Taxis waiting on a stand for customers, around 1938-39.

Source:
Paris en Images, copyright LAPI / Roger-Viollet (LAPI-38290):
Click here to view source.

Gaito Gazdanov's Paris / 18

The cafe

I often spent several hours in this cafe. I left my car at the station entrance and waited for the first train at five-thirty.

Between two o’clock in the morning and the arrival of the train, while the other drivers played cards or slept in their cars I preferred to stay there, or go for a walk if it were nice out.

This forced idleness allowed me to familiarize myself with the clientele, which never failed to bear fruit: each night I left the place a little more poisoned. [37]