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JEAN has this crazy hobby, sport,
obesssion - whatever - of CLIMBING stuff in the city,
and once he climbed 3 stories up to our balcony and appeared
looking in at us watching TV one night. He's climbed a
lot of things, like St. Pancreas church, the Brooklyn
bridge and some other places in Paris which a bunch of
people into this stuff talk about. Of course it's illegal,
he's been arrested, he's even been fired for doing this
on business trips. But he gets a THRILL, he says it's
like EXTREME SPORT IN STREET CLOTHES. He doesn't think
when he climbs, he just BREATHES AND LISTENS TO HIMSELF
AND THE SOUNDS AROUND HIM, FEELS THE TEXTURES OF THE BUILDINGS,
PLANS ONLY FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, the next grip. It's
a solo thing, but his old university mates all did it,
and It's what keeps them IN TOUCH, talking about the next
run, collecting some gear, checking out what others are
doing in other places, freaking out their girlfriends...
maybe it's their way of RE-APPROPRIATING LONDON somehow,
where it's so easy to get lost, be ordinary and lose touch.
NO RUN CAN EVER BE THE SAME, it has to be better than
before - he's a bit vain about it. But mostly, he does
it because he can, because of the irony, because he just
wants to be himself - this well-bred 6'5" guy walking
up the sides of buildings instead of along the street.
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