Monday 14th May 2018
13:49 PLACE SIMONE VEIL
12 °C. Girls wearing shorts in front of the parliament.
Soldiers on the two sides of the square.
Loud noise of squawking birds. Voices. Heels. Buses. Sirens. Small cart wheels. Trolley wheels. Cars. Motorbikes. Bicycles.
It’s really cold, but lots of people wear just a shirt.
The soldiers are standing in front of the benches and people don’t sit there anymore.
Car horn. Group photo, laughing.
Many different languages.
Clouds. Lot of movement.
Soldiers move at 14:05
The granite is freezing; the cold passes through my trousers.
14:33 PLACE DU LUXEMBOURG
EXKI
Still many people come here to eat. Lots by themselves, at their pc or smartphone.
Some goods arrived in Place Simone Veil, they left them in the middle.
Now a guy is assembling something, some signage.
16:00 PARC LéOPOLD
16 °C scattered clouds.
Even though at the entrance it is written that bicycles are not allowed, many people ride them and give meaning to the differentiated pavements.
Soldiers patrolling.
There’s room for everybody.
16:45 PLACE JOURDAN
16 °C sunny.
People make their way through the construction site’s chaos.
Balance exercises over the curbs of the future flowerbeds.
Tourists who did a one-hour walk to get the French fries.
17:27 Bus towards Namur – all of the buses pass through …
Many people have an aperitif.
Information panels and geographic maps have just been installed in Place Simon Veil.
18:13 AGORa SIMONE VEIL
Two people passing by with their trolleys and a homeless man (in the background) staying in a square interstice
Tuesday 15th May 2018
19:34 PARC LéOPOLD
An old man enjoys the calm of the park sitting on a foldable chair, looking at the lake
18:28 PLACE JOURDAN 16 °C
It’s cold, lowest temperature is 8°C. Clouds and wind.
Many people “in transit”. Probably a lot coming back from their workplace.
Those reading or eating French fries occupy most of the benches.
Yesterday the lawns were full, today it’s humid and they’re not.
Works in Place Jourdan go ahead and the temporary footpaths changed a bit.
Sometimes the sun pops out.
18:45 PARC LéOPOLD
Today the person who sleeps near the water is here. Even the part of the park where few tents are is quite crowded, but it seems nobody cares about it (just the children who explore discover its existence).
It’s been a while since this man started walking in the park, stopping sometimes. He looks wistful, and he noticed me.
19:24 PARC LéOPOLD 16 °C
The stillness of buildings.
The slow swishing of the fronds.
The blue sky and the clouds moved by the wind.
The animals moving on the ground, on the water, in the sky.
Someone is on a break, he sits and doesn’t move much.
The flow of people in the street, walking, riding, in a stroller.
The flying leaves, and the sand too.
Arrived in SIMONE VEIL around 19:35.
The soldiers are here, but they leave soon.
There is a person with a bag, apparently a homeless, he spits on the ground and comes towards here. He talks with people, asks them something and they quickly avoid him shaking their head as to say “no”.
Some stop and read the info about the Azores.
The homeless man of the left side is here today.
Thursday 17th May 2018
The works got ahead pretty fast: probably the workers arrive very early in the morning to properly adjust the footpaths.
The soundscape is different.
The construction site’s pace is linear.
16 °C
Sunny, it’s hot even though the temperature is not really high.
Perfect day to rest on the grass or on a bench.
Business men walk past at a faster pace compared to the others.
15:52 AGORa SIMONE VEIL
Dozens of children seated on the same super-long step.
Guys seated on the border of a very high tree vase.
15:55 SIMONE VEIL
16 °C (max temperature for today)
The homeless man of the right side just abandoned his place, leaving there cardboards and small bags. The homeless man of the left side is not here, the one of the right side got back and he left again, maybe to take something.
The toilets in the Station close at 19:00.
They took the installation apart and the people, seeing that stuff laid down, used it as a bench. Even the schoolchildren, looking for a place to sit, climbed the edges of the high tree boxes or used the long side steps to stay all together.
It’s very cold, even though the sun is shining strongly.
16:10 LUXEMBOURG STATION
The homeless man of the left side is begging at the Luxembourg Station.
The homeless man of the right side comes out of the Station, probably he was at the toilet, and he chats with the other and then leaves but doesn’t come back to his place.
The after-work is supposed to start at 17:00 because the parking rules change at that time. They even replaced the bar tables. High bar tables with stools and more garbage bins.
16 °C
Sun and gentle wind.
They made the cars move to the EXKI’s side. There’s a police van, two agents and another person who organizes the garbage bins. Some in the lawn and some lined in the sidewalk.
19:00 PARC LéOPOLD 14 °C
There are very few people, but the park is still very pleasant.
In one of the most sloping corners, a couple was making out …under a tiny grove of trees.
Someone is smoking a bong, others drink beer, others read.
15:00 LUXEMBOURG 15°C
I fell asleep under the sun in the lawn of the square. It’s a nice lawn even though it was not clean at all.
Then I saw some strange events at the Station. A girl was begging and I felt like she could have been me, because she looked good and she was nicely dressed. Another woman was just lying in the middle of the stairway and she was sleeping.
I saw the security intervention to get her out: before going, she ate something from an orange thrash bag (the one for food).
Later on I gave 5€ to a Moldavian family who asked me if I could buy some food for their son.
They told me something about the fact that they walked until here and about London; I did not quite understand.
As soon as I left, they took their things and moved towards the Station, probably.
15:30 SIMONE VEIL
It’s very hot and there’s the usual cold, gentle breeze.
Homeless of the left side is neither in his place nor in the station nor at the ATM.
At the ING, on the other hand, there is a mother with her young daughter begging money. They’re wearing fuchsia and leopard-skin clothes.
21:24 LéOPOLD
It's really dark in the park: you can only see the reflective signs of the video surveillance
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