Chapter 1
Paris Cubed
The Paris branch of Marks & Spencers closed early in
2001, so I just got away with that one! WARNING! FASCINATING
FACT ALERT: But if you go to Woolworths in South Africa,
you’ll notice that it’s a bit more up-market than Woolworths
in Britain. The product range is all M&S. Strange but
incontrovertible truth that alternative universes do exist...
sort of.
If Dorothée was partying at the Cafe Momus on Christmas Eve
in 19th century Paris, she might well find that the rowdy
people at the next table who keep singing loudly are Mimi,
Rudolfo and friends, the protagonists of La Boheme in Act 2 of
Puccini’s opera.
George Seurat, whom Dorothée, true to New Adventures form,
is planning a fling with, is the French pointilliste painter
(1859-1891.) His paintings are made up of thousands of points
of colour. In Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sunday in the Park
with George, which I love, Seurat’s mistress is called Dot.
Sorry, I couldn’t really resist.
Robert Holmes’ Gallifrey is a cross between a comfortable
gentlemen’s club and the Vatican, and I’ve always seen that as
my role model for the Capitol. It’s so ancient it creaks. If
society stopped, the on-going rituals would take centuries to
wind down. There’s a Byzantine proliferation of guilds,
societies and strangely named officials, all stabbing each
other in the back. Most of the workers have the factually
analytical minds of cataloguers, filled with a fascination for
the detail of other people’s events. They observe the
Universe, annotating and revising their notes, while their
leaders are locked in an endlessly shifting, complex and
stately dance of power.
