Sitting by the banks of the Seine one spring, I called to mind the wait for a taxi the night before, when an exhausted queue had in twos and threes clambered into the odd cab that drew up. Two elderly women with hip flasks were clearly so pleased to be there that the wait into the sultry night was all part of the fun. 'We're in Paris!' they kept saying 'This is Paris!' as if they couldn't believe ...