Yesterday, my so-called boss, was delighted to tell me that I was on the ‘exclusive’ list to go to some important show and be one of the people on our stand. He asked if I would like to go, all smiles and glee at the thought that he was doing me a favour.
His face dropped big time when I said that absolutely, I did not want to go!
There are a number of reasons. 1. I do not like industry shows – even as a visitor but, worse, as a person on a stand. You stand (which is the first thing that is not good) for very, very long hours; you have to smile and treat incompetent visitors like they are kings, 2. You have rare opportunities for breaks, which means cigarettes, for me, 3. You get to see nothing else except the show, the hotel room and, maybe, some hotel restaurant and, in addition to these, to make it worse, it is in France!
Now, some of you will like France. For me, the best thing about France is that the motorways are good and allow you to cross it fast when driving from the UK to Italy. Oh, yes, and the food (particularly the cheeses) and the wine – which are, actually the only two reasons I would go to France.
Worse still, this to be Paris. I realise that, for most of you reading this, you will think that Paris is a wonderful city. For me, it is full of French people and not really that wonderful. It has the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and some other bits and bobs. Hardly a reason for visiting it more than once.
It’s also further north and has weather more similar to the UK than Italy.
So, if I really have to go to this bloody thing, the only saving grace is the food and the wine (as you would expect, Gail).
To try and look on the bright side, I think they probably have the best cheeses in the world.
I said that, of course, if I am obliged to go, I would go but that I really, really didn’t want to go, if I had my way, and what is the point in me going? I don’t understand the subject, I am not interested in the finished products (except to use them) and I will be thoroughly bored out of my mind. I won’t even get to see any of Paris! Not that I really like it anyway.
I will probably have to go anyway. Damn!
Last night FfI cooked dinner. It was a light dinner but really lovely. It was steamed asparagus tips, with a fried egg/two on top (the egg should have a runny yolk but have crispy, brown edges to the whites) covered with a good sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Washed down with a half-decent bottle of wine, of course, and with some nice crusty bread to eat with it.
I shall definitely be doing it myself sometime.
Tonight, with any luck, it will be pasta with broccoli – now, one of my favourite ways of having pasta and something I’ve never seen in the UK. At first I thought it was a very strange combination but the taste, well, it is to die for!
I feel hungry already……..
I too endorse pasta with broccoli. It is one of the great arguments in favor of vegetarianism. It also is one of my battle horses in the kitchen. I might also suggest its winterly variation, the minestra with small pasta broccoli and garlic.
p.s. a couple of things in favor of France: they have the best fiction literature that was ever written (although nothing contemporary), and they have the best gardeners and the best parks in the world. Paris is a wonderful city, although next to Rome, for example, it seems to be in lack of a soul. my only real problem with the french is their traditional arrogant use of language, which is really unjustified.
I shall have to try the ‘winter’ version!
I’m afraid I really don’t know that much French fiction nor do I know much of their parks and gardens. A gree with you on their language, though.
Well, you know, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Proust, Stendhal, those kind of authors. I admit, they were around a long time ago and since then French literature went from bad to worse.
In the gardens of Versaille there is the most famous gardening school, and undoubtedly the public gardens in France, probably because of the very centralized state, are very well designed and kept. Even in this regard though, it is probably more a matter of tradition than innovation.
About the language, I find it absurd the way they expect you to speak it fluently or not at all, especially in Paris. They seem to be using it as a divider which is not the purpose of language last time I checked. Nothing like this would ever happen to expatriates in Italy, I think you can confirm
Yes, I know them but not well.
I have been to Versaille but when I was a child so I’m afraid I really don’t remember. Maybe I should go again?
Well, there was one occasion I shall never forget here, in Milan, many years ago. I went to a bar to order some drinks and, using my very best Italian (which was, as I now know, appalling) I ordered. The barman reminded me of my attempts to use French in France. But it was only the once and it has never happened before or since. Whilst in France it seems to happen nearly all the time!