Champs-Elysées Changes Suits

Although cold today, people were sitting out on
terraces at Trocadéro.

Edith Piaf Chosen 'Singer of the Century'

Paris:- Sunday, 19. December 1999:- Everybody has been complaining to me about the state of the Christmas decor of the Champs-Elysées. This is like yelling at your TV set about the weather report.

It was another one of 'great events in the whole history of mankind' that I missed on account of watching the wrong channel, or having forgotten to turn the thing on in the first place.

The story apparently revolves around the gauzy sacks enshrouding the trees. These were supposed to be different pastel colors when lit from inside. One day when I was on the Champs they actually were different pastel colors when lit by sunlight.

This must have been before the leaves fell off, they got hit by a bit of a wind storm and before the pollution got to them. Present and future members at the Café Metropole Club said, "Your Champs-Elysées is 'Ugh!'"

Last week, the street's decoration committee - lot's of streets in Paris have these - decided to rip the junk down. According to Roland Pozzo Di Borgo, the committee ran a test for a month and it worked fine.

Projections of advertising logos was what was supposed to happen to the trees. Now, after new illuminations are installed, these projections may be directed at the sidewalks, where you can walk all over them.

Le Parisien and the CSA polling outfit are finding more number ones, and some of the findings are unexpected - if those polled were telling the truth.

Edith Piaf being selected by an absolute majority as the 'singer of the century' comes as no great surprise because she might win this recognition in countries other than France as well.

Céline Dion got only half as much support as Edith Piaf, while getting less than twice as much as Tina Turner - who got two points more than Ella Fitzgerald - who most likely would have come in at one or two if only music fanciers had been polled.

Actually these polls show some fundamental French ideas, which expose some generalities about them as myths.

They gave a big majority, when asked to choose the 'French monument of the century,' to the Channel Tunnel. The great, huge, wonderful Stade de France came in a distant second; and only because it was the site of a recent super-grand French feat.

The tunnel, built by a consortium, does link France and Britain, but I was unaware that it would be considered as a 'French' monument. The French think otherwise, possibly because so many Britons now buy their wine and cheese in Calais instead of in Devon.

It would be interesting to know if a majority of the British would vote for the Chunnel, as they call it.

As long as we are on 'monuments,' I would have voted for the Airbus - even if is built by a consortium too. The Ariane rocket would get my second place vote.

For this personality, the French who were polled gave two men equal percentages; Marcel Dassault and Bill Gates. André Citroën was close behind in third place, for his 'Traction Avant.'

Citing André Citroën is fairly unusual because he died in 1934 and thereby missed the other 76 years of this century. But he is remembered for innovation even today - which seems to present a stark contrast with Bill Gates.

Of course the French are fond of thei Minitel too, so this probably explains Mr. Gates' popularity. Perhaps surprisingly, nobody seems to want to be credited with inventing the Minitel - even if its financial model will - if it hasn't already - outstrip that of Mr. Gates' firm.