Yesterday was such a beautiful day, with a blue sky and the kind of warm dry weather you expect in Los Angeles, not Paris, in May. As I went about my errands near the boulevard Sébastopol, I cast an envious eye on all the people lolling in the cafes along the side streets. Finally the métro ejected me into a lovely place where a shady cafe beckoned. I sat down at an empty table surrounded by empty tables, and ordered a glass of cool rosé.
And then the smoke started. The people next to me pulled out their cigarette packs and laid them on the table. The people behind me blew smoke into my hair. The people to my right, Swedes, looked around crossly at them, paid, and got up to leave. Two pretty young women sat down at their table and immediately started fumbling around in their purses for their cigarettes. All the pretty young women in Paris seem to smoke. That's the real secret of why French women are thin!
Smoking is now illegal in French restaurants, except outside-- so all the smokers sit there, and the terrasses are even smokier than they used to be. I try not to care, but my lungs care, and I start to cough. Maybe I have bad lungs. All four of my non-smoking grandparents died of lung cancer.
I stick it out. I live in France, I just have to tolerate the smoke. When I get home, my clothes and hair stink. I'm no longer used to this. Why do the French have to smoke?
Why do American eat so much junk food?Both same answers!
Posted by: Katerina | 24 May 2011 at 17:39
Honestly, I can't stick it out. My lungs were damaged by chain-smoking parents and my brother died of lung cancer. Add to that the grandmother and aunt who died of emphysema and hey presto, you see in me a real smoke-phobe. I love the idea of a terrace seat, but in Paris I sit at that first row of tables, just inside the cafe. It makes all the difference.
Posted by: Lynn | 24 May 2011 at 18:51
@Katerina, if the person next to you is eating junk food, that does not affect YOUR body. I think that's the basic difference.
Posted by: Sedulia | 24 May 2011 at 19:42
And what's even MORE ennuyering? THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW--the law was passed so that the 'workplace' would not make the workers sick. Um, last time I checked the servers had to WORK on the terrasse, serving the damn smokers. And so, after developing adult onset asthma thanks to a particular smoke incident in Paris, I now have to sit inside on a beautiful day. Or, more recently, in the hot weather, in it's rare appearance, I whip out my handy purse fan, turn it on and blow their smoke right back at them--amazing how quickly those cigarettes go out, not to mention the commentary exchanged--oh la vache! :p
Posted by: Parisbug | 13 July 2011 at 13:03