After the Bastille Day celebrations, in which the might of the French military is paraded down the Champs Elysees, said military might returns home - some to a base near Versailles, where I live.
At around 10pm, 18 tanks rolled through Versailles causing shaking buildings, rattling windows, and many people to wear "WTF" expressions on their faces.
A colleague gets a knock at the door late Sunday night. Before him stand two members of the fire brigade. They speak to him in French, and he stammers through a "parlez-vous Anglais?". "A little" was the response, followed by "tank", "earthquake", "building unsafe", "evacuate" and "now".
The tanks caused damage to his apartment building's foundations, which resulted in the living room of a first floor apartment landing in the living room of a ground floor apartment.
At least he now knows how the Palestinians feel.