Covid late-onset is the exact experience that you'd expect. Covid is a miserable experience. It causes a hacking cough and a headache. You feel short of breath. Your limbs are numb. And you're tired.
It didn't appear to be fatal, at least not for me or my wife. Louisa was given the go-ahead this morning, and I hope to be able to do the same tomorrow. This means that we might just make it out to the pub Sunday.
Paris is to blame, I'm sure. Louisa was in Montparnasse for an art event and she must have caught the illness either on her way home or from the crowd of art lovers. She was sick within two days after her return and thoughtfully shared the illness with me in order to avoid missing market day.
We were lucky to have done our shopping the day after she returned. We found a dense loaf of bread that lasted for several days. Our neighbour Mael also left us goat's-milk and eggs on the terrace steps.
What about France's near collapse into chaos and the abyss, though? It's obvious that I forgot to mention what happened after a police officer shot a delivery boy, aged 17, in the Paris suburb Nanterre. You might have thought Armageddon would be around the corner if you read the news in both the
British and French mainstream media. France's immigrant population had taken to the streets like a vengeful angel. It was impossible to predict how things would turn out, except that they would not be good for Macron or the French authorities.
Not only did I watch the happenings from my bed, but I felt like I'd seen them all before, even though I wasn't. Since its founding, France has fallen apart. This time, the cause was obvious. It was not the intention of Officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled down on George Floyd's neck in Minneapolis 2020 when he pulled over Nahel for a minor traffic infraction. The countdown started when the officer drew a gun and shoved the weapon through the window of Merzouk’s rental car. The officer was unable to control himself, while the boy became frantic. This led to the longest and worst sequence of violence on the streets, including arson, looting and street fighting since 2005.
As I lay in bed sweating, I searched for signs that there was more going on than just resentment. It was something I didn't notice. No leaders were present, just followers who mostly followed the social media timetable. The majority of the petrol bombers and those who threw fireworks were under 20 years old, some even as young as 12. They certainly had a lot to say. The black and Muslim population in France are aware that France has a very cold climate. They also realize that it is how things have always been, and any changes they may make will take time.
It was perfectly logical to set a fire to the tax office, to smash shopfronts, or to turn a bus upside down. It was not revolutionary to take an iPhone or a flat-screen TV from a shop whose price they couldn't afford. Instead, it was an act of exploitation. When enough was enough, they knew. The smart thing to do was quit before they got a criminal conviction News.
Media, on their own, could not help but react. The media instinctively turn to the past to guide them on what will happen next. They are as if on a deadline with the eternity, and they don't wish to be late. It is no surprise that the Revolution and its storming of Bastille, in 1789, has been the template for the ongoing notion of social collapse. The Terror had a lasting impact on France that was unlike anything else in history. The only thing that came close was war. The violent unrest in 1848 forced Louis-Philippe, the last Bourbon king to abdicate. The Army brutally suppressed the Paris Commune in 1871 with up to 20,000 deaths. Then there was the uprising of 1968, in which nobody died, and no lasting results were achieved, except to convince De Gaulle, who was 78 years old, that it might be time to retire him to Colombey-les-Deux Eglises.
Was there any connection between the riots of last week and that? No, I'd say. France was a bit bled. It was cranked up. The gnashing and shouting of teeth was loud. Both police officers and the rioters as well as the people watching took a breath, and pulled back. Change comes dropping slow. France is still the same today as it was yesterday. Some would argue that it's a shame.
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