Buckle up! | The Spectator

French tag sales are good for my mental health

Hairpin bends in a stony forest. Downhill. Steep, then steeper. Smooth frictionless tarmac. I’ve got the car barely under control. A narrow bridge over a ravine. Single-file only. A van hurtling uphill. A recessed drain— unavoidable. Bang, crash, wallop. The car continues but feels mortally wounded. We limp to a passing place 50 yards further down the hill and I cut the engine. I get out and inspect the damage. A back tire is as flat as a flounder. It’s not my car. I open the trunk hoping to uncover the requisite tools and spare wheel. Jack, spare, warning triangle — present. Excellent. Lug wrench? Unfortunately not. Bugger. Phone signal? One bar. From time to time. I call Michael, a neighbor. A French ring tone, then his voice. Thank the Lord.

William Cook

Magic mountain

If this were a normal January, free from the specter of COVID-19, Davos would be bracing itself for an invasion by several thousand of the world’s most self-important people: pompous politicians, slick CEOs and — worst of all — freeloading journalists. Normally this pretty Alpine town is the venue for the World Economic Forum in the last week in January, but this year that annual schmoozefest is safely confined to the internet. ‘Key global leaders will share their views on the state of the world in 2021,’ forewarns the WEF website but, for the first time in the WEF’s 50-year history, they’ll be doing it remotely. Due to the pandemic, Davos rests in peace.

James Panero

Don’t sweat it

I miss my shvitz. At least once a week before the shutdown, I went to the Russian & Turkish Baths on 10th Street in Manhattan’s East Village. I saw it as my connection to the ancients. Here was a tiny remnant of classical bath culture surviving in the modern city. Or so I liked to believe. Like much else in New York, I now sweat for its return. Back when I was studying classical archaeology, I spent a week or so crawling through the ruins of the public bath house of Ostia, Italy. Even in that Roman port town, something like the Brooklyn of the empire, bath design exceeded anything in the post classical world. Each room had its own distinct shape and purpose.

Godfrey Elfwick

My advice for Kamala, America’s first trans president

Trump has been vanquished, and the first ever male-to-female trans president is about to take zer rightful place in the history books: Kamala Harris. Already one stunning and brave transition has been fully realized: zer transing from Kamal to Kamala (apologies in advance for the dead-naming, Kamala!). As our brave new Kamala wisely and compassionately approaches the white heteronormative obstacle to her next transition — Joe Biden — I would like to reach out and offer some advice. Warmly. Until the recent revolution in gender-think, the western world had insisted on things being a certain way.

Life