It must be spring ! (M)

[atchoum]

Thursday was spring in Paris – and everyone was sneezing. I counted 10 or 11 people sneezing that day – all singles (though that’s par for the course in France), and here are three I remember particularly.

Two in the metro :

one, an African student (he was reading IT coursesheets) sitting opposite me – very tall, though I couldnt see just how tall since he was seated – but we had difficulty in both fitting in. Must have been about 20, small, shaved head, chewing a straw. I was just looking in his direction when he took the straw out of his mouth and immediately gave a short dry, almost cough-like sneeze, that hardly moved his body, though his eyes shut. This seems to me to be a fairly typical African sneeze reaction.

The second was in the next metro – this man was older – probably early thirties but prematurely grey hair – nice straight strong nose, medium height. I wasnt looking at him when he sneezed, but it was a loud completely open sneeze – you hesitate between describing it as a roar or a neigh. People looked at him but he made no reaction – no nose blow either, but then it was a completely dry sneeze.

The third sneeze I remember was a frustrating one: I was teaching in a room just by the entrance to the building, and during the period I saw someone obviously searching. He looked a bit older than the average student – about 25 – and dressed more as a business man. He was also medium height, and I’m afraid the size of his nose didn’t register. He eventually turned to look at the directory to the building, turning his back to me, but as he was searching for a name, I saw his head bob down in what must have been quite a complete sneeze. But with the window closed, there was absolutely no sound, so I wasnt even able to hear if he sneezed out or stifled. I kept my eye on him as I tried to continue the lesson in some coherent way, but there was no other sneeze.