管理員

Raining on the Parade

I stopped off in Paris last Tuesday for an interview with one of the Chief Economist on the OECD’s European desk.

The interview went surprisingly well given that a black out had cut off electricity to the up-market district where the OECD offices are located and it was only via a stroke of good luck – a man waiting at the entrance turned and asked if I was the journalist from China as I arrived at the rather chaotic scene – that the interview went ahead at all, as all employees had been forced to evacuate the building.

France was well into holiday mode – with Bastille Day – the national day that celebrates the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution falling on the following day.

Many had taken the day off – in order to extend their break into a four-day weekend.

Although a busy work schedule meant that I was not able to make it to any of the “Bal de Pompiers” – free parties held at fire stations across the city, and country for that matter – I did catch the annual military parade or “defile” on the TV on the morning of the 14th (not quite as grand as Beijing’s big once every 10-year parade)– also managing to catch glimpses of jet fighters flying the length of the Champs Elysees from my hotel window.

Despite the crisis, the mood in Paris – as measured by my interaction with cab drivers and shop keepers seemed good.

My taxi driver explained to me how the World Cup had been good for business – games broadcast in the afternoon or evening encouraged customers to stay out and have a drink or three and return home in a cab. He also seemed upbeat about the economic situation, opportunities existed if you were willing to go out there and chase them.

One downside to the holidays was the long queues and under-staffed ticket counters at the railway station. I had to wait for over 40 minutes to buy my ticket out of Paris.