Paris - "What country's flag has a yellow
cross on a blue background?" Noam Cartozo shouts out of the
fifth-floor window of his Paris apartment. "Sweden!" comes the
shouted reply from another apartment window and applause ripples
through the street.
This nightly general knowledge quiz is how the residents of
Rue Saint-Bernard, in the 11th district of Paris, are relieving
the boredom and isolation of a coronavirus lockdown that is now
nearly a month old.
It has spread beyond the street. Cartozo, an actor and
comedian who hosts the quiz, broadcasts it on his Instagram
account, with one video garnering 1.1 million views.
"I saw that the neighbours were looking a bit sad about the
confinement," said Cartozo, who comperes the quiz with toilet
rolls festooned around his neck, a satire on the
coronavirus-related wave of panic buying seen in some cities.
"I wanted to create a bit of atmosphere in the neighbourhood
to help with all of that," he told Reuters.
France this week became the fourth country in the world to
cross the threshold of 10,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
Officials say the lockdown is slowing the outbreak but the
restrictions will not be eased anytime soon.
Cartozo hit on the idea for the quiz after Paris residents
started emerging on to their balconies at 8 p.m. each night to
applaud healthcare workers dealing with the epidemic.
Keen to prolong that moment of connection, Cartozo started
playing music for the street.
Noam Cartozo, a comedian, hosts a daily quiz 'Questions for a Balcony' with his neighbours from his balcony in Paris Picture: Charles Platiau/Reuters
"But I noticed I was the only one dancing," he said. "In the
end I decided to give them a series of questions, and the game
took off."
The quiz pits people whose house numbers have even numbers,
on one side of the street, against those with odd numbers.
Prizes include toilet paper and pasta.
Neighbours appreciate the diversion.
"It makes the days seem shorter," said one resident, Laura
Coles, who was taking part in the quiz on Wednesday evening.
"It's good to talk to people, to laugh with people," said
her daughter, Lou.
Cartozo has dubbed the nightly quiz "Questions for a
Balcony," a play on the title of long-running quiz show on
French television, "Questions for a Champion".
Yet despite landing his own hit show, the performer said he
was keen for it to end.
"We all want to get out, we want to see our friends and
families again. The shorter this game is, the better it is for
everyone," Cartozo.