London Recap

2. So it's official: those UK fellas are hawt. Ok, not all of them, but I found myself silently approving many a man as I went about my business. I think there's something in the blend of styles that I appreciate: American men are too burly and gregarious for my taste; French men are too whiny and effeminate. But the men I saw in London had the perfect combo; many were tall and broad-shouldered, but they were stylish and not afraid to wear a scarf. Of course, the accent just does wonders for their sex appeal. I regularly thought to myself that if something goes wrong with The Boy, I'm crossing the Channel to find myself someone who speaks my language, but sexily.

3. I ran into a friend of mine from Paris (T-Man) while in London. I know! How cosmopolitan! He was there for the same professional reasons as myself, so we chatted business and agreed on dinner later that evening. I know! I know! It was like something that real adults would do, right?

So we went out and spent the entire evening speaking English - hilarious considering I've only spoken to him in French for the last two years. It was a great evening; we had Thai and sort of splurged on a bottle of South African wine (Thai and South African wine... interesting combo for me, too).

When T-Man drank the wine, he made a face and said "It's not like French wines," and I got a little worried that we had splurged on crap.

"How do you mean?" I asked, and he said, "Just... just try it. You'll see..."

And I did, and I said, "Yeah, you're right. Totally different."

I took another sip and said, "Actually, I really like it..." a little worried about offending T-Man and his precious French taste.

"I LOVE it," he said, in all seriousness, and then jokingly made a signal to order another bottle.

But we stuck to one bottle, as apparently T-Man rarely drinks. He was adorably tipsy by the end of the meal, taking pains to maintain accurate English phonetics (the work "bankrupt" proved particularly difficult).

4. Oh yeah. The whole "professional" part of the trip went well. Really well. We've been struggling to accomplish stuff in France for the last two months. As we finally got through to some people in the last few weeks, The Boy and I were congratulating each other for sticking it out and making ourselves heard. Funny thing, though. I got as much done and more in 24 hours in London. There really is a huge difference - culturally - in the ways of doing business between the two countries. The French should really, really be ashamed. I was honestly embarrassed for my adopted homeland. And I seriously considered picking ourselves up and plopping ourselves over there. It's just RIDICULOUS how hard it is to get shit done here, and eye-opening to see how easily things can be accomplished in the UK.

Perfect example: we're in touch with a publisher in France who is pretty important. They have something like 200,000 books, and we're interested in a signficant portion of them. The Boy went to their offices to talk business with them, and it turns out they only have ONE computer in their entire office, nay, their entire WAREHOUSE. That means all of their books, all of their catalogues, all of their information is only availalbe ON PAPER. This presents a huge problem for us, as we need all info in electronic form. The Boy offered some services to set up a database for them; we're still waiting to hear back from them several weeks later. Typical French problem with the typical French time delay.

On the flip side, yesterday, I went to see a small-scale publisher based in the UK. Technically, they are an umbrella association bringing together even smaller-scale publishers from around the world. Tiny company, really. So I discussed some stuff with them, and they agreed to work with us (realizing right away that it's in their best interest to do so... something the Frenchies are still getting tripped up on). She forked over a catalogue or two, and then said, "Actually, would you prefer I just sent the whole thing to you by email? That way you can just funnel it into the database however you see fit." I think I might have actually heard the angels sing "Hallelujah!"

5. I saw Tony Blair on "Parkinson" on Saturday night. It was a RIOT. I was actually laughing out loud, alone in my hotel room (which, I will point out was in the basement. I had the cheapest room in a budget hotel, and my room had no windows. Sort of weird, really). I've never actually had an opinion on Tony Blair; I guess I was too busy spending my time obsessing over our own incompetent leader whenever I saw the two in a press conference. However, I found him unquestionably charming and level-headed, and I actually never wanted to damn interview to end. Kevin Spacey was the other guest, and he provided some amusing remarks as well, but Tony Blair really stole the show. He has a great sense of humor, or at least he did that night. Everybody was all up in arms about the comments he made about God in the interview, but I didn't find them shocking in the least. But then again, I guess I've been broken in by Bush and his own remarks on the subject.