With my espresso I received a packet of sugar cubes and, quite surprisingly, a tall glass of water with ice cubes in it. Under my water and espresso saucer and notebook and crumpled receipt is a round glass tabletop below which lurks an advertisement that says, "The abuse of ball-playing is not dangerous to your health." It's promoting a soccer TV show.

Outside stands the Gare de l'Est train station, the entrances minimally lit at the ground floor, the upper half already dim and shadowy in the early evening darkness.