Both Rob and I began to feel that history was being slowly polished and nudged and rejigged.
But nudged by Arnaud Montebourg, the French industry minister, Siemens, GE's German rival, came up on June 17th with its own more complicated offer in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MHII) of Japan, shearing off Alstom's gas-turbine business and setting up a series of joint ventures with MHI in other energy areas.Now counterbids are flying thick and fast.
Outside Britain, Ireland and Germany prime office rents were weak in 2013, says Knight Frank, another consultant.It is rock-bottom yields on government bonds that have nudged investors toward property.
But Colorado, nudged by strong libertarian elements in parts of the state, voted in 1992 to amend its state constitution with a strict taxpayers' bill of rights, known as the TABOR amendment.
In that world inflation expectations can be nudged upward by expasionary policy or rising commodity prices but always plateau and eventually begin falling back toward zero.
These, when appropriately nudged, can be induced to turn into cells of any other type.
Proposition 30, championed by Mr Brown, raised income-tax rates on the wealthy and nudged sales taxes upwards, although the extra revenues will expire in 2018 and 2016 respectively.
But West Bankers and Gazans, having nudged noses with Israeli democracy, may not be content to have an old PLO hand imposed on them.
It was the Impac that nudged me into reading Michel Houellebecq and Orhan Pamuk for the first time (with Atomised and My Name Is Red respectively).
Lee Tomlin nudged the free-kick to Grant Leadbitter, who flicked the ball up and launched a fierce shot that was touched over by the Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.
When Real Madrid's bus left Mestalla last night it nudged its way slowly through the thousands of fans that had gathered to cheer the team that had finally defeated them, before pulling out onto Avenida Suecia and heading towards Manises airport, where the players boarded the plane thinking that they had lost top spot in the league.
