Eurostars and Eurocities

I borrowed this title from Alan Favell's (UCLA) essay on professional mobilities to London. I picked up a friend the other day at Waterloo. It was Friday night, the week's last eurostar from Paris to London. I first noticed that it was probably the first time I wait for someone from a long distance journey (although we could argue it's short distnace -but that's not the point). More importantly, I was moved by the people and international interconnections. There were quite a few french couples in the lot, with one of them working in London, the other probably studying in Paris. One couple moved me whereas the other depressed me. The latter were two young French, the guy looked like an ambitious young jerk keeping his girlfriend in Paris for comfort. No signs of happiness when they saw each other, no hugging or kissing, only a "ca va?" "et toi". There were also friends, waiting to party all week end (I was one of those)and family reunions. But the international flows and connections were fascinating. And similarly to Favell's conclusions, I start to wonder : has distance really disappeared and can London and Paris be considered one same functional area ? Yes for some (that alleged 'managerial elite'), but no way for most of us. Just go and witness the eurostar terminal.