La défense

Today didn't get off to a great start.

I left home a bit earlier than usual to go and pick up a new suit - i knew exactly where i wanted to go, what size, which colour .. i got there, tried a few different ones on, paid and was in and out in about fifteen minutes.

Took the tube feeling pleased with mesel' (I was humming "feelin' alright" by the jungle brothers ... that's the kind of mood i was in) ... generally feeling chipper, the world's my lobstah and all that ... ready for anything ...

Almost.

I walked in, said hello to every one "look what i just bought .." ... gloat gloat ... all that jazz .. when i saw, sitting in a corner, all alone ... one of my clients ... bawling her eyes out 8-/ ... not sniffing and blowing her nose .. but really crying ... bawling her eyes out ...... Niagra falls kinda stuff .....

"Heuuuuum .. what's wrong ?" i asked . ... could be anything, i was thinking. Divorce maybe ? Death in the familly ? Mugging ?

"bwouahhhhhh .. sob sob ... i'm not well ... sniff sniff ... i didn't want to come in but they said (the planners) if i missed a course i would lose it ... so i had to come in ... and i crashed the car ... sob sob bwouahhhhh ... it's not my car ... bwouahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Now i'm thinking - it's not toooooo cool, at the best of times, to have someone upset, for whatever reason, to be seen sitting in the reception watering the plants ... so being the nice guy that i am, i said, look let's grab a coffee and we'll go and sit in my office and you can tell me allllllllllllllllll about it ...

Pfwouaaar ... 4 coffees and 45 minutes later i'd learned every thing about her life, the ups and downs, her projects for the future her boyfriends, her ex boyfriends .. pfffff ... the works.

She eventually calmed down - i did say a few times "y'know, you gotta put it all into perspective, worse things happen at sea .. nobody's died ... ("what's the worst that could happen ?" - "This ... bawwwwwwwwwwwl") in a few weeks i'm sure you'll see the funny side of it all" :-D

It's not the first time that i've been, y'know, a bit of social worker for upset/unstable/neurotic (i don't half pick 'em) clients ... but y'know, not first thing in the morning as soon as you put a foot in the door, like ... innit.

In between times, i had call backs accumulating, people waiting to see me, my boss making signs through the window, i could hear e-mails coming into my box ... and i had to go out to visit a client; this time at La défense (the Business district) at 2 o'clock - lunch is for wimps and all that (my ass).

So anyway, any old excuse to show more photos :

The grand arch was built and created to form a perfect alignement with the Arc de Triomphe and further on, with Place de la concorde aaaaannnnd the Louvre ... it's a really massive structure which houses part of the ministry of defense (surprise surprise):




























As i said it really is perpendicular to the arc de triomphe :



I worked there for about a year, and whilst in the day time it looks like a concrete jungle, at night all the towers light up and we have the distinct impression of being at a quayside looking at boats - you really have to be there, especially at christmas to appreciate it.

Some towers :


This one glows green at night


This one's kinda blue at night


This one's just bog-standard white at night - no imagination from the people at SFR then :-)