"Can't you smell property people a mile off? I can", said the man sitting next to me on the plane when I asked him if he was going to Mipim. His rather sharp reply was because, of course, being on an early morning flight from Luton to Nice today of all days meant it was fairly obvious he, like me, was.
The embarrassing thing for me is that I'd not "smelled" the fact that I was addressing the chief executive of the UK's largest estate agency group. You just don't expect to meet millionaires on easyJet. The good thing was Grenville Turner, CEO of Countrywide, had been hearing me talk up Leicester and Leicestershire to the civil engineer the other side of me for the past 20 minutes. He shared my excitement for the city and county having visited the area fairly recently.
This is Mr Turner's first time at Mipim after his business recently acquired commercial property firm Lambert Smith Hampton, which has an office in Leicester. Like me when I was a "Mipim virgin" last year, he didn't know what to expect, and this time I was the one able to offload the benefit of my knowledge with a slightly smug air.
The fact big-hitters like Mr Turner are here in Cannes over four days rubbing shoulders with a humble journo like me - but more importantly with city and county business leaders, senior politicians and council officials - is what Mipim is all about.
Day one for the Leicester and Leicestershire delegation at Mipim 2014 has been very encouraging. A launch of the city and county's large stand in the main exhibition centre, done jointly by city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby and county council leader Nick Rushton, and featuring former England and Leicester Tigers star Rory Underwood, helped attract serious enquiries from three potential investors. Meanwhile, council officials have been leading seminars aimed at influential business people on the potential of the area's logistics and tourism sector.
We've also been told a major announcement about the city and county's investment ambitions is due to be made at a dinner being hosted by the city mayor and county council leader this evening.
Check out https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk tomorrow morning for the full story. Au revoir for now ....
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