It all started with Rose Bakery -- the bastion of the UK cafe scene in Paris -- which kicked off the trend for casual, homely fare with a British accent back in 2002, when their first branch opened in the south Pigalle area (46 rue des Martyrs, 9e, 01-42-82-12-80).
For a hipper setting, wander along the bobo (bourgeois bohemian) paradise of the Canal St Martin, a shop- and cafe-lined canal in the trendy 10th arrondissement, which packs out with picnickers and revellers as soon as the sun shines (and well into the night, too).
Later, at Detroit airport, the tiniest thing - in a cafe, a man saw another customer's suit-bag flop onto the ground at a nearby table, into the path of oncoming travellers and their wheelie bags.