Yesterday rocked. I managed to slip out of work mid-afternoon to the Tropisme bookshop in Galerie des Princes where Neil Gaiman was signing books. Unfortunately I was in such a rush in the morning that I couldn’t find my copy of American Gods, but I did have both Neverwhere and Don’t Panic! to hand. The author graciously signed both, commenting that I had the rather rare first editions, with covers by Dave McKean.

Then it was off to meet Zoran Zivkovic. Not the charming, short, bearded, English-speaking science fiction writer, but the firm, tall, cleanshaven Prime Minister of Serbia, courtesy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. He gave a damn good speech, though the translation was a bit dodgy, and gave me a direct answer when I challenged him on the interview in Der Spiegel (English) – basically that he had been misquoted. (I went to the lengths of buying Der Spiegel this morning, and found he was right.)

Lousy night’s sleep unfortunately, but luckily today has been mostly meetings, including some rather tired young politicians from Serbia and Montenegro this afternoon. Off to Greece tomorrow, back Sunday.