Although I did fervently believe it was coming home, those of us supporting the England lads will have to wait until the next World Cup. In my case, however, it did technically come home- France won and I live in Paris so it was a win-win!
The Bowler – an English pub where we watched all the England games along with other expats
As is tradition in Paris when France wins a big game, everybody flocks to the Champs-Elysees. For example, when they won the semi-final of this year’s World Cup, the chant ‘tout le monde aux Champs’ led fanatics, horns honking, to parade and celebrate their success in their thousands. Living close to the iconic street as we do, horns could be heard all through the night. Blue, white and red flags were strewn everywhere that was humanly possible.
This was NOTHING compared to what happened when France WON the world cup, and every single French citizen, from St Malo to Martinique, felt like they were ‘Champions du monde’. ONE MILLION people were reported to have been on the Champs Elysees to celebrate, so of course, we decided to go and join in and forget our frustrations about our boys going home early.
Can I just mention here that, probably from a lack of good football songs and/or the fact that it’s actually a really good song, the French sing their national anthem an awful lot. I mean all the time. Before the game a few times before the players are even on the pitch to sing it themselves, whenever there is a lull in the game, after the game, they just love to sing it all the time. I have to say it’s a lot better than God Save the Queen (no offence, but can we update this soon?)
Anyway, imagine one million people singing this on the Champs Elysees, holding their flares and flags and funny hats. The sun is setting orange behind the Arc de Triomphe and horns are blasting. Some numpties are trying to see how many people they can get on top of a bus stop. We are cheering and dancing and high-fiving people as they walk past.
It was great to be able to experience people coming together behind their country for a victory, it was really a once-in-a-lifetime and surreal moment. We were lucky to be living here when France won. As many colleagues have mentioned to us, we chose the right year to be here!
Recently been loving the Huji app which was used to take the photos above. It claims to make them look like they were taken in 1998 and is laid out on the screen like a disposable camera. I love it because you don’t have to edit them to give them the effect of being old, it’s all done in one click and makes each picture feel special. I think we are all going to be using it in no time!
