Because I work from home, I’m rarely outside in the street at 8.30 am, although I can see the Palais Royal Gardens through my office window any time of the day.

When Black Cat lived nearby, she would sometimes suggest we go to breakfast together before she went to work but she moved to another part of Paris a long time ago. Today, however, I was to meet up with some visiting Australian friends at Angelina’s in rue de Rivoli.

Paris was wearing another face. In the Palais Royal, a business man was reading the paper next to the fountain before the water was turned on. Joggers were running under the trees.

There were no children playing on the Buren columns and no tourists posing for photos or throwing coins into the water below.

At Café Nemours people were having coffee before work and half the seats were empty.

Most of the souvenir shops along Rue de Rivoli were closed.

Others were setting up their stalls for the day, mopping the floor or having a morning coffee break.

There was no one on the Big Wheel currently stationed in the fun park in the Tuileries Gardens.

When I got to Angelina’s no one was queueing!

I chose my favourite award-winning Bourbon vanilla slice (mille-feuille bourbon) and Angelina’s extra-thick hot chocolate.

There wasn’t a sole person in the boutique.

By the time I left at 10.30 am, all the souvenir shops were doing brisk business. Maybe I should go out to breakfast more often!