Happy New Year! A belated one I must admit but I have just returned from Paris having visited the city for a few days.
I had a good time but, thanks to our Dear Leader's economic management, Spin Bowler is considerably poorer! To be fair to Gordon, Paris isn't cheap at the best of times but the pound's freefall in the currency markets, a direct consequence of the market's lack of confidence in the UK economy and the economic policies of the Labour government, have seen the pound and euro reach 1:1 parity.
The picture of the Heineken above is not just meant to symbolise cheer and merriment for the New Year. That particular bottle of 250ml beer cost a staggering 9 euros!!! That's right, £9 for a small bottle of beer. So thank you Gordon for that.
That beer was at the high end but the standard price of a pint of beer (well actually less than a pint as a pint is 568ml while they only served 500ml large beers) was 7 euros/7 pounds. It is fair to say I was not toasting Brown's name over the New Year period.
Enough about the cost of beer - important as it is. I really enjoyed Paris. Believe it or not it was the first time I had visited. The people on the whole were friendly (contrary to some stereotypes) and the architecture was impressive. It is a city with wonderful history and culture. It seemed far more spacious than densely packed London, and had grand, imposing, imperial buildings.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the trip though (other than the price of beer!!!) was the lack of a firework display on New Year's Eve. I'd read that the Champs-Elysees was the place to head to if I wanted to be at the centre of the party and view the fireworks display either above La Grande Roue - a very lame imitation of the London Eye - at the Place de la Concorde or above the Eiffel Tower. However, no such firework display materialised. The French obviously decided to do New Years on the cheap! Very Budget when one considers that London, Moscow, Sydney et al all put on a great show as usual. Tut tut!
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