The City of Light has awed me with its own Blitz spirit

Given the scale of shocking events this year in France, it seems churlish to have choked on my pain au chocolat for, of all things, being called one of the longestserving (uninterrupted) British correspondents in Paris, as I was recently. Le Figaro was on the line wanting to know how “un anglais à

Paris depuis 20 ans” felt times had changed.

Cue existential vertigo. I arrived a graduate and now have three strapping Anglo-French offspring who mock my Jane Birkinesque Anglicisms

dans la langue de Molière . I wanted to tell the journalist that I am haunted by the parallel universes we all inhabit, criss-crossing each other’s lives as the die of fate is cast. On the night of the Bataclan massacre last month, I picked up a Velib bike – Paris’s equivalent of the Boris bike – just 10 yards from the theatre. The terrorists were already there, lurking outside in their black VW Polo with the motor running. Oblivious, I pedalled home, minutes before 90 lives were sucked down a black hole of Islamist nihilism. But Le Fig had little time for personal musings; the journalist wanted my opinion on the state of France, no less. After bouts of intense navel-gazing, the French become periodically obsessed with how “les

étrangers” see them, usually in times of intense self-doubt.

I realised, alas too late, that this was a lose-lose situation: either you berate your host and are told politely to jump in or under the nearest Eurostar, or you offer praise and are branded a

faux-cul (hypocrite being the polite translation).

Well, I said, France is – and I do believe it – at a crossroads: either it totally turns in on itself, or embraces something resembling reality. Reeling from the attacks, hamstrung by record unemployment, the country is toying with the urge to “faire pêter le système ” – to blow the system up. It is also toying with doing next to nothing.

This month’s regional elections saw the Front National score historic highs, but in the end the French opted for continuity as moderate voters stirred from their apathy to block the FN. The message, however, was clear: France is fed up with its tired political establishment and appalled at the increasingly likely prospect of another Sarkozy-Hollande-Le Pen face off in 2017. It is already in a state of emergency over terror, but will it tackle the state of political emergency?

Now to the positives. We “étrangers” are often amazed that France doesn’t draw more comfort from its undeniable strengths, its wonderful landscapes and sheer appetite for life, I told Le Figaro . The national solidarity in the wake of the January and November attacks was inspiring. Parisians have done themselves proud in the face of terror, neither giving into fear nor the pull of political extremes.

The French were amazed at London’s Blitz spirit following the 7/7 attacks, but Paris deserves equal praise for choosing to Keep Calm and Carry On. Nobody summed up this spirit better than a doughty French granny interviewed just after the attacks as she laid flowers in memory of the victims. Staring defiantly at the camera, she intoned: “We are a very old civilisation and we hold our values high. We fraternise with five million Muslims who exercise their religion freely and politely and we fight against 10,000 barbarians who kill, supposedly in the name of Allah.”

“Danielle” touched a national nerve for urging the French to lay flowers and to read and reread Hemingway’s

Moveable Feast , whose French title is the far more evocative Paris est une

Fête (Paris is a Party). Hemingway’s account of Paris in the Twenties has since become an overnight bestseller and the town hall has just launched an eponymous campaign to bring back tourists who have shunned the City of Light since November 13.

Danielle no doubt had in mind the final chapter, which reads: “There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it.”

I only hope the tourists heed the call and flock back to this glorious city.