Friday, January 25, 2008

The Guardian is hunting me down

Quite a strange experience today (not the first, but worth noting..). I wrote a gridskipper post last week about the coolest places to smoke after the ban in Paris, and then wrote it off (no pun intended) as a relatively uninteresting post doomed to virtual oblivion. The day before yesterday, a Guardian journalist, came to my place of work (Parisian palace) and asked me about smoking in and out of the hotel, if it was cool,etc, and then started asking questions about the other places I had blogged about... I realized immediately that he had seen my post, and had come to the City of Lights after having read it. I said nothing, but almost kicked myself afterwards for not having unveiled myself as the author... Then, walking to the Rival for a drink after work, I bumped into the journalist and told him everything. He told me that gridskipper was very cutting edge, and that he found my description of the Rival as the "poontang central of the Golden Triangle" a little far fetched as the place (afternoon time is always like this..) was full of old men smoking cigars. Can't wait to see the article. Proves that the Guardian seems to know where to find the real deal. Now, if only I can figure out how to get a few freelance gigs with them..

4 comments:

Kate said...

Very sad; a friend brought me to a beautiful bar a few times before and after the smoking ban went into effect. After the ban, the bar looked less glamorous (apparently it is possible for smoky haze to lend an air of glamour to an establishment, or at least the equivalent of soft candlelight to an aging face) and the patrons all looked slightly puzzled. The bartenders too.

Thanks for the list, and good luck with the writing connections.

Adrian said...

Actually, I think most people are pretty happy - they can go home without reeking of ciggy smoke, or with red eyes. It also creates a new ambience where people can meet randomly in front of the bar or on the terrace, and connect , when before they never would have met..

Anonymous said...

"Mmmmh... The Sweet smell of success" (as the Traveling Willburys sang) - now you need to begin a collaboration for the Guardian !
;-) See ya and when you want for a good smoke wherever it's possible...

Kate said...

That is quite true; I bet it will be even better when the weather improves. Think of all the new romances and friendships forged...though I never minded cigarette smoke per se, I know most people do at this point, even in a city with a reputation like Paris's!