Preface to "Letters from Paris 2020-2024"

From Covid Lockdowns to The Olympic Games

This book was never intended to be a book. Instead, what follows is a compilation of 26 snapshots of experience, written at given moments in time. These were – quite definitely - not just any old times. The two ‘bookends’ are Covid Lockdowns and the Olympic Games, intense and unique moments to observe and record. The first came out of the blue, the second was long anticipated. The bookends are clear emotional opposites, the first pulling people apart, isolating them physically and mentally, the second throwing them together – in person and in spirit. The first sparked anxiety, the second sparked joy. Oddly, Covid and the Olympics have certain similarities – as once-in-a-lifetime occurrences with profound influences on the city of Paris. Both events touched people around the world and have been rich material for writing.

According to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, ‘there are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen’. By any measure, the 1,500 days between June 2020 and September 2024 have been eventful, a rollercoaster of happenings with sharp peaks, deep troughs and Black Swan events. The unprecedented global health crisis was followed by a military crisis in Europe, which was followed by an energy crisis, which was followed by another military crisis in the Middle East. Then, after much expectation of another crisis during the Olympics, there were two months of harmony. The peaks during the period have felt very positive but proved brief. The high-energy reprise post-Covid was ultimately short, whilst the joyous festivities of the Games were a two-month Midsummer Night’s Dream.

So why write it down? The seed of these ‘Letters from Paris’ was the isolation of Covid 19 – with the spark being when friends abroad asked me - with genuine curiosity – “so, what’s it feel like in Paris?”. I was encouraged to write by Stephen Yorke, the spiritual father of the series and publisher of my column in his excellent Property Chronicle. Alec Emmott, author of the foreword, has consistently acted as my sounding board and content editor. Alec, a leader in the European property industry since the 1970’s, has provided welcome perspective and Paris wisdom. The result, this chronological collection of articles, is organised in three sections, Fermeture, Ouverture, Les Jeux. Arranged end to end, it naturally reads like a diary of activities and thoughts - but was obviously not intended as such. Seen from today’s perspective, it is the older content in the Fermeture section which most prompts reflections:

That first section is a reminder of how the extraordinary quickly became the ordinary. It recalls now-forgotten Covid details, many of them creepy: obsessing with contact information on i-phones and socially distanced queueing outside pharmacies for painful nasal swabs. It is a reminder of some Covid absurdities: The French Alps allowed skiing but not ski lifts. To minimise the risk of infection, Air France respectfully disembarked masked passengers row by row and then packed them like sardines into runway buses. It is also a reminder of how Covid 19 was an effective accelerator of change. Not all changes worked - the 2021 hybrid model for business conferences (some in the room, some on a screen) was rapidly abandoned as awkward and uneven. Conversely, repurposing on-street car parking in Paris (initially to create eating areas in the fresh air) now seems like a change which is here to stay.

The book’s introduction – the June 2020 Coronavirus time travel piece - playfully imagined scenarios for 1975 and 2025 – a future year which seemed distant at the time. The pessimistic scenario of the Coronavirus fuelling more populism feels uncomfortably accurate at the start of this year. With public anger stirred up by social media, the post-Covid new normal is certainly not a ‘kinder place’. Against that dark background, it has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve as a bénévole at the 2024 Olympic Games, to savour the joyous spirit of Les Jeux and experience how Paris’ Olympic year took the city on a voyage. I hope the reader enjoys it as much as I did.

Andy Watson, Maisons Laffitte, December 2024