These cafes were secret places and in the old days everyone who loved Paris had his own cafe. They were better than clubs and you received the mail there that you did not wish have come to your flat. Usually you had two or three secret cafes. There would be one where you went to work and read the papers. You never gave the address of this cafe to anyone and you went there in the morning and had a cafe creme and brioche on the terrace and then, when they had cleaned the corner where your table was, inside and next to the windows, you worked while the rest of the cafe was being cleaned and scrubbed and polished. It was nice to have other people working and it helped you to work. By the time the clients started to come to the cafe you would pay for your half bottle of Vichy and go out and walk down the quay to where you would have an aperitif and then have lunch. There were secret places to have lunch and also restaurants where people went that you knew.