It's raining in Cannes this morning (I tell you this to cheer you up) which strikes me as a severe contravention of the Service Level Agreement.
I've got a good mind to drop into "Protocol" (next to Registration) - whatever that is - and Have A Word.
Mooched along the Croissette trying to dodge the raindrops and, first up, bump into dear old Mike Prentice, CBRE retail guru to the stars.
He seemed in the pink (despite suffering from a rotten cold), which he attributed to sticking to wine only, "yes yes yes I stuck to the wine" he assured me, but suddenly his face fell: "oh no! I've just remembered, I went onto beers later". Love him.
We were chatting away when suddenly he shouted "Crag Martin! Down from the mountains" pointing up at some nondescript bird hovering above the beach. I love old Mike. But I would never have had him down as a twitcher. It certainly is a funny old world.
Was scheduled to be at the Majestic for 11am to participate in the "Retail in the City" summit where I was in a roundtable group discussing financing infrastructure for retail development with the uber-knowledgeable Angus McIntosh of King Sturge.
He and I were both early and had a lovely chat. Usual French melee round at the Majestic (you do get used to the organised chaos of these shows), coffee and pastries flying about and, naturally enough, a late start.
But, once we got going, what a great event! Angus whipped us through the various partnership models on offer from around the globe. It was a veritable tour de force!
Fantastic stuff, matched only by the highly animated contributions we then heard around the table from Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and the US. And we had a right clever and opinionated bunch.
Poor Angus did a magnificent job corralling us all (the phrase "box of frogs" springs to mind!) and presented a highly polished, slick, account of our discussion in the report-back session.
The Mayor of Cannes had joined the presentation by this point and only looked moderately nose-out-of-joint when Angus declared, emphatically, "the retail sector comprises long term players. We invest in our communities for many decades. Unlike politicians who may only have five years, tops".
Needless to say, our table was cheering! But the Mayor kept up a brave face and managed a wan smile.
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