Entente cordiale?**
Now this, to Bill and Louise but not to "Bridget Jones", will seem like cheating....but if the time of the year puts me in a sort of French mood, then there could hardly be a better moment to republish this as a follow-up to my thoughts, revisited, on London v Paris. It appeared as part of a "France in Flashes" series at Old Salut! on Nov 16 2006 - the anniversary of my wedding, the church bit of which occurred in provincial France and the honeymoon (if a few nights in a grubby hotel, obliged to stand outside humble restaurants and do mental arithmetic with the menu prices, counts as a lune de miel). It also attracted 50 replies, over which fact I might these days have drawn a veil had most of them not come from about three people. But having visited France only once this year - eight lovely days in the Var in June - and absent from Paris since 18 months before that, I wonder if Francophile/Francophobe readers can fill me on whether some or all of it still applies. London is mentioned only en passant, but feel free to make direct comparisons. Competition? You never know. If some interesting comments**** start trickling in - witty or wry, gentle or robust - I may well come up with a prize. Clicking away at my Google ads, buying incredibly cheap advertising space of your own or choosing items from my Amazon bookshelf is not a prerequisite of entry....and I may include the responses posted to London v Paris Revisited (1) as valid entries.
* ************** WHAT I KNOW NOW **************
*
Policemen on roller skates and - when deployed as traffic cops - bicycles will always look like something out of a French farce.
Marks & Spencer should be ordered to re-open its Paris store. Don't take my word for it; ask a native Parisian.
The French are not the worst drivers in Europe and probably not even the second or third worst.
Paris may not, despite a former colleague's insistence, be the City of a Thousand Bad Restaurants. But I am up to double figures and truly believe London now has a distinct edge on quality, variety and service - though not always value.
Provincial France is still streets ahead for eating out. But my search for a good Indian restaurant here was doomed to failure.
It is therapeutic to swear in English at psychopathic drivers who try to mow you down on green at pedestrian crossings. But this is not advisable if you happen to be having a mobile phone conversation with a charming American lady at the same time.
If you want to find out something from a French ministry, make friends with a French official in London. Exposure to le modèle Anglo-Saxon will have given him a hint of urgency.
Power walking or gentle jogging in the Tuileries is not recommended for those liable to feel like physical wrecks in the presence of superfit Parisian sapeurs pompiers.
Arriving on time, for dinner, drinks or similar, is a serious gaffe. Getting there early is positively insulting and destined to bring social exclusion.
Gare du Nord handles people more efficiently than Waterloo. And no one there will try to serve you wine in a cardboard cup.
Anna Perry*** was right. The Champs Elysées may look pretty when lit up for Christmas but feels ugly and naff most of the time and, at the bottom end, menacing at night.
Brits who want to live in France, but stick to English-speaking ghettos and recoil in horror from any idea of integration, bring disgrace on their country and should go home.
French reality and game shows are even worse than those on British TV. And French television generally is dire.
Leaving Paris on a TGV feels much better than coming back.
Coming back to Paris on Eurostar feels much better than leaving.***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
** The John Bull/Brigitte Bardot cover illustrates an article, found here, about trying to make the Anglo-French (oops, Franco-Anglaise) entente cordiale work at home *** Anna Perry commented at my original Daily Telegraph blog back in 2005, questioning my sanity for having found the Champs Elysées attractive. It took an encounter with three yobs (I got out of it by swearing loudly at them in English after they demanded my mobile phone) to change my mind. **** Roads will be disqualified if he points out that Gare appeared as Gard in the original posting too.
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