Saturday, December 13, 2008

A curious encounter with a Frenchman

December 13, 2008

Yesterday morning I was on my regular morning run to the Peets coffee store in Potrero Center in San Francisco. As I was parking, a new Honda speeding by stopped abruptly beside me. A trim, well dressed, possibly sleek young black man who looked like a forward on a professional soccer team, alone in the car, rolled down his right front window and asked crisply, "Are you from Biarritz?" I was both perplexed at the question and by his accent. I quickly realized that I was wearing a bright red sweatshirt by Kappa, a popular European sports brand that I had purchased in Portofino about three years ago. "Biarritz" was emblazoned in large white letters trimmed in blue (tricoleur) across my chest.

I replied "No. Why do you ask?"

"I'm French," he said. "I was wondering whether you are from France."

I told him that this was just a sweatshirt, that I had not been in Biarritz since 1957 but that I wanted to go back badly. Visibly unimpressed by my remark, he nodded, closed his window and drove off as abruptly as he had stopped without further comment.

1 comment:

George said...

Your sweatshirt should have this emblazoned across the front, so that people will know you're a dude without having to ask...

Côte d'Azur - Biarritz - Portofino - Potrero Center