PARIS DIARY

Sunday 21 June 2020

Paris begins to feel like life as usual. Aperitif with neighbours last night; we all (four) arrived with masks, which no one wore. I window-shopped the sales. On the other hand, there was a long line on the sidewalk to gain access to the Bon Marché department store, which may or may not have started its sales; the hotel around the corner, behind the church, is apparently on the verge of bankruptcy, perhaps helped by a small encampment of homeless people nearby; I had a package delivered from India via DHL by a young man on a bicycle who could have been my son--not the usual delivery profile--maybe a student with a summer job--but not your usual middle class (whatever that means) student summer job; the number of bag lunches being handed out at the Soupe Populaire, where I worked a shift on Thursday, is almost double the number of lunches the Soupe was serving before the lockdown.