One more thing, Roman - you re-mentioned those cancellations. So had my (unnamed correspondent) earlier, and I'm so new here I didn't know the full story. So I looked it up on the AlizeeAmerica forums (world's greatest reference center), and read the accounts people had posted. It was heart-wrenching! Including your contributions! (omg, I'm so sorry)
So after reading that, I
had to mention it in my letter to France. That's how it wound up there. I almost feel fortunate I
didn't know about this Alizee person back then!
(for what it's worth, the unnamed correspondent isn't too mad at me anymore, homeland security threat level back down to pale ochre.)