Financial crisis hits France

The NY Times reports that France's cafe's have been struck a double blow:

“The French are no longer eating and drinking like the French. They are eating and drinking like the Anglo-Saxons,” the British and the Americans.

“They eat less and spend less time at it,” Mr. Picolet said.

People grab a sandwich at lunchtime and eat as they walk or sit at their desks. They stand in line to buy prepackaged espresso sachets, to drink coffee at home, or have coffee at the office, at the boss’s expense.

This sounds like the kind of omen Nostradamus must have warned everybody about. When the French start imitating the culture of the Anglo-Saxons, you know something is seriously amiss in the world.