Miss Kolka

Big D-day here in France, I've always found these co-memorations about wars and lost soldiers a bit strange but that's perhaps because I grew up in an armyless country. I have a problem with people who chose to work in any kind of armed forces..because my belief is that if there is no demand, it might make it alot more difficult for governments to send people off to kill each other all over. But hey, that has nothing to do with style. And style is certainly on my mind when I want to talk about the Obama visit here in France. 

So here is the most powerful first couple in the world and everybody wants a piece of them. Leading up to the big day there had been some stories about the Sarkozy-Obama relationship not being so rosy. Apparently the French president lectured his newly elected american counterpart recently on Climate change. Obama, not taking any crap from Sarkozy is rumoured to have said that he would try to read up to know everything in two months. It only boosts Obama's credentials that he kept his cool in front of Sarkozy's arrogance but then understandably he was not so keen on spending too much "unofficial time" with the Sarkozys on the Obama family trip to France. A blow to Sarkozys planned revigorated public image Im sure.

But when you want to talk style, it's more about Michelle then Barack.. There's nothing wrong with him, since he is all tall and handsome, all things fit him well I guess but she is faultless. Always careful to wear elegant clothes, with a little touch of fantasy without overdoing it. Michelle Obama is really fun to watch and clearly very fond of belts. Even though she might wear the same Azzedine Alai belt quite often you forgive her because she still surprises you with a mustard yellow dress or a japanese print on her cardigan.

So she (or her stylist) was probably very happy with what they had chosen for the ceremonies today. Except that someone might have wanted to check with the former supermodel-turned-first-lady beforehand no? Seeing the first ladies side by side I have to say that it was a bit akward that they wore so similar outfits. The white dress with a dark belt. Simple, maybe too simple. However it is safe to say that Michelle Obama was wearing it so much better, she truly looked powerful, while Carla Bruni was perhaps a bit childish - trying yet again for that "innocent little girl look" that frankly I find outdated. Take a chance Carla, you were a supermodel for crying outloud! have fun. Because if dressing is not about fun then we should just all wear black plastic bags. Or perhaps that grey mess Carla was wearing is Strasbourg. Truly sad.

The Bruni-Sarkozys and The Obamas - painfully similar dresses although Michelle is allowed to wear high heals

The first  ladies meet in Strasbourg. Michelle striking a pose, Carla trying to look seventy -  I dont care if it's Christian Dior, Pepp it up girl!

For more on Michelle Obama's style click here

The internet is just wonderful. Planning ahead has become a state of the art with the help of technology. You can google everything (how happy must the creators of Google be: "googleling" has become a verb!), whether you have seen something and want to know where to buy it, get official information about people you don't know (yet), plan trips, get helpful ideas for birthday/christmas presents, find some cooking recipies or whatever, its there for you.

For example, I want to go out to dinner tonight, dont have time to go all around to find a nice restaurant so I google restaurants in my area.. no problem, in 3 clicks I have found what I am looking for.

Also I want to go to the cinema, so I Order my tickets online and pick them up at the machine to avoid the long queues.

I suddenly remember some great french tv program I haven't seen for years, Les inconnus, and thanks to Amazon.fr I buy all the seasons in one DVD box and it's delivered by ordinary mail 3 days later.

We want to move some of our stuff to Copenhagen in a month... we look up some transport companies on the internet and after a few mails and phonecalls, we get an interesting deal from one of them - and our things will be taken care of from door to door. Perfect.

On a walk in le Marais we saw an interesting babychair. After photographing the item with my mobile phone, I looked up the label on the internet - and like any good website they indicate where you can buy their products in any part of the world so when we've moved into our new appartment in CPH we can just go to one of the indicated stores and check it out.

The technology is good but in some cases not perfect enough. You would have thought a blog with uploaded mobile pictures of food would have been a good idea. That is until you see the result. Good food does not necessarily mean good pictures. Clotilde might have been on to something on her moblog. She goes to as many restaurants as she can in Paris and photographs the food, then uploads them instantly to the blog. Unfortunately the outcome is quite gross. So yes the internet is great but also full of crap.

Exhibit A: Probably tasty food

Exhibit B: Proper use of Food photos -> Coffee art

So you're thinking, yet another blog about this supposed plane crash in the Atlantic. Yes, and the numbers ring in my head: 228 passangers, last spoken to at 3:33 local time, 12 members of the crew on board, Flight AF 477, 32 nationalities represented on board. It sure sounds fantastic for a movie. Like 9.11 did.

Why is it that so many people are touched by this story and not when similar crashes (ok normally not cross-atlantic airbus carriers though) happen in Africa, India or South America?

I heard a plausible theory this morning, that it is the mystery that makes this story so big. The reason why every media is going with it and is even exploiting the tragedy is that nobody knows what really happened, authorities are lost and for the moment no debry has been found (although they might have found a tiny little piece just this last hour, that still remaines to be identified as part of the aircraft). People love to wonder what happened, was it an electric failure, a lightning or a bomb on board? Some might even consider some more mystic reasons of extra terrestrial activity but they probably have watched too many x-files. The whole point is that we just dont know. Authorities were very quick to say this was not terrorism though, which is fine, but why did it take so long to actually report this plane missing? Apparently when a plane does not show on radar there can be many hours before aviation authorities consider that something is wrong. In scenarios where people might survive the crash into the water, nobody comes looking for them until much much later anyway, which can only be worrying.  

If we would have known the reasons for the disappearence and where the plane (or the rest of it) actually is, would it still be the number one headline in the world's media? I am like the others though, I want to know. So I have turned on the news quite alot these last 24 hours and, like so many, I identify with the victims (which is also what a good disaster movie makes you do in the cinema). My dad's wife was on that exact flight two weeks ago. It could have happened in my family. There was even 1 Icelandic person on board. Out of less that 400.000 people in the world. This has such an international dimension to it. If it had been a terror attack, it would have been right on target. It gets people's attention and makes them scared. However, it doesn't mean we'll stop flying.  Not less than after 2001. Life goes on.

Reading the first newspaper I've read in a looong time I discovered the universe I had forgotten about for a few months: the crazy political world in France. (Reading is not short of a luxury the first months of motherhood, unless you read really fast on the way to the dentist. I find listening to the radio much easier though, and it doesn't distract little Mr. F like the TV does with it's bright lights. He was not happy when I turned if off the other day, Hello, he's only 5 months!)

But back to the story. Apparently there's this guy, called Sarkozy's "stormtrooper" by some, crazyman by others. He wants to make a new work-amendment in the parlement. HE want's people to have the "choice" to work from home while on sick or maternity leave. Yes, because ten weeks of maternity leave are way too long and you don't do anything with your time anyways, you might just as well work from home. (He's clearly not in a equal relationship this man or he would know how much work newborns are, also for the dads!) He says its a matter of choice for the employee, but we all know how that goes, once the pressure is on from the corporation, you better stay at your desk until 8 because nobody else leaves earlier than that. He even has the nerve to imply that this way, people can stay tuned to what is happening at work and with their work collegues. REALLY?! IS this a social benefit? Making people work from home, when they are lying in bed with fever, that's genius. Are they allowed to take a brake to go and throw up in the bathroom? Or will that be amputated of their lunch hour? Like the union leader said; next up: make the dead work from the grave.

This is sad, and one more proof of how people do not trust each other in the workplace in France. If you are sick, it normally means you stay home and sleep, drink hot tea and sleep some more. Not that you run around town having cocktails and fun. But people are paranoid. It wasn't enough that the justice minister thought 6 days of maternity leave was too long, now the whole thing is just unecessary. What does this mean for the children of France?

My last big birthday was ten years ago. And how much has happened in that time. I have lived in 3 countries,been heartbroken twice, been sad but also been the happiest I've ever been, I finished a university degree, worked for 4 tv stations, lived with boys and girls but also by myself, moved 9 times, learned to love oysters, went to the Ritz, discovered a million songs, met so many great people and kept a few extraordinary friends, adopted 3 brothers and 1 sister, met the father of my child(ren) and realised Im the luckiest person on Earth. Why?

I'm allowed to be corny. Its my birthday.

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