A Really Bad Interview

There are many things that can go wrong in a job interview, and this morning at La Défense most of them did. So why do you want to be a teacher, she asked. (I don't.) What made you apply here, she asked. (The advert for receptionist work). What makes a good teacher, she asked. A good teacher needs to be interesting and communicative, I informed her. (I am currently feeling as charismatic as a funeral and as coherent as the sentence of this end.)

Things to bear in mind for next time:

(a) You generally give a better account of yourself when you've slept more than 4 hours. Memo: hit head with brick 8hrs before next pre-noon interview.
(b) Ties go better with v-neck sweaters - this oversight not unrelated to point (a).
(c) Being interviewed for the post they are looking to fill, rather than job that you applied for, Puts You At A Certain Disadvantage.
(d) Though 100% genuine, the excuse "sorry I'm late, but just as I was leaving my flat I received a phone call from a company explaining they wanted me to teach business English in friggin Nogent-sur-Marne at half two this afternoon" is not going to create sympathy when you've just turned up 10 minutes late... for a post teaching business English.
(e) If the interviewer says, "so, what would your ideal job be? Obviously it's not working at [this establishment]," it's time to leave. Even if she did agree with me.

So I got out and caught the train back across Paris, and out the other end, as far as Nogent-sur-Marne. This was hence the fourth in the series of Timber's Weekend Excursions, and our first venture into the wilderness of zone 3. Arrived quite early and found it is a typical sleepy suburb, with the kind of houses you find absolutely everywhere in France, so nabbed myself some provisions from a boulangerie and sat on a bench to munch, and admire the view. And what I saw was this:

Nogent-sur-Marne, ville fleurie
The Nogent Tourist Office is situated directly opposite this lovely car park.