Paris’s now-famous bedbug infestation is a serious cause for concern, especially with the 2024 Olympics coming up. But wags will still have a go at the subject, with tweets and editorial cartoons like A Bedbug’s Guide to Paris.
From this morning’s NYT:
“Paris’s psychosis over bedbugs — tiny, vampiric and tricky to eradicate — has crossed the channel to Britain, an island nation of astonishing diversity but apparently finite tolerance. Some there worry that the Eurostar, which connects Paris to London with about 15 speedy trains daily, is an all-too-perfect conveyance for insects hitching a ride in luggage or upholstery.
“A dispatch the other day in the Guardian, a British newspaper, noted that Google searches for bedbugs had spiked in the U.K., and that social media postings pointed to an incipient meltdown. “My friend is on a train from Birmingham to Leicester and she’s just seen a bedbug,” tweeted a Londoner using the handle @tiandemi last week. “The whole carriage is screaming. It’s game over lads. We’re f-----.”