non-linear conversations

A few days into San Francisco and I have mused and ruminated a little....

Fog, fog and fog everyday with little flashes of sunshine from time to time is the order of the day here. When questioned, the native response is "the marine layer". This somewhat terse and cryptic phrase leaves one none the wiser and certainly doesn't transform the invisible Golden Gate bridge into a visible one.

I have decided that the Internet can be a really bad thing. Once upon a time, spending a week in San Francisco with meetings and spedning time with the people in the company and stuff would occupy the totality of the stay. With Internet, you add your european job to the US visit and try to accomplish both. This is not good.

I also understand why I like SF. Unlike Silicon Valley, SF has interesting buildings in addition to people. I have a private theory that, just prior to the tech boom, somebody rounded up all the interesting and original architects in California and shot them, leaving only those architects capable of thinking in simple rectangles or cubes behind.

OF course, the other bizarre thing about San Francisco is that there are moving vehicles that are not private property (ye olde trams)

...as the sales started yesterday in Paris. Metrosexuals and Parisiennes rushed the brand boutiques yesterday afternoon. This morning was the 'buy a wedding suit in the sales' ordeal for yours truly. Crushed under the heat and suffocating humidity of the 'canicule', I battled my way past endless throngs of thongs and things to acquire that little something suitable this morning. Elbows and frosty glances for the gay community in Kenzo, condescending shop assistants (in PAris customer service is the name of a department and it is shut) and far too many skinny tanned people for my liking was the order of the day. Fortunately, I will have 12 hours in a plane tomorrow to recover on the way to the cool clouds of SF, CA and a week of non-stop meetings plus, I hope a little PSP for light relief on the way home.

Secondary effects of the storms that batterd central Paris this afternoon were twofold....a welcome decrease in temperature and the worlds largest wet T-shirt contest as the rain battered the hordes of elegant french women getting their white linen out fits out to show off the tan they've buily up in the past couple of weeks....