Before I tell you what a pile of poodle poo Paris is, I really should declare a few prior prejudices. First, my Primrose was raised in Jersey in the Channel Islands. All the street signs in Jersey are written in English and French. Their towns have French names. They receive French TV. They can see cars driving in France over the water. They are more qualified than anyone to say the French are retarded and dirty, and they say that exactly. They say the French are retarded and dirty. My mother told me they only bathe once per week, preferring to cover their stench with perfume than tackle it at the source. During my evangelical Protestant phase when I was 15, an evangelist told us the Frogs don’t go to church, and though I’m an atheist these days myself, that does not excuse the Frogs’ lack of god-fearing. I must declare too, how I cringe whenever an English speaker says “Tour de France”, rather than “Tour of France.” I would sooner stop bathing than not Anglicize every French word or phrase, as is my want.
So you see, I didn’t come here expecting the best. I wish I could say I have been pleasantly surprised, but I haven’t. As a cyclist I find a contradictory network of bike paths, that one moment bans cyclists from certain roads, and the next makes us share giant roundabouts as though we have motors. I have felt buffeted like a pinball, away from my course, and never into places I would say were pleasant for cycling.
I have been cut off by busses, denied entrance into the Pompidou Centre with my folded up Brompton (she pretended she couldn’t speak English so, in my language, I told her she needed a shower), and I have been given the squeeze by motorcyclists and taxis when I have been minding my own business following sharrows.
Evidently authorities here thought a few token bike lanes, that police block with their vans, meant this city was ready for thousands of cheap city bikes, to get everyone riding. If the city wasn’t quite ready with its infrastructure, then never mind, the theory would have it that thousands of frogs all over the roads riding bikes, would tame the behaviour of the frogs driving cars.
Alas I suspect actual little green frogs on the road would have more effect. At least the average driver, and motorbike rider, would think frogs of the amphibious kind were a little bit cute, and maybe worth slowing down for.
a near miss I witnessed yesterday
The bourgeoise who took the place of the courtiers after the French Revolution, employed the services of the chefs of Versailles in something new, called a restaurant. In time they were gathering restaurant tables so closely together, and facing them all to the street, that they must have thought they were seated in Marie-Antoinette’s tiny theatre, Le théâtre de la Reine, and that the street was her stage. Next they were decorating their city with more mirrors than King Louis XIV had spread over the walls of his famous hall in the palace, so the performers of Paris’s streets could check their looks, wherever they looked.
I swear, after coming to Paris, I will never be a poser again—or at least I’ll start trying. Oh look, that’s me in King Louis’s Hall of Mirrors there at Versailles! (Shirt by Paul Smith, T-Shirt by Rapha and hat by Flechet of Paris)
8 Comments
Yes, Paris has been far too highly hyped of late. It’s seemingly impossible to install a bike-share system without also adding hype to a city, regardless of what actual cycling conditions are like. I take it you saw the very good Angle Morts film from three years ago made by someone from Paris who wanted to show the world how bad it was ? I blogged about it.
No I hadn’t seen that video, or your blog post. I so wanted to be gracious in my appraisal, and believe in little Velib fairies. But people here risk their lives cycling, for no other reason than to beat gridlock of Bangkok proportions. My sense is they need to use the rivers edge and perhaps disused high-lines to at least get some good arteries happening, completely away from the cars. I wouldn’t mind hobbling 2 or 3 km across the city in the mess it is in, if I could find a clear run along the river, for instance. Thanks!
If you’re shocked at Paris, don’t try London. My unscientific estimate is that we have about 2 miles of segregated bike lanes (my borough – islington – has about 100 yds with a population of 170,000 and only about 40% of households have cars). And of course those are on back streets, where they’re of marginal benefit. We do have a great advantage – our streets are more gridlocked, so the cars go slowwe. I shall post separately on French washing habits.
About 20 years ago, I cycled several hundred miles through France- nearly all on back roads, very enjoyable. But I still remember my first night somewhere in Normandy. I arrived at a reasonably smart pension, having ridden 60 miles over roads that were melting in the heat. Looked OK, price was reasonable, I took a room. No shower in the room – no worries, quite common in France then. If you wanted a shower, that was extra. Annoying, but again, quite common in France then (and hotels were cheap). “Can I have a shower?” I asked, in French. No, I was told, the shower is not available till August (it was then July). So I washed using the basin, doing considerable damage to the carpet, despite being quite prepared to pay a few francs for the shower. Odd. I’m sure it’s different now. And cycling on back roads in France is still pretty good.
well I’ll be leaving Paris on Monday, for a week in the french countryside. I guess I should make the most of this shower in Paris, and be thankful at least I’ll be having some enjoyable rides.
“I cringe whenever an English speaker says “Tour de France”, rather than . . .”
. . . French Tour.
Vehicle to vehicle contact in Paris seems common. Last year I walked around for a day and saw three vehicle crashes. I also looked at the way the Parisians park their vehicles by shunting into small spaces between cars. They used their bumpers for bumping. I did not want to be on a bicycle in that environment. If they think nothing of bashing another car for a parking spot what would they do to me?
Despite having waded into Dr Behooving’s cunning plan (or so he says) to induce anti-French comments, I will wade into this one. 1. You’ve paid for your bumpers so use them. 2. Shunting cars out the way shows an admirable lack of respect for the graven images of car worship. Ps Steven, once you get to La France profonde, go for the unclassified roads.