Paris, France

We sit down at a beautiful sidewalk cafe in the 2e Arrondissement. The waitress comes to take our order.

"Une sandwich rosbif avec frites s'il vous plait."

"Non."

"What do you mean." I ask.

"Zis izz the salad side" says the waitress.

"The salad side?"

"Oui. On zis side you can only order the salad. On the other side you can order za sandwich."

"You want me to physically switch sides of the restaurant?"

"Oui, Moisseur."

"I cannot get a sandwich on this half of the restaurant?"

"Non."

"But I can on the other side of the floor?"

"Oui."

Dead silence.

I start humming the overture from Les Miserables and start pondering ways to rebuild the barracades in the street.