a kiss is still as kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.

a kiss is a fundamental basic expression of affection. it's also a social norm, a way of greeting between two people who may not even like each other. a few posts ago i was musing about the kiss as a greeting. the cheek kiss and the lip kiss.

today i managed to duck out of the office in the london drizzle and had lunch with my friend sophie. sophie's twenty five, an intelligent, pretty and pretty strong willed parisian who has been living in london for the past year. she's very social, and always manages to maintain a healthy party lifestyle despite a constant cash flow problem. maybe that's the secret of the party girls. either you have a paris hiltonlike inheritance, or you just make do with what you have. rent and bills can wait when there's drinks to be had and places to be seen in.

the topic of lunch was sophie's latest man. since being in london she had dated two guys in rapid succession. the first was a scottish actor whom she met through mutual friends at a party. things happen very quickly for sophie. meet, greet, get on like a house on fire and viola, c'est une relationship. when scottish guy went home for christmas and realised he still was in love with his ex girlfriend, things got a bit ugly, but she promptly went away to the tropics for new year's and found a new man, an english screenwriter who intially appeared to be a great match. turns out he's another one of us thirtysomething year old lost souls who doesn't know what he wants and thus can't commit. being english, he was also quite reticent which i think didn't gel too well with sophie's let's get it all out there nature.

so last weekend sophie went out with a bunch of mates and ended up snogging a cute australian guy who ended up going home with her. granted they met up two nights later for a quick drink, i'd say by any cultural standards that suggests keeness from both parties. according to sophie, they had a great time but he kissed her on the cheek.

so lunch was a hearty pasta dish, flourless chocolate cake for two and a dissection of what a cheek kiss means after you've been quite intimate with someone.