On my stopover in Paris I popped into a bistro and bought an experiential lottery ticket - hoping I could have a good time on my own without knowing a soul in a place chosen at random. After an aperitif and a beer or two I saw a funny little man at the bar next to me who looked like a caricature of the French eccentric. Short and squat he was greying and middle-aged and wore a suit the colour of plums. Everything he said sounded like a jolly one-liner, punctuated by a toothless smile. His fingers were covered in huge rings and he had a dangly earring hanging off one ear. He wore the most intricate watch I think I've ever seen and he showed it off to me proudly. He looked like a B-movie nightclub singer. The bartenders seemed to know him. Gradually we started to talk and through his thick regional accent (Strasbourg?) we exchanged small talk about the neighborhood ("it's changed") The French football team ("they won't win the Euros") and the country ("it's not the same"). His name was Johnny and he stood about 5'3'' and walked with a severe limp. He was a musician and was generous with his time, his conversation, and his cigarettes. Once he felt  safe as we shared a second smoke on the sidewalk he ventured some political opinions...There are too many immigrants...France shouldn't be supporting Ukraine....("Do you agree?" I demurred)...and the National Front party of Marine Le Pen has a lot of good ideas. Solitary men of a certain age in bars seem to come attached to  these types of opinions. Thinking of him later I imagined the world he grew up in and how much it has since changed. The traditions he knew and the values he was taught made sense and now they were being dismantled brick by brick. His world was undoubtedly better then - many men's worlds probably looked better to them at 20 or 30. And men it seems are very bad at embracing change of any kind. Do they then conflate their declines with the larger trends engulfing the world? The National Front did well in those elections the day after and again yesterday. People seem ready to throw things out and start again - baby, bathwater, and everything. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx7mYG7V8eM