[Eugen80]

By Peter Allen: 00:56 GMT, 16 May 2012

- Soaked to skin on supposedly triumphant parade along the Champs Elysees
- Official plane hit by lightning and has to turn back
- Late for vital meeting with German leader Angela Merkel to save Euro
- Blunders on red carpet by standing on wrong side in front of photographers



YOU never get a second chance to make a first impression, so they say. In which case pity Francois Hollande, the new president of France,
whose first day at the office turned into something of a damp squib.

In scenes more reminiscent of Clouseau than Charles de Gaulle, the man dubbed ‘Mr Normal’ by the French, endured an extraordinary first
24 hours in charge

He witnessed rain of biblical proportions, his plane to Berlin was struck by lightning, and then, when he finally reached Germany to meet the
country’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, he fluffed his lines on the red carpet.

To top it all, there was even a whiff of scandal, as his appointment of Jean-Marc Ayrault, convicted of corruption in the 1990s, as prime minister
was met with raised eyebrows.

Perched through the sunroof of a small £25,000 hybrid Citroen DS5, and surrounded by guardsmen on horse-back, he was driven up the Champs
Elysees waving to well-wishers. Unfortunately the heavens opened on Mr Hollande’s big moment.

By the time he arrived at the Arc de Triomphe he resembled a business-like version of Jane Austen’s Darcy, emerging dripping wet from a dip in the
lake. His black suit was sodden. His best white shirt
clung to his body and rain fell from his spectacles.

If he thought things would improve when he boarded his plane to meet Mrs Merkel, he was wrong. His Falcon 7X was hit by lightning and he was
forced to return to Paris, to board a second aircraft.

He arrived in Berlin an hour and a half late – but his troubles did not end there.

At the airport, he stood on the wrong side of the red carpet and had to be helpfully pushed along by Mrs Merkel.

But if Mr Hollande is really worried his tumultuous first few hours in charge have set the tone for his presidency, he could always remember that old
standard for politicians: ‘Things Can Only Get Better.’