Observations on France: , Personal:

An interesting day

This morning, around 8:30, when I was walking from one building to another at the site where I work in France, I could hear the booming of the artillery they use to deliberately instigate avalanches in the ski areas nearby before the slopes open for the skiers. It was interesting to hear the distant echoing booming as I looked at the morning sun rising over the snow capped southern Alps, with wispy clouds clinging to the peaks and an intense, beautiful blue sky above...

It was a shame to turn away and go back to work.

Then, this afternoon, I attended a meeting with the US Ambassador to France. He was at our facility to tour it and discuss with our management what we needed to press France to change so that doing business here is a bit easier. He did not have to take the time out of his schedule to meet with all of the expatriates from the US (not just those from my company, but also those from another, non-US-based company in our alliance here) and listen to our concerns and answer our questions, but he did choose to do so.

There were questions not only about mundane concerns such as reciprocity on drivers licenses but also on the possible effects from the seemingly imminent lifting of the embargo by the European Union on military sales to China. While the answers were all those that strictly followed the administration line, and were couched in terms one would expect from a diplomat, the gesture of making the time in his schedule speaks well of this particular Ambassador. Not forgetting the "little people" means more than it first appears, even if nothing truly meaningful comes out of it.

But then again, at times I like to take the optimistic, non-cynical viewpoint just to remember what it was like, long ago before my idealism broke my heart...