Tot zo Colette!

“Everyone has the power to make someone happy, some by entering a room, others by leaving it.”

IMG_1684And Colette Van Der Meulen is one of those people. She always made everybody happy by entering a room.

As you probably know, Colette is leaving California to settle in New Mexico.
While wishing her the best, I am sorry (I think we all are) to see our little Dutch “meisje” go.
We all liked her smile, her laugh, her good-humored nature and her competitive spirit.
I also had the pleasure to meet her mother and her sister (Monique) and I was not a bit surprised to find them all extremely “simpatico”.

IMG_6225I always enjoyed playing pétanque with Colette. She took the game very seriously and concentrated on each shot.
She started as a “pointer”, but I always encouraged her to try her hand at “shooting”. She followed my advice and when in a bind she didn’t hesitate to throw her boule forcefully.
More often that not she succeeded and you could then see the rosy glow on her cheeks.

IMG_1085Colette left but she said that she wouldn’t forget us and fly back for some of our tournaments.
We are counting on it.

Van der Meulen by the way is the name of a person who lived at a mill or was a miller.

There are many famous Van Der Meulen.

Goodbye Colette. Our loss, New Mexico’s gain.
A bientôt ! We are holding a warm place in our hearts for you.

Gezelligheid kent geen tijd (Time spent together is time well spent.)

Alain

Politically incorrect

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” 

It once sounded nice, but no more.

invasionboatThousands of African migrants clinging to rickety boats are trying to reach European shores every day.
They are yearning for the Promised Land.
In Europe they are told, everything will be better. You will be taken care of.

Who could resist that siren song? To reach that New Eden, migrants will pony up to $1500.00 per person to secure a place on an overcrowded, decrepit smuggling vessel.

Considering their wretched existence at home, it is understandable but the main question is how many of those people can Europe absorb without endangering itself?
Most of the European countries are already struggling to provide for their own people… how can they deal with the additional burden of clothing and feeding these new-impoverished masses?

Giving asylum to all these people would seem politically correct, but it is in fact pathetically incorrect.

What kind of life awaits those people in Europe?
Most of them are uneducated and don’t speak any other language than their own.
What do they expect to find on the continent?
A job? Fat chance.
It is already difficult for diploma-laden nationals to find a job, what prospect does a migrant have to find one?

It sounds callous, but charity begins at home.
European countries are already struggling with high unemployment and high taxes. How are they going to provide for the newcomers?
Additional taxes? Tell this to the Greeks, the Italians, the French…

And while newly arrived migrants might be relatively satisfied with their new condition, they will be invariably exploited. Their children will grow resentful and will become prime recruitment material for terrorist groups.
If you have not already noticed, most of the western jihadists are children of Muslim immigrants.

It is imperative to put an end to this kind of trafficking that benefit only smuggling criminals.

It sounds heartless, but if nothing is done, European democracies will crumble and hasten the rise of the Extreme Right (which is already flourishing).
Next, swastikas will be paraded in the street and “undesirables” will be hunted down.
Doesn’t this sound eerily familiar?

I fully realize that all the above is not piously correct, but that’s the way I see it.

Alain

Topless: a fading taboo

Today, to be a pop “diva” you need to be outrageous. Outrageous, scandalous, temperamental and egocentric. And show a lot of skin.
Talent is optional. It is secondary to attitude, flash and glitz.
Nowadays, it seems that “singing” is just a lame excuse for exhibitionism.

In showbiz’s sex-saturated environment, a woman feels compelled to strip to a bare minimum to be noticed, and loose boobs are popping up everywhere.

What is the fuss about women’s breasts anyway? Contrarily to what children were told, (and unlike an eclipse) it won’t impair your vision even when you stare at them.
I have gazed at my share of boobs and I still can see pretty clearly.

If men can flaunt their pecs on the beaches (or anywhere else), I don’t see why women could not do the same thing without attracting undue attention.

What prompted the initial covering up must have been the old Christian bugaboo about the Original Sin. Some religious hogwash concocted by some misogynous hermit.
What did Eve or lamebrain Adam know about sin anyway? They were just babes in the woods and they did what came naturally.

But times have changed.

Once morality’s Public Enemy Number One, bare boobs are steadily losing their wicked aura.
It is a little bit like alcohol. During Prohibition it was thrilling to quaff the stuff. After ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment (repeal of prohibition), not so much.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. Take the Kardashians… after seeing Kim’s ass under so many different angles, everybody has become blasé about her caboose. Soon, due to overexposure she will have to find a different gimmick to stay in the limelight.

Same goes with boobs. Overexposure will kill the interest.
In sex-starved Muslim countries I can understand the titillation caused by a bit of skin, but in Hollywood’s Sodom and Gomorrah boobs are coming up for air more frequently than ever.
Soon nobody will give a damn and that’s the way it should be.

Boobs matter, but not that much.
Do not get your panties in a bunch over naked boobs. Soon they will be as common as tattoos on a gangbanger and nobody will blink an eye.

Alain

https://youtu.be/R4ajQ-foj2Q