Dear friend,

I’ve just put up the basic details of the Paris Re IPO on our website.

It’s not a massive deal — although the exit door is now open for investors. But the most interesting piece of information to be revealed was that Paris Re said it wants to use some of the proceeds to decrease its reliance on retro.

Funny thing is, Paris Re has only just got into a whopping 2-year deal with its $185m Triomphe re sidecar. Is it the end of the affair so soon?

The other night I was hazily flicking through TV channels when I landed on a French film with the intriguing title une liason pornographique. I immediately felt it important that I investigate, for research purposes, you must understand, and anyway I need to brush up my French.

Anyway it wasn’t quite pornographique, but it was the usual French staple of a man and a woman conducting a doomed affair, drinking morosely at various cafés and then checking into the nearest hotel to get better acquainted, despite not knowing each other’s names.

I don’t know what happened because I got bored of the existential angst and went to bed, but today’s announcement somehow prised it from my memory.

These sidecar-sponsors are a bit like a glamorous Parisian woman from a French film — they get you all hot under the collar and after a you’re off to the races in no time.

But soon it’s all over and you’ve both moved on, wondering what was the point of it all, with a little empty feeling in the pit of your stomach!