If I were a city, I almost certainly would not want to host the Olympics. So my thought last summer was that I would put my Paris apartment on Airbnb for an outrageous sum of money and leave the city – until friends from the US persuaded me to put them up for the duration of the Games. As the opening ceremony draws closer, I wonder if my initial reflex was too pessimistic.

Last week, as I stood along the Canal Saint-Martin as the Olympic flame passed by, I felt excitement finally creep in. And now I wonder whether other Parisians are feeling the same transformation take place.

All year long, there has been no shortage of grumbling about impending disruption to daily life and worries about logistics. Will the Seine be clean enough? Will transport infrastructure hold up? Will a dense city, parts of which can already feel crammed-in during normal summer tourism, be overwhelmed by the sheer number of people due to arrive? And perhaps more soberingly, will the Games go off without a security incident?

Tempered pessimism or tempered optimism, I can’t tell; less than two weeks before the Games begin, Parisians just seem … split. [Insert Gallic shrug].

In Les Acolytes, a laid-back cafe in the 10th arrondissement, Nathalie, who has worked there as a bartender for two and a half years, tells me she thinks Parisians are just too pessimistic in general, and not just about the Olympics. “I’m looking forward to meeting people who are coming from all around the world, and I’m happy to work this summer because I want to warmly welcome them,” she says. Then she points to another customer (it’s the kind of place that has regulars), adding: “But Johnny will give you the sceptic’s view.”

Johnny, a 32-year-old who works in........

© The Guardian