Ooops, I have seriously increased my speed of typing in the past few months...

The quality of my grammar and number of typos have become inversely proportional and both have experienced changes conditional to this F1 writing style...for the worse.

If I was really serious about this blog, I'd have to read again all the posts and correct all of that. I apologize for the inconvenience, ask for your forgiveness and thank you for your understanding.

Yesterday, I had a lovely Italian dinner - even if my Italian friend left the pasta in the water 1 minute too many and complained for most of the evening about overcooked pasta. Nice Italian salad, nice Italian cheese, nice Italian pasta and nice French red wine. Topped off by a fantastic black coffee and wonderful company. What more could you ask, as your eyes reach into the disorder of a few branches in blossom, extending out to the sky in a silent prayer.

Today, I had an Australian-style Barbecue at my old house, hosted by my old housemates with South African, English, Australian, Peruvian and a Belgian lady to break the Commonwealth circle. I now bring my own food if I don't want to suffer from the now well-known vegetarian BBQ famine. One of the British guests works in healthcare. He indicated that the French have the highest consumption of drugs per capita in the world and the highest concentration of pharmacies per sq km. Apparently, on average, a doctor will prescribe 5 drugs after each visit and they would be very generous in their use of antibiotics. This is very bad as bugs get used to antibiotics and he reckons that within 10 to 20 years, the world will go back to what it was before antibiotics were introduced.

Another interesting part of the conversation hovered around the fact that the "Homeless" holiday package was one of the best sellers in Germany. Apparently, people PAY to get dropped off with plastic bags and no money in London for a week of begging and supreme survival skills. If people are willing to pay for THAT - my idea about opening an ice-cream business in Greenland doesn't sound so stupid anymore.

A peruvian guest was actively listening to a girlie conversation about whether men look better in speedos or in short (the Perfect Body syndrom struck again). We concluded that it depended on the original looks of the man, rather than on swim-wear fashion. He asked: "so do you prefer your underwear..." and was stopped by furious women, outraged at his lack of manners. Confused like hell, he had to explain..."I used to work for Procter and Gamble, I marketed sanitary towels, sorry it's a reflex, it was very important for us to know the type of underwear that women like to wear..." This is the greatest opening line I heard this year...

And if you are looking for a truly nice restaurant in a truly nice place, try Le Boulevard at the bottom of the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Never been there but everyone around the table recommended it.