I met Alain in Paris 1995 summer. He was a producer of this tiny indy film that was being shot in his house. At the time, he was 34 and lived in this 3 bedroom house just outside the center. He lived alone, and had so many interesting things in his house. Pictures of him riding motorcycles, paintings he made, artifacts from around the world. He owned all the James Bond laser discs. He had one room for just toys even though he had no kids. At the time, he had only 3 dogs. Johanna was in this movie, so we had dinner at his place.
More then 2 years later, I come to Paris to visit Johanna with Christian. After she misbehaves with me, I leave them and meet Alain. H no longer stays in a house. Near Gallieni, he is in a studio 16sq meters with the massive 2 dogs, 3 cats. He has hit hard times, but offers me a place to sleep. Tight quarters, but I ain't too picky. We bond our friendship over 2 or 3 days, then I go to Milan and Zurich, then back to Alain before NY.
Ok, long story short. 2004. After being refused in the UK, I went back to Stockholm where I was when I tried to get in the London, and after 1 day with the swedes, I tried to get a bus to Hamburg but there were none for that day I was there. So I elected to fly to Paris where Alain or a number of people could house me. This was on the way to Spain which was my final destination in Marbella to help Martin with his 2 flats. Alain also had a reliable internet connection which at the time was a luxury and I had a $1mil online poker partypoker tournament to compete on. Well, no more 16 sq meters. Now a top apartment in the center of Paris. The dogs are at his parents, but he now has 2 pigs. That's exactly what you expect to see in a nice apartment in Paris. Alain...for better or worse, he s truly one of a kind.
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