For Postmedia Canada: Parisians deal with aftermath of terror attacks

Jul 29

Jul 29 For Postmedia Canada: Parisians deal with aftermath of terror attacks

Nov. 16, 2015

PARIS — On Monday night, a trio of women sat at their local neighbourhood bar drinking wine and taking long drags of their cigarettes, while their teenage kids sat two tables down consoling their distraught friend in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks.

Earlier that day, the girlfriends had exchanged text messages and agreed to meet up at their usual watering hole with their kids in tow, a symbolic move meant to bring a sense of normalcy back to their lives.

“We came out tonight deliberately,” said mom Magali Joannelle, sitting on the outdoor terrace of Au fil du Vin — located along the Canal Saint-Martin — with her friends, not far from the Le Carillon and Le Cambodge where a dozen people were gunned down Friday.

At a movie theatre nearby, Perrine Quennesson was waiting for her friend to watch a French movie, “My King.”

She had made these plans last week, and wasn’t about to break them.

“As terrible as it was, it shouldn’t let them get to us. We must keep on going.”