This quote from my French bank statement may make sense to someone with better French than me - but I've been completely baffled this morning.

Si votre compte courant à été ouvert avant le 28/01/2003, sans établissement d'une convention de compte, vous pouvez obtenir un project de convention et proceder à sa signature en vous adressant à votre agence habituelle.

In the world of  British books last week's London Book Fair event overshadowed much else. The outcome - the existing good managers of the London Book Fair announced that next year the Fair will move back to a more central location - is excellent for most exhibitors. Unfortunately the catalysts for this change of mind, the team from the Frankfurt Book Fair, were thus excluded. It was a complicated series of events with a number of parties and I'm sure many people will feel let down, misled and double-crossed.

The coverage in the Independent newspaper -  The World Cup has not even started yet but already it's England 1, Germany 0 - was typically chauvinistic and anti-German. It's strange how the most liberal British commentators become quietly xenophobic where Germany is involved.