Category: Fourre-tout

Henry Wessel passed away last night in his sleep.

I just heard the terrible news and I am absolutely stunned. Henry and I played together two days ago and I never suspected for a minute that he was in such a dire state.

I have known him since he joined the club in 2012 and we sympathized almost immediately. He was eager to learn the game and was a very good student. In practically no time he rose to our club’s cream of the crop.

He and Calvert (his life partner) were great pétanque players and delightful people. Calvert always was an extremely talented pointer and Henry was a great shooter. Together they formed a fearsome combination that reaped many awards.

Henry was a renowned photographer and taught at the San Francisco Art Institute for many years. He was also a modest man who never bragged about his many accomplishments.

He was an active board member of La Pétanque Marinière and he did a lot to beautify and maintain our field.

Henry always struck me as an intelligent, learned, kind fellow and I like to think that he thought of me as a friend. He often asked me how to pronounce some French words and I was pleased to oblige. I am grateful that Calvert and him were part of a circle of companions that have blessed my house from time to time.

Calvert and Henry formed a great relationship on and off the field and I have clumsily maybe offered her my deep, heartfelt condolences. I was too distraught to find the proper words.

Henry, a great guy who left too soon and who will be sorely missed.

Alain

Please look at some pictures of my dear friend Henry Wessel

The Summer League season ended last night… in complete darkness. We are grateful by the way to Ken Lee who used a flashlight to assist stragglers complete their match.

The Concours ended way before La Consolante and when La Consolante finally produced a winner, most of the people were gone.

Let’s not forget that the Summer League and the Fall League are the brainchildren of our good fairy Brigitte Moran.
The proceeds of both tournaments will go toward the purchase of a night lighting system that will allow fans to play late evenings games.

I usually find a moment to snap a few pictures, but during this tournament I had very little idle time. I managed to take some photos August 1^st (at the beginning of the tournament) and a single shot last night.
The pictures of the winners were all taken by Brigitte Moran.

This tournament (like all tournaments) was fun and I invite everybody to participate in the Fall tournament. You won’t regret it.

Concours
1^st place: The Originals (Charlie Davantes, Liv Kraft, Nick Davantes with Jacques Gautier as a substitute for Charlie)
2^nd place: Les Bons Temps: Brigitte Moran, Herb Moran, Leslie

Consolante
1^st place: Almite (almighty): Teri Sirico, Mireille Di Maio, Alain Efron

Alain

Check the pictures!

I might sound presumptuous, but I consider myself a rather congenial fellow… and generally speaking, I never refuse a friendship offer.

From time to time, while slumming on Facebook, I get a “new friend request”. Usually, I take a quick look at the requestor’s homepage and if that person does not look like a serial killer, I generally accede to his/her demand.

Recently I received such a request from an attractive young woman. The message was in French and it piqued my interest. So after looking at the scant details of her homepage, I agreed to become “friend” with her.

Almost immediately I received another message from her inquiring in French “how I was doing?”

Two things struck me about this note. The first was that this young person whom I didn’t know, addressed me in a very informal manner. She used “tutoiement” (addressing me with the intimate “tu” form) and it bothered me a little.

English speaking people might not understand the distinction between “tutoiement” (the intimate form) and “vouvoiement” (formal form) but it is a sensitive matter.

“I admit to feeling, since then, an aversion to familiarity; originally, it must translate a confident intimacy, but if the people who “tutoie” are not intimate, it suddenly takes on an opposite meaning, it is the expression of rudeness, so that the world where the familiarity is common usage is not a world of general friendship, but a world of omnipresent disrespect.” Milan Kundera

The second thing was that the message was rife with spelling errors. For me, these two mistakes are “cardinal sins.”

Your initial friendship request is like applying for a job, and if you are serious about that position, you try to avoid any obvious “faux pas”. I am not a snob, but I still insist on elementary manners from the people who want to befriend me.
I accept warts and all from the people I have known for a long time, but I do not accept it from strangers.

And finally, what prompted this young woman to contact me? Do I project the image of a “chick magnet”? Maybe… but I cannot help it. Or is she a “croqueuse de diamants” (gold digger)? Sorry, I have very few of those left.

To make a long story short, I “unfriended” my overly eager groupie. It is better to have fewer friends than a lot of fake friends.

Alain

“God said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But, God or not, I hate to be addresses as “tu..” Pierre Desproges