A Trip to Neuilly, Monday, 14 December

This morning I spent working on the Summer School which was probably as much an excuse for staying in from the cold as anything else!

We went out about mid-day, and headed for the Singapore Airline office to check a few things. After that we hopped on a bus practically in front of the Airline's office to go out to Neuilly. This is a very upmarket area. Very "Sarkozy!" It is also the site of the American Hospital. There are very few private hospitals in France, but this is one of the rare exceptions.

Neuilly is outside the Perepherique, a road which circles Paris. There is a tendency to associate the areas outside the Perepherique with high-rise public housing, but that is certainly not the case in Neuilly. Coming back on the bus we changed buses at the Champs de Mar which offers one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower. I had just remarked to Virginia that we hadn't been approached by the "ring" trick. This is where someone bends down and appears to pick up a ring from the road and then comes over to ask you whether you dropped it. Without going into all of the details, it is a very clever confidence trick, and no matter how many times you see it done, it is almost impossible not to be persuaded that the trickster has not actually thrown the ring on the ground only to discover it later with apparent surprise. Anyway, just as I commented on our not having been approached that to Virginia a chap walking towards us bent down, "picked up" a ring and came towards us. I'm afraid we both burst into laughter, leaving the con man more than a little bewildered. Bonne Chance!

The weather has already caused at least one death in Paris and Sarkozy has gone on television to ask people to be kind to the poor and homeless. Basically that means allowing them to sleep in phone-boxes and in the warmer metro stations. He is asking the public and social services to be tolerant and lenient. Well should he - since he has been the primary force in cutting back on many of the social benefits.