The Torn Posters in the Paris Metro (September 2023)

One of the most important words in the French language is la rentrée — the return, as it were, to normalcy. After a few weeks of summer holidays, which French people seem to take very, very seriously, la rentrée marks the start of the academic and working year, when the streets roar back to life and people wheel their suitcases back home from the various train stations around Paris. It’s also at this time when you see people ditching their summer shorts and dresses for more formal wear almost overnight, as if some kind of switch had been flicked out of nowhere. As someone from the antipodes who grew up shivering in August, I’ve never fully adjusted to the idea of starting the year in the middle of the year. The concept simply doesn’t compute. And so while others had gone away for their summer breaks, I had spent the last few weeks at work, having decided to postpone my holidays for later. But while it might not be much fun to be working in the middle of everyone’s summer break, if there’s one benefit, it’s this: the metro almost empties out. While the Paris metro can be bursting at the seams at the best of times, the sole reprieve occurs when everyone, bar tourists and service workers, are away. Now that everyone is back, however, the metro has returned to its old motionless rave ways. <a href="https://medium.com/full-frame/the-torn-posters-in-the-paris-metro-september-2023-5112863d8829">Visit Now</a>