Stuart Jeffries

Recently, I got an email complaining about an article I’d written. It happens. The angry tone was nothing if not consistent until very near the end. One question. After all that rage, why did she sign off with her first name and two kisses? This week I received an email from a PR woman with whom I had not previously corresponded, let alone met. It started with "Hi Stu" and ended with "warm regards". The "warm" part especially threw me.

It was perhaps the second glass of wine that did it. That, or the dessert of millefeuille aux poires. Or it could have been the blanquette, the bourguignon, or whatever Le Firmament in the Rue 4 Septembre in Paris’s second arrondissement was offering as the day’s special.