:: Bonne Année à Paris ::

After a little financial wrangling (depositing money into Bezuhoff's UK bank account for him to pay in dollars), I've paid for my accommodation in Paris over New Year. With Eurostar on my doorstep (ish) it looks like being a fun hassle-free trip to a city I haven't visited properly for nearly 10 years. I look forward to visiting La Grande Arche De La Défense on a cold clear day and gazing out from this paragon of sleek modernism onto the prissy Napoleonic ground-plan of the rest of the city. No doubt I shall also take in the contemporary Art exhibition at the Musée D'Orsay whilst my more romantic instincts will undoubtedly lead me to scale the Eiffel Tower at night. In celebration and anticipation, I nibbled on a delicious and expensive bar of French chocolate at my desk.

On to other news: my MP is getting into hot water over the government's proposed "Casino bill". I still haven't forgiven Ms Jowell for the dire Lend it Like Peckham headline... Oh how I look forward to the canvassing season next year. And if you were looking for comment on the political topic I'm trying to avoid, you'd be best off consulting the venerable Taxloss, while I retreat to the election bunker and wait for the fall-out to begin.

And finally... animals keep cropping up in unexpected places. First of all, my attention was drawn to this (no doubt old hat to Guardian weblog regulars). Then the b3ta newsletter linked to a Brazilian man and his drinking straw creations.

Zut, alors!