US General John Abizaid recently compared Al Qaeda to McDonalds, which made me wonder whether OBL's French terror cells are staffed by closet Christians.
While the Italians have their Slow Food Society, the French just serve fast food slowly. I'm not a massive fan of McDonalds' menus, but when you travel along France's E roads the evil arches perform the function of the Aires on the autoroutes - predictable, routine spots for a coffee and a bathroom break. Except when you walk in and find that there's only one person behind the counter, both serving the customers and preparing their orders!
In order to preserve their culture of small independent retailers in town centres the French have allowed the surrounding ring roads to become encrusted with a thick coating of major chains: Buffalo Grill, LiDL (clearly the most omnipresent retail brand in Europe!), Casa, Carrefour etc.
In Italy, the urban tangenziale are stock-car circuits where the driving is mostly of the hand-to-hand variety. Gone are the tight little roundabouts with pretty lawns and flower beds and McDonalds restaurants are generally to be found somewhere inside, hidden within the dense urban core and without the useful en-suite car park area. Still, the espresso coffee they (sometimes) serve is amongst the best I have ever tasted!
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