In an art gallery in Stockholm I saw a
John-E Franzén lithograph, a detail of an old
motorbike. I have always been interested in the art
of Franzén, he is a well-known Swedish painter and
once he caused a small scandal with a somewhat
pornographic painting (but later he was
commissioned to make a portrait of our royal
family).

I bought the signed lithograph and took it home.

The next day we were flying down to Paris for the
weekend and later that night having dinner at
La Coupole with some friends who lived in Paris
(this was in the ‘80s, long before they renovated
La Coupole and, from what I hear, ruined the
atmosphere).

Some people at a table far away greeted my friend
Johan and me when we walked in; they smiled and
nodded to us. We didn’t know them but later when
we passed again they waved at us. We went up to
their table and they were also Swedish; apparently
they had noted us as we looked like two blond
Swedish guys.

I looked at one of the guys, the one with the
ponytail:

-But, you are John-E Franzén, aren’t you?

-Yes, he said.

I told him about the print and he liked that but he
seemed to think it was only natural. We joined them
and had some more Kronenbourg beer and later,
much later, we returned to our wives.

But of course now, since they have renovated
La Coupole and taken away all the atmosphere and
charm, a coincidence like this will not
happen again.