"A good part of my life has been spent among people who have gone to bed wondering if their neighbours might kill them in their sleep. This is not a feeling I moved to Paris for," writes AFP's lifestyle correspondent Fiachra Gibbons. 

And then came last week's Islamist attacks on those most Parisian of places -- cafe terraces and a boho concert hall in one of the city's most vibrant districts. Now there are soldiers on the streets and talk of "war," and of "them" and "us". It's all fearfully familiar of another place and time.

"Parents owe their children certain basics: food, clothing and love. We are not supposed to inflict our pasts on them."