Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Our friends Caroline and John
came over this morning for brunch, which they brought with them. We had a lovely couple of hours chatting,
catching up, sharing restaurant information, complaining about the overvalued
euro, and talking about things to do in Paris. Life in Australia must be
treating them well. They both look
great. They’re here in Paris for only
a couple of days, staying at Caroline’s cousin’s apartment very near us, on
the avenue Emile Zola. We had a pleasant evening
yesterday, starting with the World Swimming Championships on TV and then
ending with a great three-course dinner at Le Blavet, which will close for a
month of vacation very soon. The newspapers here have not
given up yet on covering the episode of “malaise” that President Sarkozy
experienced on Sunday. I doubt that
we’re getting the whole truth from the Elysées Palace. The official spokespersons at
the Elysées keep saying that Sarko was jogging in extreme heat on Sunday
morning. But it wasn’t that hot. We were out walking in the sun along the
pavement by the Seine a couple hours later, when it was warmer. And it wasn’t hot at all, just pleasantly
warm. Humidity was not a factor
either. “Grande chaleur” says the Elysées.
I say pas de tout. Dan and Mary, both nurses, are
very skeptical about the “vagal nerve” explanation that was given in the
newspapers. They aren’t buying that
line at all. Now the newspapers here
have dropped that explanation. Now the officials say he just
needs to rest a little. And that he
needs to slow down his schedule somewhat.
Hmmm. That sounds more to me like they think he
has a stress-related cardiological problem. Yesterday’s issue of Le Parisien reveals that Sarko’s wife,
the lovely and trim Carla Bruni, told him in recent weeks that he needed to
lose weight. So he’s been dieting. He lost several kilos. Le Parisien
consulted a sports doctor, Patrice Halimi.
(Le Parisien is owned by the
Amaury Groupe, which owns the sports newspaper L’Equipe and the Tour de France race.) Dr. Halimi said “He should never have run in
these conditions. He is 54 years old
[my age], works in a stressful job, and was going to take a long walk at
noon, in the heat, while on a low-calorie diet. In this case, he lacked the ability to
maintain his glucose level, and if it was hot, then if he were dehydrated,
stressed, and fatigued, a malaise is assured.” Elysées contests this theory
about Sarko not having enough food.
Evidently, dieting is not something the French government wants the
French people to think that the President does. After vacation, Sarko has a
heavy schedule in the next few months.
But, Dr. Halimi warns, “This was an alarm signal. He must change his way of life and calm
down a little.” A cardiologist named
Souvet says, “The only advice to give him is for him to manage a life of more
equilibrium and to allow himself more nap time.” There is that very French
concept of equilibrium again! And I
love the idea of more nap time. I just
wish I could nap. I’m not good at it. So 54 year olds need more naps. This is something I must learn to do or
else I will lose my equilibrium! Within the context of this
concept of equilibrium, I guess I can see why Elysées does not want the
people to know that Sarko was dieting.
This must be because if one must diet, that means that one must have
lost one’s equilibrium, and that’s not good.
The word they use for mentally
disturbed people is also “déséquilibriés.”
We surely would not want to think of the President in such a way! But Americans don’t have such a
problem with the idea that important people upon whom they rely might have to
go on a diet. Just imagine if
President Obama started to have a middle-age paunch. I know it is hard to imagine that, but
try. The news that he’d gone on a
diet would have everyone wanting to know “which diet?” We’d want to know more. And if we were told, for
example, “South Beach Diet,” many of us would go out and buy the books about
the South Beach Diet and we’d want to go on it, too, if we need to lose a few
pounds. We would not think the less of
the President because he needed to lose a few pounds; we’d cheer him on, and
we’d probably join him. Because of all the fuss being
made about Sarko’s episode of disequilibrium, some French people are doubting
that they’re being told the truth. One
man quoted in Le Parisien said “I
have the sense that everything around this event has been distorted. To have a malaise, that happens to
everyone. Above all when one plays
sports. But here, what’s been diffused
by the media – what we’re told about the President’s state of health, it is
one thing, but when it is dramatized, it is another. When I saw the way this story was amplified
in the media, that really scared me, because what happened really was not a
big thing.” Evidently, the French have been
lied to in the past about the state of a President’s health. This happened when Chirac had a stroke, and
the medical bulletins at Val-de-Grace said it was a “intracerebral vascular
accident of a hemorragic nature” but Elysées denied it. Also, when President Pompidou
got sick, the official word was that it was a “bad influenza.” He was sick for months, then he died. The real cause was lymphoplasmacytic
lymphoma, called “maladie de
Waldenström.” In 1981, there were rumors that
President Mitterand had cancer. The
officials denied it. His prostate
cancer was only made public in 1992, when he had an operation. In 1996, after Mitterand’s death, his
personal physician published a book, Le
Grand Secret, which revealed how the truth was hidden from the public for
years. So of course people are
skeptical about what they’re being told about Sarko’s health. Let’s get back to sports. I should have mentioned this earlier in
July: the French now love Lance
Armstrong. The fact that he didn’t win
the Tour, but only came in third, helped enormously. Now they think he is a great cyclist, not a
doper. Lance is coming back to race in
the Tour again next year. But you know
who else is? Floyd Landis. That’s right. His ban from the sport is over, he’s had a
hip operation, and he’s ready to come back.
He maintains his innocence even though he was convicted of doping. What guts. Surely he knows how badly he will be
treated by the spectators. I still
think Floyd was innocent, and his will to come back makes me even more
certain of it. The charge against him
makes no sense. Taking testosterone
one day would not have enabled him to do what he did in stage 17 of the 2006
race. Scientifically, the charge
against him is ridiculous. |
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Here we are, sitting on our balcony in the dying light.
Looking down at the corner phone store from the
balcony.
On Sunday, the Livestrong
Foundation had a fundraising game set up by the Seine as crowds gathered
on the streets above, waiting to see the cyclists.
A boy and his lion are part of the decorations on the
fabulous Pont
Alexandre III. |
