I noticed some pretty huge cultural shifts in process while I was there. These guys seemed to think the only market that really mattered was the French market. But, none of them were married, or had kids. One had a sister, who had married an Algerian, converted to Islam, had a few kids, and had removed herself from her French family. Those kids were not a growth market for any artisanal gun maker, and I knew that then.
Excepting the Irish bar maids in Lyon, I met only two foreigners in St. Etienne, an Englishman, who was staying in the same hotel I was, he had been there a week on business with a car parts manufacturer, he had been mugged his second night of the trip walking from a restaurant to his hotel, and couldn’t wait to get home.
We had breakfast together his last day there, I lost his contact information, and never saw him again, too bad as he did shoot back in England. The other guy was an American who married a French girl, and went home with her. He worked in the French post office, and allowed me to struggle for a few moments, trying to explain I wanted to mail some postcards back home, and then spit out “Sir, did you want to buy some stamps for your letters”, doing so in a perfect midwestern accent. He was originally from Cleveland.
I went home thinking the writing was in the wall, much like the gang tag on the buildings in St. Etienne. I remember thinking it was not going to be around forever, and, it wasn’t.
Best
Ted
