PARIS – Saturday, 1 July – When Parisians can't think of anything else they go dancing, like they were doing last night beside the Seine. In fact every night the weather permits they go dancing under the stars beside the Seine. All they need are shoes and music and Paris provides the rest.

This afternoon the thermometer was cozy with 31 degrees - about 88 F - so there would have been a lot of die-hard dancers rock and rolling or tangoing as the sun dipped behind Notre Dame tonight but most of the French were glued to their TV sets for the World Cup quarter-final soccer match between France and Brazil.

For the French this was a time of high anxiety but for the players it was to be a reunion with many Brazilian comrades who play in the European leagues, sort of like an old dudes get together. Instead of the usual curt handshake, Zizou gave Real Madrid teammate Ronaldinho a big hug. Forgive me for thinking this excessive even if I do like Ronaldinho.

The Brazilians are a powerhouse of course. The French, until they whipped Spain on Tuesday, were like a limp rag doll. Somebody must have put something in their Orangina. Now they appear to be awake, all that tiresome jogging has paid off, even the bicycle tours, and they are acting like tigers.

History plays a part too. France has beat Brazil in the past. Brazil has not had much luck making headway in World Cup matches against the unlikely French, but Brazilians are optimists and the French are old. Sign seen on TV tonight from Frankfurt - "Allez Les Vieux!"

For tonight's exclusive coverage for JAS I decided not to try getting into the Stade Charlety. This is the stadium just beyond the edge of the 14th arrondissement that has a big screen and drew about 15,000 for the Spanish game.

Instead I tune the TV to TF1 and see the French skillfully hold the Brazilians in check, or vice versa, for the first half, which they finished with a tied non-score. Then I hopped into the métro at Gaîté and rumbled up to the Champs-Elysées. 

There, I was surprised to find thousands of delirious Portuguese were waving flags from the curbs and passing cars, many of them fancy convertibles. Portugal beat Britain earlier today, to eliminate them from the tournament. How can, I wondered, so few Portuguese make so much noise? It's their Brazilian cousins who are famous for it.

A small crowd was pressed against the windows of the Drugstore watching the match on distant TVs. Many, many riot police were being tolerant about the antics of the Portuguese and the broad avenue was like a dim gymnasium just before the boys decided to dance. Cars full of flags with horns blaring tore around the Etoile and even tour buses joined the parade.

Then there was a shout from the crowd by the Drugstore, a TV cameraman moved closer and a dozen teenagers began acting - acting as if the French had won, mainly by screaming and jumping up and down with their arms in the air. It looks like something rehearsed, or they've seen it already on TV.

Meanwhile the riot police sealed the Etoile entry to the Champs-Elysées with iron-framed screens and police trucks, and then there were 20,000 young people in the street joining the Portuguese, with yet more flags, red flares, and power horns. Wherever there was a TV camera the young boys would do their leaping act, sometimes as many as 50 at once.

On the way back to Montparnasse métro trains going the other way were jammed with loud fans and on the street car horns were sounding. A hour later they are still out there letting everyone know they know how to hit their horns. These are, of course, the drivers who haven't skipped town this weekend.

Yesterday the SNCF said they were hauling a million passengers out of Paris to distribute them around the country to the usual places and Aeroports de Paris said they were putting 800,000 on flights. These might be numbers for the three-day weekend because tonight the news from the summer sales' front was jubilant with department stores reporting record traffic. Yesterday's Le Parisien said unemployment is really down - 'vraiment.' As if, all the other announced decreases over the last 20 years, were always fiction. So it looks like France is on a roll; but first the holidays here and now.