The Lunette bin

It's that time of the year when a few of the Optician team normally climb aboard the Eurostar and head off to Paris for the big French optical exhibition, Silmo.

The Eurostar invariably limps through Kent to the channel then emerges in the sunshine to speed through the French countryside to the Gare du Nord. We stay in a chic and shabby hotel in the latin quarter, eat rustique and dance the night away, or that sort of thing.

The French have a unique way of turning a trade show for retail opticians into a cross between a fashion show and an acid trip. The grand scale of the entertainment and the surreal twists give the show its character. There is always something you don't expect to see and it's usually on stilts, in a plastic bubble or sheathed in white lycra.