Monday Miscellany

A little different view out the window this workday morning. The car park was full and traffic bumper to bumper outside the hotel. I went down to the lobby bar to retrieve some coffee and noted quite a bit of hubbub in the lobby - lots of suits, security, and cameras. While I am leaning on the bar waiting for the espresso machine to finish squeezing out the second cup, the bartender leans over, points behind me with a slight tilt of his head and says "The prime minister." I turn around to see a small entourage escort a well tailored, important looking man through the lobby. The group passes not 20 feet from me. The prime minister briefly glances at the American in short cargo pants, tee-shirt, and Gwinn Bait Shop fishing hat leaning on the bar. I nod my head. He nods his head. Then he is through the lobby and into the room in the back. I turn back to the bartender. "What's his name?" I ask. He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. They change so often."

Turns out that Prime Minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré is here for the keynote address of the 7-eme conseil présidentiel de l'investissement conference taking place in the hotel most of the week.

This conference did not bode well for our campaign to change to a seaside hotel room. Indeed all efforts were rebuffed over the course of the day. We blame the decline in the dollar and general lack of American stature and credibility in the world under the current administration. In short, George Bush is to blame for our inability to get a better room.

In other news, I tried a new beer today. Locally brewed - La Gazelle