for affection than we give them credit for — or are brave enough to recognize" (more at Lifetime sexpert).
My poor friend!
It's little consolation for her to know that if she hurts, it's certainly even worse for the man who courageously didn't seize the chance to go to bed with her. Or to be told that with my kind of track record, who knows when I might end up sobbing on her shoulder.
Get this though:
"Apparently, when the world's top researchers finished mapping out the human genome last year, they found firm DNA evidence that true romance still exists. However, it is a rare trait, and in most males of the species it's somewhat impaired, according to a report in the New England Journal of Chromosomal Abnormalities. But don't despair. Gene therapy — which is now being used to cure a startling number of inherited disorders — will soon be available," says MP Dunleavy, also at Lifetime.
I had a look at the New England Journal of Medicine and more. I wouldn't recommend investigating chromosome abnormalities unless you really must.
Personally, I think the pain of it all just has to be better than a "promise" like that...
7:19:44 PM link 
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