The French police are not a pleasant bunch! On one of my first forays on my own into Paris as a teen ( we lived in the suburbs), I got lost, this was before Google maps/phones with an internet connection etc) and so decided to ask a police officer for help, as that is what I had been taught to do in the UK ( where I was born and lived until I was 6). His response was “G9 that way” with no arm gesture to tell me which way to go! My brother ( we were all 20-30 at this point) was also driving my parents, my siblings and me back from lunch or dinner in Paris one day, his licence had fallen down into the side pocket of the car, he took a wrong turn due to confusing signage and I was so scared the policeman was going to arrest him when he couldn’t find his documents!
I also worked at an after-school club, where we would pick the children up from various local schools. One of my colleagues gave me a lift, and as we were getting out, the police officer informs us that the car ( provided by my bonkers boss) we are using does not have suitable seating as seats in the boot facing backwards have been outlawed for a few years. My colleague spoke minimal French, so I had to deal with the whole scary situation! I think I must have given him my boss’ name and told him where I worked, and that I was not in charge of providing the cars etc. Luckily he let us pick up the child we had to collect, but again, not a fun situation to be in, and French policemen are not very friendly!
