N’ayez pas crainte, je ne vais pas parler des atrocités de la semaine dernière, mais tous simplement de la splendeur de cette ville unique et magnifique. Je pense que nous avons assez entendu de malheur et le simple fait de traiter des idées beaucoup plus agréable nous aidera à soulager la douleur.

I fell in love with Paris in 1986. My then ‘future-ex-wife-to-be’ and I, had hit it off and had decided to try it together. So when she asked me whether she should come and join me in Malta, or if I preferred going to live in Paris, I was at the airport before you could even say Dom Mintoff. Imagine even comparing 1980’s Malta to Paris! Even seeing them written in the same sentence seems rather odd. So upon my incredulous discovery that they even sold chocolate and toothpaste in Paris, one of my greatest and most rewarding life adventures began.

Incidentally the same odious comparison recurred in my life a decade and a half later, by supporting my second wife’s equally unlikely comparison between the far east of Russia and Malta. A form of reverse Karma of sorts. What I took from one I gave to the other…

It is extremely hard not to love Paris. I truly love everything about it and in spite of my rather extensive travels, I at least, cannot say that I enjoy any other city better.

There is that immense je ne sais quoi about it, a special feel, the extraordinary culture, the cafés and the restaurants, the boulevards, the bridges, the sites, the everything.

But most of us know Paris and can relate very easily to what I am talking about. It is rather the changing attitudes and our perception of it, which I would like to dwell on here.

The French have long suffered a lot of bias from other nations, particularly from the British. There are obviously many stereotypes and I am a firm believer that such cliches must always be based on some form of truth. However, what we believe to be common knowledge about the French is mostly British made conjecture, which is anything but shared by other nations. Being so familiar with British culture, many of us sometimes project this as being a general global perspective, which very often it isn’t.

The British have always had a love-hate relationship with France, which I have a feeling is at least partly based on envy. However there is some truth behind the many hackneyed ideas, or might I dare say that there used to be…

The French themselves have long admitted to being rather awkward in any situation which is not French. They are so immersed in their own endless culture and their own extensive network of 57 francophone countries around the world, that they can be rather clumsy when having to deal and communicate outside of their own realm. Even when travelling many prefer visiting one of the endless choice of French speaking countries, in the same way many English speaking people do with their own. Perhaps the other people who are even more submerged in their own imaginary universe and language, and who have great difficulties operating outside it, are the British themselves! As is so often the case, it is the most guilty who are pointing fingers at others.

The everlasting adage that the French refuse to speak to you in English is perhaps the most glaringly obvious example of this. Are we to imagine that the English are the world’s best linguists and that you can comfortably go to the UK and speak French, Spanish, Italian or German and have absolutely no problem as everyone there is pentalingual?

I can guarantee that the French do not reply to you in English for only two reasons. Either they simply cannot speak it, or in their typical French-locked mentality they are literally embarrassed to do so for lack of adeptness and over abundance of accent. As most Maltese are very familiar with Italians, we can very easily draw many parallels here with them too. The strange thing however is that we Maltese never even dreamt in the past to travel to Italy and expect them to speak to us in English, but for some ignorant reason when we used to travel to France we somehow did. And the same might be said when travelling to most other countries. Back in those days at least, did you expect people to speak to you in English when in Russia, Greece or Germany? Certainly not I am sure, but somehow based on the British bias many of us were exposed to, when travelling to France we incredibly did!

But things have changed incredibly in Paris and also in much of France. In fact I find it rather surreal how in the 30 years which have elapsed since my first visit there, the approach and mentality of Parisians has entirely been transformed.

I must admit that I did find them quite abrasive when I first went there. On many an occasion I was shunned, scorned at and mildly ignored, mainly due to my then very poor French and also my poor grasp of everything French. My only way forward then, was to become proficient both in language and in general knowledge, to an even greater extent than the average Frenchman, so as to gain their respect. Something I am very proud of having very amply achieved.

Today however, unless it is you who is travelling there with very heavy blinkers and totally stuck in your passé impressions of the French, you cannot but admit that they have greatly changed.

Based on our last visits to Paris, I can very safely say that the vast majority of them now speak pretty good English. They are also welcoming, friendly and smile, and are a far cry from what I had to endure there three decades ago.

They have made an enormous and conscious effort to globalise themselves and their thinking, without of course taking anything away from their own culture. This is something we Maltese should try to understand. That by pushing English and firmly setting our sights beyond our minuscule rock, it does not necessarily mean that we are ousting our own language and culture. One does not and should not preclude the other.

If anyone is still rather skeptical at how such massive change can occur in any country in a relatively short period of time, then here are two examples very close to home. Malta has changed in certain cases beyond recognition in these last 30 years. And to a certain extent so has England. I distinctly remember how terribly English it was in so many ways in those days. To give just one amusing example, if you walked into a pub and asked for a glass of wine you would probably have been lynched, not that they would have known what the hell you were talking about then. Today the British too have evolved enormously to a much more open and cosmopolitan people than they were in the 1980’s, and in virtually every respect.

What many Maltese people do not realise, is that the French are infinitely more like the Maltese than the British are. They are a Latin nation with a much more Southern soul and a large part of which are even Mediterranean people so similar to us.

When I was living in Paris, I always remember thinking how unfortunate life is as nothing is ever perfect. Such an extraordinary and beautiful place, sadly inhabited by sour and inhospitable individuals.

Now even this has changed totally and this amazing city has actually turned friendly to all. How’s that for astounding news to please any visitor there beyond all expectation. Nowhere is heaven on earth, but Paris comes close enough for me.

Paris je t’aime!