I learnt a scary lesson while living in France. Playing it safe can be risky

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve lived a safe life. I have never jumped out of a plane or anything with a rope tied to my leg. I only have one small tattoo because I grew up with adults telling me that if I wrote on my hand too much I would get ink poisoning. And the closest I came to carelessly injuring myself was when I broke my little finger on a fancy rock at my yoga studio.

But somehow I become a little less cautious every time I visit France, whose attitude towards rules and safety is slightly different. As a French teacher and a card-carrying French pro, I have arranged my life to spend as much time as I can here. But it’s not the cheese or wine that keeps me coming back; They are people who I have always seen as the perfect mix of friendly, generous and a little bit of mischief. You only have to look at how the Louvre thieves gained access to a first-floor window during daylight hours to understand how arrogant they are when it comes to breaking the rules.

If you’ve spent time in France, you may have noticed a few things. For beginners, bicycle helmets are much less common. You might even see a bare-headed cyclist speeding towards you at the crosswalk and politely shouting, “Watch out, ma’am!” You may have witnessed him shouting. without bothering to slow down. In the Paris Metro, you may see some brave locals jumping over the turnstiles to avoid paying fares, and sometimes tucking tiny dogs into the zippers of their jackets. Until heavy fines were put into effect dog teeth (which means dog poop to you and me), it was common for people to slip on them and injure themselves spectacularly. I once had to throw away a pair of cotton shoes when I stepped into a pile of dog feces the size of a small birthday cake.

My first impression that the French had a different relationship with security was when I got into a taxi when I was 25 and noticed the older male driver looking at me strangely. “Is there a problem?” I asked, wondering what mistakes I might have made in just 20 seconds. “We’re not going anywhere near the highway, you know,” he laughed, pointing to my fastened seatbelt. Admittedly this happened a while ago, but I doubt taxi drivers in Australia will laugh at their passengers wearing seat belts this century.

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France’s attitude towards security is also reflected in health issues. Although alcohol consumption is almost the same in both countries, smoking rates are almost the same in France. three times the size of Australia. I was recently talking with a French friend about how the human body can deteriorate and the risk factors for cancer, dementia and high blood pressure. “I’m not worried about smoking,” he said, puffing on his fourth or fifth cigarette of the evening, “…because let’s face it, emotional stress is much more harmful.” Despite his complete lack of medical knowledge, he expressed this opinion with the precision of one whose life’s work was to investigate the causes of chronic diseases. I had to admire his faith.

Of course there is risky behavior in Australia, but it is more obviously frowned upon. And for good reason; No one wants their life cut short because of a careless approach to security. So why do I find risky behavior so appealing? It wasn’t until recently that I started putting the pieces together.

Last year, some friends and I went on a day trip to the Verdon Gorges in southeastern France, led by a tour guide who also served as our minivan driver. I was mortified to discover that most of the mountain roads the driver uses are cut by narrow tunnels, often single-lane. If I were driving, maybe, oh, I don’t know, I’d wait a few minutes at the entrance of each tunnel to make sure no vehicles were coming from the other direction.

But our driver continued at the same blistering speed and honked his horn to announce to oncoming traffic that we were approaching. I spent that morning with my hands in front of my eyes and a brick in my stomach, wondering how much safer I would have been if I had stayed in Nice and spent the Wordle and eating pastries.