July 14 was Bastille Day here so we took ourselves down to the Champs Elysees to watch the big military parade even though displays of war making hardware are not quite our thing. By the time we arrived, people were about 10 deep along the route and before we could cross the barricades to join them we had to have a thorough body- and pack-search – not surprising in the light of recent terrorist activity in UK. Phil had our back pack with the makings of our picnic lunch and before long our Swiss Army Knife was identified – we have remembered to remove it from carry on luggage on planes in recent years (alas several pairs of our scissors and nail files have already gone to the big sharps container in the sky) but didn’t think it would be a problem at a street parade. I was minded to comment to the gents in uniform that if they felt an eighty year old with a Swiss Army Knife constituted a security threat then they really were in big trouble but this didn’t seem the time for smart one-liners – tensions are quite high at present. HUGE numbers of people in uniform have been on the streets, at train stations and generally cruising about over the last week.
In spite of all that we enjoyed being at the parade. A lovely man near us had brought his step ladder and so we chatted to him and he let us climb up now and then for a peek.
The moral of this tale is that next time you go out leave your knife behind and take your ladder instead.
