The train journey with Macron

Date: 10/29/2023

The whole world seems to be lining up to board a train. It’s a huge train and it’s Chinese. It’s meant for a long long journey, has living spaces, cabins, restrooms, lockers, it’s on multiple levels… People are lining in a narrow alley that gets so crowded!! It’s almost all Indian looking people, women in sari. I’m with Perozzo and out ticket is for car n.2 or n.3. Apparently, it’s a first class king of ticket because we manage to skip the line and get to the modern, automatic doors to our “seats”. Once I step in, I find myself in a luxurious lounge. This is not where we’ll be sleeping, it’s only the dining area. Our seats are marked around an elegant table, Belle Époque style with puffy benches and metal frames. Higher above, on the far right wall there are a series of lockers and access to bathrooms and sleeping cubicles. Perozzo and I are to share one. The train leaves and I’m back around the table, that’s changed shape, now it’s just a rectangular table with chairs around it. Dinner is being served and I realize I’m sitting right opposite President Macron. He behaves like a spoiled adolescent, is rude and addresses me with “tu” pronoun, lacking respect. I’m instantly bugged by his attitude and his demands I translate what another guy is saying because he doesn’t understand the language… but at the same time I think about where I am and smile inwardly. I’m like “wait until you tell your dad you were seated right opposite Macron and had to do translation for him!”.