Meeting Jim

How could I be the 2nd reviewer of this!? Insane. Well, at least I am the first 'too'! :)

What a guy. I was asked to be a part of this, but I guess I didn't make the cut.

I stayed at his atelier for a month when I had nowhere to stay, and helped with the dinners doing those times. But it's how I found out bait him that I find amazing. I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald in 1983 about him. I think they even published his phone number, too. I said to myself that I am going to this when I get to Europe.

1992, I call him on a Thursday because I don't want to miss a chance to go to the Sunday dinner. He says he hasn't even thought about Sunday. Call him Saturday. I do. He says sure, no problem, but it is not at his place that night, it will be at a theatre for a one-person performance of Truman Capote. Also, instead of the 80FF donation - to cover costs of food - any extra is given to charity - it' 150FF. I said, man, I am hard pressed to even pay 80FF. Can we do 100FF? Sure, he says. I'd rather have you there than the money.

So, I go. I see the box office window, and a tall older guy dressed all in black, with a high polo neck jumper. This must be where Steve Jobs got the idea. I give the money in an envelope, as requested, to the girl there. She opens it, to the tell me th ticket is 110FF. I don't know what to do. I look around, trying to find a solution, then look at the tall guy in back. Is that Jim, I quiz to myself? He looks at me, looks at the money, and tosses 10FF to the girl. I'll never forget that.

The performance was fin, not that I knew anything about TC, but I met 2 stunning, and I mean really stunning, Kurdistan sisters who live in Sweden. If they read this, say hi. Frederick Malouf in Sydney. That would be hilarious! :)

Do you know Jim is the guy that created the idea of couchsurfing? He had books published with people happy to invite travellers to their homes and what they'd like to share. Write them a letter, get a reply back, and you're sorted. OK, he may not have come with the idea itself, but to be able to know so many people to find. Way to publish paperbacks to GIVE to people. You get the idea?

What a guy.

:)

Having eaten with Jim in Paris a half dozen or more times, I can tell you he was as genuine as a person could be. The food was always tasty, with a vegetarian option, and all of the boxed wine you could drink. There was a suggested donation of 30-Euros, but one could pay what they could afford. In inclement weather, the numbers were limited to maybe 50 or 60, and in the summer, it could run to 100 or more, as the group could spill out into the garden. It might include Africans in flowing Robes or Australians in Bush Hats, or Scots in Tweed; you never knew. Jim trained in languages and spent his evenings listening to Russian transmissions during the Cold War, in Scotland: night duty allowed daytime education at Edinburgh University. He requested early leave from the Air Force, and continued school in Edinburgh, and one day met a young student named Jane Quigley, later known as Jane Alexander, the Academy Award nominated actor, who he called the flower of Edinburgh Theater. He opened a groundbreaking Paperback bookstore where he offered free coffee and joked about visitors that stole books after having coffee. His accomplishments included a theater, called the Traverse, which encouraged avant-garde productions. If you are a traveler, you should watch this documentary.