La Brasserie des Ursulines I heard Nina before I saw her. A loud, hearty laugh. She welcomes me to the brasserie located within the Ursulines, her kingdom. Those who live here have already been waiting a few minutes for this place to open. Everyone heads straight for their seats. Seating isn’t allocated, but the regulars make a beeline for their usual spots. She takes orders she already knows by heart. It’s part of the all-important make-believe, she tells me, to make her customers feel like they’re in a real café. A small group of disabled adults arrive and settle in. Like every Thursday, the choir is about to start. Cédric arrives with his guitar, hands out the song books and asks Nina to turn off her music. The singing can begin. Only songs of love and joy. Many people are singing with gusto. The nursery next door comes to take a look, between nap time and snack time. The nursery assistant tells me that the children love to hear the songs. They sit in the front row and stare at Cédric, fascinated. A small group of die-hard Scrabble players start a game, with little regard for what’s going on around them. It’s clear the match is sacrosanct and the game is serious. No amount of singing will get in the way! Nina offers me a cup of tea and tells me about Les Marolles, her own neighbourhood. She was born and raised here, and this is where she now calls home. She has lived elsewhere, of course, but she ended up coming back. Even though, in her opinion, the area has changed a lot. It’s nothing like the one she grew up in, where her parents ran a small grocery shop. But she tells me nothing in the world would make her move away again. When I ask why, she explains “because it has a soul that other neighbourhoods just don’t have”.