No 'one-night stand'
Well now we have the official answer.
"I don't think it's a matter of a one-night stand. I think we now go into the next day's breakfast" said the president in answer to my question about how we would feel on the morning after the heady night before. And, what's more, Gordon Brown agreed.
In fact, Nicolas and Gordon - this was an all "first name terms" affair - agreed on pretty much everything when and if they could.
There were mere hints of disagreements still there on agriculture, the EU budget and NATO. Even on the one topic where they did split - in protest at China's crackdown in Tibet - the two men were careful to explain why they disagreed. Brown, Sarkozy said, was the host of the next games whilst he would be in the EU president's chair and would have to consult the other members.
I spoke to Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger, after the summit at the Emirates stadium. He'd been invited to join the leaders for lunch and was struck by how well they worked together and at how Britain no longer looked exclusively across the Atlantic and France no longer across the border to Germany for friends.
This then did represent a concerted effort on both sides to put the bitter rows about Iraq, "our money" and their farmers behind us.
Let's though see how we all feel at breakfast time or - at least - the next time there's something real that divides the two nations.
I'm 
Comments
Nick
On your item on this evening's 6 o'clock news, you remarked that "who would have thought that they (France) had beaten 'us' at football?" (or words to that effect).
Who exactly is 'us', when Sarkozy is on a state visit to the UK?
Its so irritating to have this kind of thing happen on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ so frequently. One has to be Welsh or Scottish to notice it. Let's change it into the English Broadcasting Corporation and have done with it.
Come on, Nick, we expect better from a political correspondent, its bad enough when it happens in a sports commentary.
Well, we've all woken up with someone and been too embarrassed to admit we made a tragic mistake.
Expect Nick to pack his bags and scuttle off home; I doubt they'll be exchanging phone numbers.
Hi Nick
I am still trying to understand the REAL agenda for this State Visit? Can you give me any clues, other than joining French/British armed powers, economics, recession, European bankers making a financial stand (because of the US economy)? Please help me - I am really lost here (although I understand that so was Gordon Brown). So please give me a clue.
The language is all very positive, but the two countries still really detest each other and look at each other as an obstacle rather than a source of support.
Nice try at fooling us, though.
#3 - The real reason for the visit.
Mr Sarkozy is under pressure from France for not doing anything in office since his election (apart from get divorced and married). This state visit to the UK, and his visit to Germany recently (where he said almost identical things about how great their country was) are a nice distraction to actual news events. Think how much media coverage has been given to this visit and how muny newsworthy events have been knocked off the radar, banking crises, house prices falling, the asylum report released yesterday, MP's expenses... all ignored for a nice picture of the Presidents wife.
Words from a politician mean very little; I will await any change in French actions before I get too excited. More French troops for Afghanistan? Sounds good, but will they be in the South helping to fight the Taliban where they are needed? Not likely. Under Nato control and fully integrated? You must be joking.
I was also rather amused at his complaints about the Chinese reluctance to let European (read French) companies fully invest in China. When he allows a British firm to buy companies like EDF (who own plenty of UK utilities) I will believe in his free market credentials. Talk about pot and kettle, but then he is, of course, French.
Duncan Pratt @ 11.33am
How cynical, how true!