In Dieppe, France

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Thursday evening, Toronto airport, 5PM

Yesterday afternoon when I was standing looking out at the ocean, watching an old man walk into the freezing blue water and begin to swim, while his son and grandsons watched him too, I overheard two men talking in English about the monument to Canadian soldiers that is here, somewhere, in Dieppe. Dressed in business suits, they were perplexed; they couldn’t find the war memorial. I couldn’t find it either. In World War Two, this beach, with its smooth round stones that would fit easily into the palm of the hand, held a scene of massacre. It is impossible to imagine. Yesterday afternoon I walked the promenade all the way to the end, where the ferry was preparing to leave for Brighton, in England; you can’t see England standing on the beach in Dieppe. It is a four hour crossing. The afternoon was sunny, almost warm, and people were going for a stroll, small children on scooters, many breeds of dogs being walked; a couple embraced in the middle of a vast green field that separates the promenade from the line of hotels overlooking the ocean. The vendors were closing up their shops: board shacks selling crepes or sandwiches, postcards, brightly coloured tourist paraphernalia. The groups of teenage boys made me the most homesick, for some reason I could not explain.

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Friday evening, Dieppe, France, 5PM

For supper, I walked into the town proper and bought a sandwich and an apple pastry, which I ate back at my hotel, after asking the woman in the shop to direct me to it. I was quite turned around, and lost, but the hotel was in fact just around the corner. I fell asleep at 8:45PM, which at home would have been 2:45 in the afternoon; and I slept for twelve hours. This morning I ate a fresh buttery croissant for breakfast in the hotel lounge. I also had a tiny amount of coffee diluted with lots of warm milk, a boiled egg, applesauce. The festival’s director found me in the lounge, reading David Sedaris on my mini-Kobo, and sat with me briefly, effusive over a review of Girl Runner (Invisible sous la lumiere) that just came out in Le Figaro. “I am so proud!” she said.

Tonight is the first reading, in a small town about 30 kilometres from here, called Envermeu. I will be meeting my French publisher for lunch today, too. At a certain point, a book takes on a life of its own. I feel this has happened with Aganetha, that she is making her way in the world, almost without me. I am following her, now.

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I need to get up the energy to go for a walk or a run along the ocean this morning. I need to but I also just want to sit in my hotel room and do nothing at all. I wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep last night, I felt so greedy for it; even twelve hours was not enough. Yet most nights at home I sleep no more than seven hours. I wonder whether I will spend this time in France sleeping, catching up on lost sleep, reviving. I wonder how I will spend this time.

I see the days as I mapped them out on our calendar at home: three columns, seven rectangles in each column, each filled with tiny print in white chalk, of activities over which I have no control, and in which I will not be participating, even though in my mind I am still there too. This morning, lying in bed with the curtains drawn against the sun, I saw the columns and knew that I was not there, and thought of the days as blanks for me to fill as I wished, here, not time to be endured, but time to be filled in ways different from the ways I fill my time at home.

How much could you write in those empty rectangles, I thought?

xo, Carrie

Fifteen minute post
Reading in Envermeu: found in translation

4 Comments

  1. Chris Cameron

    My Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Day today:
    nullibiquitous, adj. Existing nowhere.

    A useful state every once in a while, methinks.

    Carrie, are you doing your readings in French?

    Reply
    • Carrie Snyder

      An actress will be doing my reading for me tonight. I will be speaking afterward in English. I believe there will be an interpreter. My French is not good at all!!

      Reply
  2. Bunty McCabe Albert

    The 1942 Memorial is at the eastern end of Rue de l’Epee and looks rather nondescript. The Canadian Cemetery is on Route N27 and looks to be about 5 km south of Dieppe. Have you seen the Canadian TV Show X-Company? Their previous and next episode are about the ill-fated raid on Dieppe and its aftermath.

    Reply
  3. Kerry

    This is so exciting Carrie.
    🙂
    Sleep, history, literature.
    I want to go to France to visit sites of history, where such unimaginable carnage once took place. Until then, I will read about your experiences. Hope everything has gone well.

    Reply

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