It is no accident that the word mêlée is French. It pretty accurately describes their understanding of the concept of queueing – a kind of cross between mingling and hand-to-hand combat, to be deployed when defending access to meat-based products at lunchtime.
However, all has not been lost from the Techlunch point of view. The French custom of serving wine at lunch in order to make the afternoon speakers more interesting has been maintained. And cakes have been served at every possible opportunity to absorb the heart-stopping levels of caffeine. The most interesting of these was a very thin, flat, rectangular shaped waffle thing coated in a lemon flavoured icing sugar. Not only were these very tasty but they were also a novel source of entertainment. I had great fun spotting those delegates who had just eaten one, given away by the shower of white dust on the front of their fancy shirts and expensive suits!
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