Pascal's pink balloon

As I was sitting in a cafe in Tbilisi, looking out of the window at the cobblestone road in the Old City, I saw a runaway pink balloon. Immediately it reminded me of the 1956 short film, Le Balloon Rouge, and the 1967 book – the Red Balloon – set in Paris. Both were created by Paris-born film maker Albert Lamorisse (1922-1970).

Once upon a time in Paris there lived a little boy whose name was Pascal … Then one day, on his way to school, he caught sight of a fine red balloon …

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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