Postcard from Europe
July 19, 2009
This year, thanks to the recession, more Parisians are going to be staying at home… and finding out what they've been missing. Our correspondent John Laurenson sent us this postcard from Paris in the summertime.
I'm writing this inside a Left Bank café called the Rouquet, a place that hasn't changed since the 1950s.
Motorists honk unhappily along the Boulevard Saint Germain, but the plane trees form a green roof over the street, filtering the sun and giving the place a relaxing air. A sparrow hops in, grabs an abandoned chip off the floor and flies towards the door, lop-sided because of the weight of the thing.
The Patronne sidles up and tells me she's been here for 55 years. She remembers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir coming here every morning. They'd hide away in the little room at the back. Get a bit of peace and quiet before exposing themselves to the rubber-necking crowds at the swankier cafés – the Flore and the Deux Magots down the road.
Paris in summer? I and (presumably) the few million others who visit at this time of year think it's a great idea. But for real Parisians, it's very different.
It is, in fact, one of those signs of failure. Like being seen on a bus over the age of 30. It means you haven't got any friends - either to go on holiday with or to invite you to their lovely beach-side summer home at Arcachon. Or else you just can't afford it. There are rather more French people in this category all of a sudden.
In March, when French pessimism was just at its natural level for early spring, 74 percent reckoned they'd be going on holiday. By May, that number had dropped to 56 percent, while in other European countries it had stayed stable at around 64 percent. Which means there will be very many more Parisians, or at least Parisian ‘losers' as they call them here, for the tourists to see. And a few more places are staying open.
In the old days, Paris closed down in August. With an admirable disregard for financial gain, restaurants and cafés would shut for the height of the tourist season. Many still do. The Rouquet, for example, will be closed for the whole month. But it's worth coming. Definitely.
To walk around the parks, peering at the games of chess and boules… to admire the buildings which look bright in summer, grey the rest of the year. And if you meet a Parisian, be friendly and offer to buy him a drink perhaps. He probably needs it.
Author: John Laurenson in Paris
Editor: Rob Turner